How to turn on front flash light programmatically

Question

I want to turn on front flash light (not with camera preview) programmatically in Android. I googled for it but the help i found referred me to this page

Does anyone have any links or sample code?

Answer 1

When I updated my SDK version the camera flash quit working with a null pointer exception. I found that I had to set the targetSDKVersion to 22 in the build.gradle When I tried 23 the app crashed.

   targetSdkVersion 22

Answer 2

In Marshmallow and above, CameraManager's `setTorchMode()' seems to be the answer. This works for me:

 final CameraManager mCameraManager = (CameraManager) getSystemService(Context.CAMERA_SERVICE);
 CameraManager.TorchCallback torchCallback = new CameraManager.TorchCallback() {
     @Override
     public void onTorchModeUnavailable(String cameraId) {
         super.onTorchModeUnavailable(cameraId);
     }

     @Override
     public void onTorchModeChanged(String cameraId, boolean enabled) {
         super.onTorchModeChanged(cameraId, enabled);
         boolean currentTorchState = enabled;
         try {
             mCameraManager.setTorchMode(cameraId, !currentTorchState);
         } catch (CameraAccessException e){}



     }
 };

 mCameraManager.registerTorchCallback(torchCallback, null);//fires onTorchModeChanged upon register
 mCameraManager.unregisterTorchCallback(torchCallback);

Answer 3

In API 23 or Higher (Android M, 6.0)

Turn On code

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
    CameraManager camManager = (CameraManager) getSystemService(Context.CAMERA_SERVICE);
    String cameraId = null; // Usually back camera is at 0 position.
    try {
        cameraId = camManager.getCameraIdList()[0];
        camManager.setTorchMode(cameraId, true);   //Turn ON
    } catch (CameraAccessException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Turn OFF code

camManager.setTorchMode(cameraId, false);

And Permissions

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FLASHLIGHT"/>

ADDITIONAL EDIT

People still upvoting my answer so I decided to post additional code This was my solution for the problem back in the day:

public class FlashlightProvider {

private static final String TAG = FlashlightProvider.class.getSimpleName();
private Camera mCamera;
private Camera.Parameters parameters;
private CameraManager camManager;
private Context context;

public FlashlightProvider(Context context) {
    this.context = context;
}

private void turnFlashlightOn() {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
        try {
            camManager = (CameraManager) context.getSystemService(Context.CAMERA_SERVICE);
            String cameraId = null; // Usually front camera is at 0 position.
            if (camManager != null) {
                cameraId = camManager.getCameraIdList()[0];
                camManager.setTorchMode(cameraId, true);
            }
        } catch (CameraAccessException e) {
            Log.e(TAG, e.toString());
        }
    } else {
        mCamera = Camera.open();
        parameters = mCamera.getParameters();
        parameters.setFlashMode(Camera.Parameters.FLASH_MODE_TORCH);
        mCamera.setParameters(parameters);
        mCamera.startPreview();
    }
}

private void turnFlashlightOff() {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
        try {
            String cameraId;
            camManager = (CameraManager) context.getSystemService(Context.CAMERA_SERVICE);
            if (camManager != null) {
                cameraId = camManager.getCameraIdList()[0]; // Usually front camera is at 0 position.
                camManager.setTorchMode(cameraId, false);
            }
        } catch (CameraAccessException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    } else {
        mCamera = Camera.open();
        parameters = mCamera.getParameters();
        parameters.setFlashMode(Camera.Parameters.FLASH_MODE_OFF);
        mCamera.setParameters(parameters);
        mCamera.stopPreview();
    }
}
}

Answer 4

Complete Code for android Flashlight App

Manifest

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      package="com.user.flashlight"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">

      <uses-sdk
          android:minSdkVersion="8"
          android:targetSdkVersion="17"/>

      <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
      <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera"/>

      <application
          android:allowBackup="true"
          android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
          android:label="@string/app_name"
          android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
          <activity
              android:name=".MainActivity"
              android:label="@string/app_name" >
              <intent-filter>
                  <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                  <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
              </intent-filter>
          </activity>
      </application>

  </manifest>

XML

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="OFF"
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
        android:onClick="turnFlashOnOrOff" />
</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java

  import android.app.AlertDialog;
  import android.content.DialogInterface;
  import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
  import android.hardware.Camera;
  import android.hardware.Camera.Parameters;
  import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
  import android.os.Bundle;
  import android.view.View;
  import android.widget.Button;

  import java.security.Policy;

  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

      Button button;
      private Camera camera;
      private boolean isFlashOn;
      private boolean hasFlash;
      Parameters params;

      @Override
      protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
          super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
          setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

          button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button);

          hasFlash = getApplicationContext().getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA_FLASH);

          if(!hasFlash) {

              AlertDialog alert = new AlertDialog.Builder(MainActivity.this).create();
              alert.setTitle("Error");
              alert.setMessage("Sorry, your device doesn't support flash light!");
              alert.setButton("OK", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                  @Override
                  public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                      finish();
                  }
              });
              alert.show();
              return;
          }

          getCamera();

          button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
              @Override
              public void onClick(View v) {

                  if (isFlashOn) {
                      turnOffFlash();
                      button.setText("ON");
                  } else {
                      turnOnFlash();
                      button.setText("OFF");
                  }

              }
          });
      }

      private void getCamera() {

          if (camera == null) {
              try {
                  camera = Camera.open();
                  params = camera.getParameters();
              }catch (Exception e) {

              }
          }

      }

      private void turnOnFlash() {

          if(!isFlashOn) {
              if(camera == null || params == null) {
                  return;
              }

              params = camera.getParameters();
              params.setFlashMode(Parameters.FLASH_MODE_TORCH);
              camera.setParameters(params);
              camera.startPreview();
              isFlashOn = true;
          }

      }

      private void turnOffFlash() {

              if (isFlashOn) {
                  if (camera == null || params == null) {
                      return;
                  }

                  params = camera.getParameters();
                  params.setFlashMode(Parameters.FLASH_MODE_OFF);
                  camera.setParameters(params);
                  camera.stopPreview();
                  isFlashOn = false;
              }
      }

      @Override
      protected void onDestroy() {
          super.onDestroy();
      }

      @Override
      protected void onPause() {
          super.onPause();

          // on pause turn off the flash
          turnOffFlash();
      }

      @Override
      protected void onRestart() {
          super.onRestart();
      }

      @Override
      protected void onResume() {
          super.onResume();

          // on resume turn on the flash
          if(hasFlash)
              turnOnFlash();
      }

      @Override
      protected void onStart() {
          super.onStart();

          // on starting the app get the camera params
          getCamera();
      }

      @Override
      protected void onStop() {
          super.onStop();

          // on stop release the camera
          if (camera != null) {
              camera.release();
              camera = null;
          }
      }

  }

Answer 5

I have implemented this function in my application through fragments using SurfaceView. The link to this stackoverflow question and its answer can be found here

Hope this helps :)