Phone Notification LEDs vs Always-On Display: How They Work

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

Phones used to have a small LED light near the top of the screen that blinked different colors for different notifications — blue for a text message, green for a missed call, red for low battery. You could glance at your phone from across the room and know whether you had a notification waiting. Most modern phones have removed this LED, replacing it with always-on display features or nothing at all. This guide explains what changed, why, and how to get notification indicators back.

Why notification LEDs disappeared

The notification LED was a victim of modern phone design:

Full-screen displays: As phone screens grew to cover the entire front of the device, there was no longer room for a dedicated LED above the screen. The bezels that once housed the LED, earpiece speaker, and front camera shrank to almost nothing
OLED screens can replace the LED: OLED displays can light up individual pixels without powering the entire screen. This means the screen itself can act as a notification indicator by showing icons, text, or colored dots on a black background while the rest of the screen stays off
Always-on displays: The feature that replaced the LED shows much more information — not just a blinking color but the actual notification content, time, date, and other details — while using minimal battery

Always-on display: how it works

Always-on display (AOD) keeps a portion of the screen active when the phone is locked, showing information without requiring you to wake the phone:

What it shows

Current time and date
Notification icons for unread messages, missed calls, and app alerts
Battery level
Some phones show music playback controls, weather, step count, or calendar events
Customizable clock styles, colors, and layouts

Battery impact

OLED always-on display uses roughly 1 to 2 percent of battery per hour because only the lit pixels consume power. On a black background, the majority of the screen is truly off
Over a full day, always-on display typically costs 5 to 12 percent of total battery depending on the phone, screen brightness, and how much content is displayed
LCD screens cannot do true always-on display efficiently because the backlight must illuminate the entire screen. Some LCD phones offer a limited version but with significantly higher battery drain
Most phones with always-on display offer scheduling — you can configure it to turn off during sleeping hours or when the phone is face-down to save battery

Setting up always-on display

iPhone (iPhone 14 Pro and later)

Open Settings, Display and Brightness, Always On Display
Toggle it on. The lock screen wallpaper, time, widgets, and notifications remain visible when the phone is locked
Options include showing or hiding the wallpaper and notifications. Hiding the wallpaper reduces the display to just time and widgets on a dark background, which saves slightly more battery
The display dims automatically in your pocket, when placed face-down, or when Sleep Focus is active

Samsung Galaxy

Open Settings, Lock Screen (or Lock Screen and AOD), Always On Display
Choose between Tap to Show (lights up briefly when you tap the screen), Show Always, or Show as Scheduled
Customize the clock style from a variety of designs — analog, digital, with or without colors and effects
Configure which notification icons appear on the AOD
Samsung AOD supports widgets showing music controls, next alarm, schedule, and weather

Google Pixel

Open Settings, Display, Lock Screen, then toggle Always show time and info
Pixel AOD shows time, date, weather, notification icons, and battery level
At a Glance integration shows upcoming calendar events, flight information, and commute time on the AOD
Now Playing identifies songs playing nearby and shows the song name on the always-on display — a unique Pixel feature

Other Android phones

OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola, and other manufacturers each have their own AOD settings, usually found under Display or Lock Screen in Settings
Customization options vary by brand. Some offer very detailed customization (custom images, GIFs, patterns). Others offer basic clock and notification display

Getting notification LED behavior on modern phones

If you miss the at-a-glance simplicity of a blinking LED, several options replicate the behavior:

Edge lighting (Samsung)

Settings, Notifications, Brief Pop-up Settings (or Notification Pop-up Style), then Edge Lighting Style
When a notification arrives, the edges of the screen light up with a colored glow. You can customize the color, animation style, and which apps trigger edge lighting
This works even when the screen is off — the edge lighting briefly activates to alert you, similar to a notification LED but more visible

Notification dot on AOD

Most always-on displays show notification icons when you have unread notifications. While not a blinking LED, the persistent icon on the always-on display serves the same purpose — a glance tells you whether something is waiting
On Samsung, small notification icons appear at the bottom of the AOD. On Pixel, notification icons appear below the clock

Third-party apps (Android)

Apps available on the Play Store can simulate a notification LED using the phone screen. These apps flash the screen edges, camera flash, or display a persistent colored dot when notifications arrive
Some of these apps use the camera flash as a notification indicator — the flash blinks when you receive a notification. This is highly visible but can be distracting
Battery impact varies by app. Apps that frequently wake the screen use more power than a hardware LED would have

iPhone notification indicators

iPhone never had a notification LED, but iOS offers LED Flash for Alerts in Settings, Accessibility, Audio and Visual. This uses the camera flash to visually indicate incoming notifications. Intended as an accessibility feature for hearing-impaired users but works as a general notification indicator
With always-on display on iPhone 14 Pro and later, unread notifications remain visible on the lock screen persistently, replacing the need for a dedicated indicator

Choosing between always-on display and saving battery

If battery life is your priority and you do not need constant time display, turn AOD off and use raise-to-wake or tap-to-wake to check your phone when needed
If you check your phone frequently just to see the time or check for notifications, AOD saves you from fully waking the screen each time and may actually save battery compared to repeatedly turning the screen on
The scheduled option offers a middle ground — AOD active during waking hours when you are likely to glance at your phone, off during sleep when it would waste power illuminating an empty room
Face-down detection (available on most phones with AOD) automatically disables the display when the phone is placed screen-down, saving battery when you cannot see the screen anyway

Need help with your phone display?

If your always-on display is not working, the screen has burn-in from static elements, or your phone has display issues like dead pixels or unresponsive touch areas, Marion Phone Repair can diagnose and fix display problems on iPhone and Android devices.