Our iPhone has a very interesting system that lets us stay on top of our notifications at all times without needing sound or vibration. We can enable the rear flash to blink as a visual alert, but as of iOS 26.2 we can also make the screen flash to notify us of any alert. It’s a minor change that makes it very unlikely we’ll miss something important even if the phone is lying silent on the table.
An audible alert isn’t always the best option: in a library or a meeting, that choice is off the table, while the flash can end up covered if we leave the iPhone on the table. With the screen flashing, we can see notifications regardless of how the iPhone is positioned, since both the rear flash and the screen can work independently or at the same time.
How to enable screen and flash blinking for alerts
Turning on screen flashing is really easy. Apple offers this option in Accessibility settings. The steps to enable it are:
- We open the Settings app on our iPhone.
- We go into Accessibility.
- Under Hearing, we tap Audio & Visual.
- We scroll down and select LED Flash for Alerts.
- We turn on the main option and then choose between LED Flash, Screen, or Both.
We also have a few extra options. We can decide whether the flashing appears only when the iPhone is locked, whether it stays active even when the device is unlocked, or whether we want it to keep working while the phone is in Silent Mode.
This flexibility is very useful, since it lets us adapt alerts to our exact circumstances. Screen flashing doesn’t interfere with normal iPhone use, because the animation is brief enough. At the same time, its energy consumption is optimized so it doesn’t significantly affect the battery with a normal number of notifications.
With this feature, our iPhone makes sure no notification goes unnoticed, no matter where we are or how we place the device. A small improvement that gives us more convenience and the flexibility to receive alerts in the way that suits us best.
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