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  • Feature REQ: Turn flashlight on/off by holding power button

Hello,

Feature request: being able to turn on/off flashlight by holding the power button when the screen is off. Absolutely the same as LineageOS already has.

This it turns out was such a QOL improvement for me, as now having to turn the screen on, slide the notification bar, turn on the flashlight, then turn it off and power of the screen is an unnecessary tedium.

Anyone else feeling this would be a major QOL improvement?

This feature has been requested before. See the following:

https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/1301

https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/498

https://github.com/GrapheneOS/os-issue-tracker/issues/636

Unless this feature is added to AOSP, it likely won't be added into GrapheneOS.

Also I recommend looking at the GrapheneOS issue tracker before posting a feature request to ensure you're not making a duplicate request.

Thanks for linking these. I had not looked at github before.

Devs stance is pretty clear on it, good to know.

I must say, I don't understand the developers' dismissive attitude towards this extremely practical feature.

    dirksche We as consumers should understand that GrapheneOS is a non-profit organisation with a tiny team of full time developers.

    GrapheneOS will always prioritize privacy and security related features. Unless these non privacy/security related features are added to AOSP, I see no reason to expect the small team of developers to prioritize these features.

    Being in their Matrix room I have seen the stress these developers have to endure to put out this wonderful open source project. Have some empathy for them.

    Thanks for your fast reply. I got a lot of empathy for the developers. And I'm really thankfull that they develop this amazing OS. Nevertheless am I irritated. 🤷‍♂️

      dirksche I understand totally.
      My concern comes from the fact that in the FOSS community it's common for consumers to expect so much from developers that developers often quit out of frustration. Call me selfish but I'd hate for GrapheneOS to go under because the community became too toxic for the devs to handle.

        dirksche Nevertheless am I irritated. 🤷‍♂️

        There is a solution to that - you can implement the feature yourself by coding or paying someone to code it for you and then ask GOS to include it

          dirksche The power button is wired into the PMIC and has other functionality besides just turning the screen on and off. You don't want to be using that for controlling the flashlight.

          Graphite Is there a list of devs who take money for coding feature requests?

          I honestly dont know as never had the need for that, but, I'm guessing there must be places for freelancers.

            Puh. I'm very sorry that I started this weird discussion. I'm out. 😁

              f13a-6c3a

              I'm sure there are many freelancers. But how many have ever actually submitted a pull request that has been accepted by GrapheneOS?

              Many open source projects have a very tight knit project team. I'm not sure the recommendation of paying freelancers has ever actually been done on this project.

                dirksche Puh. I'm very sorry that I started this weird discussion. I'm out. 😁

                That's all it took? Really? It must not be then "this extremely practical feature" :)

                Graphite I'm not sure the recommendation of paying freelancers has ever actually been done on this project.

                I was thinking about that when typing the recommendation and if it was me who needed something like that, I'd probably start in the Matrix chat, get some details from the mods and devs and MAYBE, offer one of the GOS devs a quick side gig (if it was indeed quick) to get it done. If unsuccessful, then I'd re-evaluate based on the probability of GOS including my pull request, or just pay to have GOS fork of my own with the function I need.
                The bottom line: there is no free lunch :)

                  Along with getting someone to work on and implement features like this, it also has to be considered whether the project actually wants the feature to be added in the first place, and whether it's something that they want to maintain going forward.

                  In all of the issues linked in this thread, the project's position was explicitly clear on that it is not a feature that they want to add. Even if someone submitted a pull request for it, either as a volunteer or someone who was paid to do it, it's very unlikely that GrapheneOS would accept that patch.

                    matchboxbananasynergy now I'm getting irritated. 🤷‍♂️
                    /s

                    That's it! That's the answer - not happening in GOS, the only other solution for someone who absolutely needs a function that's not in GOS is to fork their own

                    matchboxbananasynergy

                    Very true. For this feature request, it's never going to happen.

                    There are other features that I would like to see that currently have a feature request open in the OS issue tracker on GitHub. Low priority and been open for a while. I think those are the targets to get outside help.

                    f13a-6c3a MAYBE, offer one of the GOS devs a quick side gig

                    1. No joy. I asked on GitHub if I could donate just to get higher priority for this feature, and was promptly shot down.

                    Features are not prioritised based on the amount of donations/bounties for it. GrapheneOS team are not contract workers.