Don’t you want your Galaxy S21 phone to flash blinking lights like a circus every time you receive a notification from your future mother-in-law? That way, you’re alerted to be at your best and be as circumspect as possible about what to say.
To enable the LED notification light on the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, access Notifications via Settings. Under Brief pop-up settings, choose Edge lighting style to be able to select which lighting style you prefer.
In this post, we’ll give you all there is to know to enable the LED notification light on your Samsung Galaxy S21 series. Plus, we are detailing how to customize your device with various light effects to your heart’s desire, so read up.
How to Turn on Edge Lighting on Samsung Galaxy S21
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 40 to 70 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any Samsung Galaxy S21 phone |
Edge lighting is an excellent option instead of the LED indicator light that Samsung smartphones used to have before bezel-less phones happened. Essentially, edge lighting lights up the edges of your device every time a notification arrives.
To activate the feature is as simple as following the steps below.
Turn on the Edge lighting on any Samsung Galaxy S21 series phone
Step 1: Go to your Samsung Galaxy S21’s notification panel and click the gear icon. |
Step 2: Go to Notifications. |
Step 3: Set Brief as your phone’s notification pop-up style. |
Step 4: Go to the Brief pop-up settings menu. |
Step 5: Choose an Edge lighting style. |
Step 6: Hit Done to choose the effect that suits your taste best. |
You can experiment with each lighting style. Just tap on a choice and see which results fit you best.
There are three features to define your LED notification display. First, there’s Effect then you have Color and Advanced.
Effect lets you choose different ways the LED lighting would progress while the Color option allows you to choose a fave color for the LED to display.
For the Effect section, the trick here is to observe the display as you go through it and choose what’s best. The wave option, for instance, projects a wavy progression while the Heart option lights up with hearts.
In the Advanced section, you’re given the option to control the behavior of the light notification.
- Transparency (low to high) controls how bright the LED light is
- The Width option (narrow to wide) controls how strong the light projection becomes
- As for how long the notification displays, use Duration (short to long).
Customize the Edge lighting effect on Samsung Galaxy S21
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 2 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 20 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any Samsung Galaxy S21 phone |
Indeed, you can customize Edge lighting effects further. While there are third-party apps that can customize the LED lights, we’re going to explore in-depth here those that we can use by utilizing the smartphone’s system settings.
First, you can control when to activate Edge lighting on your smartphone. You can use the feature when you’re actively using the phone. Or you can have it continuously running.
Control when you want Edge lighting to be activated
| Step 1: Follow Steps 1 to 4 from the previous instructions until you reach the Brief pop-up settings menu. |
Step 2: Turn on the “Show even when screen is off” switch to enable Edge Lighting effects even when the display is off. Note: Turning off this switch means the Edge Lighting effect will only appear when the display is on. |
You can also toggle this under the Brief pop-up settings indicated above in the first part of the article. There, you can choose when to use the Edge notification settings.
Another way to control when to use the feature is by using keywords. This is very useful when waiting for a contract to be signed, a deal to finish, or something from work.
Here’s how to activate Edge Lighting using keywords
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 40 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any Samsung Galaxy S21 phone |
Step 1: Follow the previous instructions again until you reach your phone’s Brief pop-up settings menu. |
Step 2: Open the “Color by keyword” menu. |
Step 3: Tap the space provided to type a word and click the + button beside it to add it as a keyword.  |
Step 4: Tap on the colored circle beside the keyword to assign a color. |
Step 5: Select a color and tap Done to apply it. |
Step 6: Use the tab above to choose between Notification titles and Content. |
Choosing Notification titles means the Edge lighting feature will be activated when a message title contains the keyword, while selecting Content will activate the feature when the contents of the message harbor the keyword you indicated.
The color you choose will appear once the keyword is activated. Know that you can assign different colors for each keyword to respond to notifications more efficiently.
Indeed, the customization possibilities seem endless when you learn how to activate the LED notification light on the Galaxy S21 series.
But that’s not all. You can also choose which apps can trigger the light notification feature, giving you greater leeway in dealing with your phone.
Activate which apps can use the Edge light feature
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 6 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 40 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any Samsung Galaxy S21 phone |
Step 1: Go to your Samsung Galaxy S21’s notification panel and click the gear icon. |
Step 2: Go to Notifications. |
Step 3: Set Brief as your phone’s notification pop-up style. |
Step 4: Open the Included apps list. |
Step 5: Toggle the All apps switch off. |
Step 6: Toggle on the apps you want to use the feature from the list. |
By default, all apps can use the Edge lighting feature. But can get in the way, especially if you’re busy, so choosing a particular set of apps lets you know when you really want to give your phone attention.
Or you can do it the other way around. Toggle all apps to “on” and choose which apps you won’t allow using the lighting feature.
Turn off Edge Lighting Effect on Samsung Galaxy S21
Now that you’ve learned how to enable the LED notification light on Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra, let’s tackle how to turn off the feature effectively.
While edge lighting effects effectively alert you when you get messages, there may be times when you do not want it turned on. Luckily, turning it off on your Galaxy S21 is super-easy.
Turn off the edge lighting effect
| Difficulty | Very Easy ●○○○○ |
| Number of Steps | 4 |
| Time to Perform Fix | 30 seconds |
| Things Needed | Any Samsung Galaxy S21 phone |
Step 1: Follow the previous instructions until you reach your phone’s Brief pop-up settings menu. |
Step 2: Open the Edge lighting style menu. |
Step 3: Go to the Effects tab. |
Step 4: Select None and click the Done button to apply your choice. |
Once the feature is disabled, you will no longer see any effects on your screen when you get a text message or phone call.
If you change your mind and want to reactivate the feature, you can tap the slide again. That should bring your Edge lighting to life!
Without a doubt, learning how to enable LED notification light on Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra is a treasure trove. It gives your life a lot more pizzazz; plus, mastering the feature’s ins and outs is a cinch with our complete guide above.
Will using the LED notification light drain your Galaxy S21 battery faster?
LED notification lights on Samsung S21 will need power to function, so using them will mean you’ll have a shorter battery life. If you want to extend your juice, disabling them is a good idea, or you can limit their use to specific apps.
