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How to enable the notification light on Nexus 5X, 6P

You may not even realize it, but the latest Nexus devices have an LED notification light.

Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani
Jason Cipriani Contributing Writer, ZDNet
Jason Cipriani is based out of beautiful Colorado and has been covering mobile technology news and reviewing the latest gadgets for the last six years. His work can also be found on sister site CNET in the How To section, as well as across several more online publications.
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Jason Cipriani
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Google's new Nexus devices, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, are both equipped with an RGB LED notification light. The small light is a convenient way to remind or alert you of pending notifications.

However, you'll need to enable the small blinking light before you can begin using it.

Enabling it takes a few taps:

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
  • Launch the Settings app.
  • Tap on Sound & notification.
  • Slide the switch next to Pulse Notification light to the On position.

When enabled, new notifications will cause the light to blink. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any sort of native tool built into Android 6.0 Marshmallow that allows you to customize the alerts.

Thankfully, you can use an app such as Light Flow to do just that. I've installed the free and paid version of the app and have success in customize the frequency of the light's pulse and color.

On the 5X, the light is found beneath the screen in the speaker grille. On the 6P, it's found in the top-left corner, next to the front-facing camera's lens.