Flashlight (John Haney Software)

Cost as reviewed: FREE

When I saw that this app was in the top 20 on iTunes, I was a little shocked.  I wasn’t quite sure the the appeal of the app was, but I felt I owed it to all of you out there to download it and give it a shot.

As I expected, I’m not a huge fan of this app.  I should caveat that by saying that this is by no fault of the developer or the app itself, it’s just not something that I see myself using.  When I think of a flashlight, I think of something with a pretty significant beam of light that I can shine on something.  Due to the nature of the iPhone screen, this app can really only be used to illuminate a relatively small area relatively near the phone.  That having been said, there is quite a lot that has been built into this app.

The main feature of the app is to display one solid color on the iPhone screen (pretty much any color is possible since you can create your own custom color) including white and black (not sure why you would want black since you would save battery power by simply locking the phone instead).  In addition to this simple solid color feature, the more interesting part of the app is its “strobe” effects.  You can select from several different strobe types (such as emergency, S.O.S. and trippy).  You can then customize the strobe effect with the frequency and brightness (I assume that’s what “Light on” means).  I suppose these could be pretty useful if you were in a very dark situation and needed to alert someone to your presence.  I wonder how far away you could see this if set to the brightest setting (of course, you’re giving up longevity for brightness since the battery will drain faster).

All-in-all, I think the app is well-executed with quite a few customization options, but I don’t see myself using it very often.

Flashlight Website