How to make your iPhone flash when you get a text

Your iPhone can alert you to text messages and calls in a rather clever way -- by making the LED flash go off.

If you're in a scenario when your phone to be set to silent, or you're just trying to practice good phone etiquette, this is an ideal way to visually see when a message comes through -- without any noise.

Change your Settings

First, head to your iPhone's "Settings" menu, then scroll down to select the "General" option.

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From the "General" menu, go into your "Accessibility" submenu.

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Enable LED alerts

Now, scroll down and look for the section entitled "Hearing." The LED flash setting is part of Apple's suite of tools to help the hearing impaired.

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Toggle the "LED Flash for Alerts" to on, so you see a green oblong under the virtual button.

Now, when your phone's screen is locked and you get an SMS, MMS or phone call, your iPhone's flash will go off several times to alert you.

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Keep in mind this will adversely affect your iPhone's battery life.

To turn the functionality off, just toggle the "LED Flash for Alerts" option back to off.