Android Canary builds offer Pixel owners the chance to test the most cutting-edge features added to the platform, long before they make it to the next Pixel Drop or full-fledged Android update. Now, that includes redesigned control of a feature that competing smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung and Apple, have offered in their exclusive OS interfaces for quite some time.
As noted by Android Authority, the fabled flashlight brightness slider just got a facelift in the latest pre-beta build, marking its march toward public release sometime down the line.
The long wait for a basic feature
Now, even the interface looks like an actual flashlight
Credit: Jonathon Jachura / MUO
Is anyone really upset when Google “copies” an iOS feature?
Flashlights are one of the many devices smartphones have largely replaced, but your phone’s torch isn’t always quite as versatile as the real thing. Sometimes, it’s simply way too bright. That’s why so many users have clamored for adjustable brightness.
Functionally, the new slider remains the same as when it was introduced. Now, instead of a boring, horizontal bar, long-pressing the Flashlight (or, for non-US users, the Torch) tile in the Quick Settings menu opens a Flashlight Strength dialog box with a flashlight-shaped vertical slider. Dragging from the bottom to the top causes the arc to widen, making the beam appear bigger. While it has the same effect as before, it brings the entire feature closer in line with Google’s recent wave of Material 3 Expressive visual overhauls.
When will the feature hit Pixels (and other phones)?
Credit: Zarif Ali / MakeUseOf
The adjustment panel won’t reach the full public beta until at least QPR3, which would point toward its inclusion in a Pixel Feature Drop sometime after March 2026. Attentive Android fans might consider that overdue, which is valid: Android 13 actually added built-in support for the feature, but Google left it up to other developers to actually implement it. There have been ways for Pixel owners to take advantage of the capability, but they’ve all been workarounds.
Presumably, Android 17 will mark the first time flashlight brightness adjustment is included in the basic OS package that all Android devices ship with some form of. That brings the vanilla OS in line with popular manufacturer implementations like Samsung’s, which has offered multi-level brightness adjustment for nearly a decade (before it was even called One UI, in fact).
OnePlus’ OxygenOS and Oppo’s ColorOS, both more niche skins than the popular, highly flexible OneUI, have also allowed users to adjust the flashlight for years. Apple has offered the feature the longest, with press-and-hold adjustment dating back to 2016’s iOS 10.
To be clear, not every device will necessarily ship with the functionality. It still depends on support from the camera’s hardware abstraction layer, or HAL, which determines how each model’s components interact with software. At the very least, we know it’ll be available for Pixel phones with this modern appearance. And, because Google essentially uses Pixels as a test bed for new Android features, these features are likely to come to a much wider range of smartphones beginning next year.
Pixel owners can try it out now by flashing the 2510 Android Canary release onto their phones, but beware — as a pre-beta build, you’ll likely run into periodic bugs.
