About the LED on the Jolla Phone 2026

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I’m not sure if this should be posted here, but does anyone have information about the notification LED they could share with me? I keep looking at the pictures and I can’t even make it out! :anguished_face:

I’ll be honest: I am interested on the Jolla 2 phone because of the notification LED. Sure, I have been tracking Jolla, but without this detail, I would have waited for their next phone. The high screen resolution, high refresh rate don’t tell me much in practice and I have those disabled on my Android. But that simple LED… that changes everything!

Before finalizing its purchase, I would like to make sure this is better than the puny and useless notification LED present on the Nokia N9. I loved that phone, but the LED was next to useless! :anguished_face:

I recall, long ago, being shown a clamshell phone with a great notification LED. I don’t recall if it was an Ericson or a Motorola (I think it was not Nokia), but it showed how things ought to be:

  • It was placed on an edge, so you could see it directly from the top or from one side;
  • It was bright;
  • It was RGB; and
  • It would flash in different colors depending on the notification (missed call, message, …).

That was… 25 years ago!? And it seems things have only walked backwards in this regard! The N9 had an always-on display, so the misuse of the LED was simply an annoyance, but the Androids I have seen or owned have no LED! :persevering_face: I think the same goes for iPhones.

I get it, companies want to bait people into picking and staring at their phones to check if they missed something, fueling their phone addiction. If the phones had a notification LED, people would happily continue with their lives after a quick glance at the device standing on their desk, and focusing instead on the faces of the people who are important in their lives, connecting with them and giving them the attention they deserve.

So, in order to help us spend our times (and phone batteries) more efficiently, here is my modest suggestion list for Jolla, that seems simple enough to be doable:

  • Add a nice RGB LED that can be seen from multiple angles and is bright enough to be noticeable in well-lit environments (I imagine we could dim it through PWM if or when needed);
  • The LED can be used by SFOS apps for notifications in a simple to use high-level API (phone models without LED will do nothing); and
  • If possible, later on, a low-level API available for applications to use the RGB LED outside the notification system.

Ideally the new Jolla phone is hardware-compatible with my vision. As examples, here are a few things I would like to eventually see notified through the RGB LED (and they could be combined, based on flashing color and frequency):

  • The battery is low;
  • The battery is critically low;
  • The battery has charged over 80%;
  • You have missed a phone call;
  • You have missed a phone call from a number in your short list;
  • You have missed multiple calls;
  • A new SMS message was received;
  • A new SMS message was received, and it came from a number not in your phone book (likely low priority);
  • A new message was received by a specific messenging app (Discord, Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, Matrix, XMPP, …);
  • There is a calendar appointment triggered;
  • The microphone is currently recording;
  • There is a camera timer counting down;
  • Did you forget to insert the PIN? The phone is not fully operational yet and with the screen off, it is difficult to notice it;
  • There has been a serious error and your attention is required;
  • The phone is currently booting, the screen is not operating yet, but the RGB LED can provide some feedback to help you sort things out.

You can do this with sound, too but that only works when you are:

  • not deaf
  • not in silent mode
  • not in a noisy environment
  • not in ear’s reach of the phone

In some of the situations above you can employ vibration too, but the ideal would be to combine them all. If nothing else, because you can keep that LED flashing for 15 minutes without worries.

Should Jolla wish for a detailed technical document with whats hows and whys, I am available to deliver and adapt to Jolla’s feedback.

Hopefully I managed to emphasize Jolla’s notification LED as a feature that could make Jolla stand out even more from the crowd while providing real value to its users.

Now, back to the location of that notification LED on Jolla Phone 2026… nope, still can’t locate it!

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First of all J2 has a notification LED in the notch as far as I remember.
Other than that, im not trying to be rude or anything, but how can someone possibly consider what you described as a “distraction free” and “easy notification glance” system?
I check the always on display on phones/watches with literally one quick half second glance and I don’t need to check my notes on color codes trying to decipher what each one means.

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It can be made distraction free and easy at glance by programming it exactly to your needs (and not more than your needs)

Personally, I use my Xperia 10iii with the notification LED for a distraction-free experience. The phone stays on the table for hours (because my life does not revolve around the phone). I also frequently forget it in silent mode. I only touch the phone if I notice the blue LED which indicates me I have a new SMS or a missed call.
(It also shines green for emails, which is annoying because I don’t want to be disturbed about e-mails. Maybe I’ll fix it in the configuration someday.)

If the events listed by @gede would be available, I would set blue LED for missed SMS/phone calls (blinking for short list), red for low battery (blinking for critically low). I could possibly set green for messages from specific communication apps, if I were using communication apps.

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You’ve read the whole post, analyzed the 20 different combinations of color and intensity, the sound combinations on top of that, and somehow you found that comparable with your use case that can be summarized to “I see the blue light and I pick up my phone”?
Or you’re just trolling me?

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On my Xperia 10 the colors are:

  • Green for missed calls
  • Blue for unread SMS/other messaging app messages
  • Red for when the phone is turning off or rebooting
  • White for charging

If I recall correctly, the JP-1301 had the same colors, and Jolla C didn’t have RGB-led, so it was white for everything.

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To your question "how can someone possibly consider [this] a distraction free…”, my answer is indeed “by selecting a small subset of combinations”. The important part is the proposed change enables users to design their own distraction-free experience by having an API access to more events.

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So someone could write an app editor for the LED-Color-Config file located in:

[defaultuser@JollaC2 ~]$ cat /etc/mce/20hybris-led.ini
# Configuration file for MCE - Normal led patterns for hybris backend

[LEDPatternHybris]

# Patterns used for the hybris hardware;
# Please prefix pattern names with Pattern to avoid name space clashes
#
# [0] Priority (0 - highest, 255 - lowest)
# [1] ScreenOn
#     0 only show pattern when the display is off
#     1 show pattern even when the display is on
#     2 only show pattern when the display is off, including acting dead
#     3 show pattern even when the display is on, including acting dead
#     4 only show pattern if the display is off, or if in acting dead
#     5 always show pattern, even if LED disabled
#     6 Like 0, but automatically disable after display on
#     7 show pattern even when the display is dim
# [2] Timeout in seconds before pattern is disabled, 0 for infinite
# [3] OnPeriod in milliseconds
# [4] OffPeriod in milliseconds
# [5] RGB24 as hexadecimal number
#
# Note: If blinking is enabled, only full intensity colors are applicable
#       i.e. red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan or white should be used.

PatternDeviceOn=254;0;0;0;0;0000ff
# 0000ff = blue

PatternDisplayDimmed=252;7;0;0;0;001f1f
# 001f1f=low intensity cyan

PatternPowerOn=10;3;0;0;0;bfbfbf
#bfbfbf = grey75

PatternPowerOff=8;3;0;0;0;ff0000
# ff0000 = red

PatternCommunication=30;6;0;500;1500;ff00ff
# ff00ff = magenta

PatternCommunicationCall=25;6;0;500;1500;00ff00
# 00ff00 = green

PatternCommunicationIM=30;6;0;500;1500;0000ff
# 0000ff = blue

PatternCommunicationSMS=26;6;0;500;1500;0000ff
# 0000ff = blue

PatternCommunicationEmail=27;6;0;500;1500;ffff00
# ffff00 = yellow

PatternCommonNotification=30;1;0;500;1500;00ffff
# 00ffff = cyan

PatternWebcamActive=20;1;0;0;0;7f0000
# 8b0000 ~ DarkRed

PatternBatteryCharging=50;4;0;0;0;7f7f7f
# 7f7f7f = gray50

PatternBatteryFull=40;4;0;500;2500;ffffff
# ffffff = white

PatternCommunicationAndBatteryFull=29;1;0;500;2500;ffffff
# ffffff = white

PatternBatteryChargingFlat=50;4;0;0;0;7fbfff
# 87ceff ~ SkyBlue1

PatternUserFeedback=9;3;0;0;0;00ff00
# 00ff00 = green

[LED]
# A list of all pattern names that should be configured
LEDPatternsRequired=
# A list of pattern names that should not be used even if configured
LEDPatternsDisabled=
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In my opinion, the basic set of events and their LED signal color should be kept unchanged (fixed) on each device for debugging, manuals, error description, etc. Other options - combinations - set by the user should not match these “standard”. They could be flashing, switching colors red/blue, green/red, etc.
The current system of LED notifications suits me. :wink:

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Fully agree. My post was more for people who like to know how it works and what are the default values.

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i have all changed from defaults on my jolla-1 and same colors having on my secondary xperias, so i think it should not be fixed to match any “standard” - sailfish is also about that everyone could customize almost everything to fits own needs and style :slight_smile:
the default fixed colors for discharged battery when phone is off and flash/fastboot colors are enough i think

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All of these are already there in SailfishOS on the Sony Xperia 10 III, so they will probably also be there on the Jolla 2.

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Relax! If you don’t like that person (or his style/suspected use of AI), this is okay. But if we all keep reacting like this, we will scare away possible users…

And also, it is just rude and there is no need for that. Noone requires you to read/react to that person.

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The notch was indeed the most likely candidate (the other possibility would be the flash having dual use). Thank you for confirming. Let us hope the LED it is good.

You raise an interesting question, and I wish I had addressed it in my original post. Luckily, @moripeluka did a good job of explaining it, as it seems they have a similar relation with their cell phone as I do. But in short, you can see a LED notification from five meters away or more, maybe even with your peripheral vision.

What I talked about can be useless for the way you use your cell phone, which has evolved and adapted to your preferences. I am glad it satisfies you and I wish to take nothing away from that. Perhaps, as @moripeluka mentioned, it could even complement your usage with one or two led colors for the most important events (or not – sorry, I’m not familiar with Sailfish OS).

I would be curious, however, how much battery does an always on display cost. On the N9 it was close to 10% if I recall correctly. I charge my phone every 2 or 3 days (with sporadic use and some battery saving options enabled). Is read Sailfish OS is kind to batteries. Do people achieve this charging period?

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From what I can understand, you cannot do two quick flashes and then a long pause with that file. It is OK, it seems to be suitable simple and match its needs. Ideally I would like to see something more elaborate, but I could live with that.

I am glad to learn that the original Jolla and some Sony phones made use of RGB LED notifications.

I think the usual “if you change it, you assume the responsibility” works fine for this. :slightly_smiling_face: Some people may have special needs (e.g., color blindness).

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They are on 10 III but they are missing from 10 V, and I miss them more than the camera.

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As Jolla sells more phones we can expect more users here (are there more Sailfish communities?) – if for no other reason than to seek help while adapting to their new phone. More persons means greater diversity of opinions and forms of expressing them. And we need to be able to handle them adequately, because Jolla cannot survive a “toxic community” label. And we want Jolla to succeed, right?

I’ll take the examples of @eson and @Edz here, who were quick to “shame” me for using generative AI to write my post. First of all, if you are thinking of accusing someone, first make sure your accusation is correct, because your LLM detection heuristics are so wrong! People used to write long texts before Twitter, does anyone remember? I spent over two hours on that post, writing, re-writing, editing… and you did not take 30 seconds to paste my text on an LLM detection test before publicly shaming me based on their incorrect gut feeling. That feels wrong to me, and on top of it, why act unpleasant? What would be the gain in making me feel insulted? How about replying, instead, with something constructive so that the other person can learn from their mistakes or can clarify their position and not feel offended?

But let us imagine that I really used AI to write my text, what would be the crime? If I do feel able to express myself in English and use a tool to help me, isn’t that better than a broken or confusing message typed by me? Using machine translation is not a world of difference, either. And if the argument is that people are simply not putting in the effort, well, how much effort was placed in a one-sentence diss and a threat of physical assault? Again, please, be respectful and considerate of other people. You don’t know why they did what they did.

I do not know those two users I mentioned. Maybe they are nice persons that had a bad day, or got triggered by something they perceived. Still, as a new user here, my feeling is that this forum is like a minefield – you need to be careful or someone may explode on your face and you never know when or why. Reinforcing what @NIS said, it certainly made me think of all the other things I could spend my €579 that would be less upsetting in the long run.

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It is extremely painful to read AI generated posts that sometimes make no sense. On top of that the worst part is that you read 500 words of empty sentences pointing out the obvious, or over-explaining something that can be phrased with just a few words.
Icing on the cake is the random emojis in some cases.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I would highly prefer “XYZ app work on new phone, yes or no?” compared to 1000 words essay that asks the exact same thing, makes me dizzy trying to follow along, and wastes my time for no reason.

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This is exactly what I fear will happen

This is also exactly what I fear new users will percieve the forum as. And then they will just get frustrated because a) they get attacked and b) they didn’t find the answer to a problem they had and this can lead to them leaving Sailfish again which would be a shame

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I feel you. It may be unpleasant and frustrating when someone puts in 1 minute of effort to generate the text that will cost 4 minutes to read for 25 persons, and the original poster seems to not even have bothered to read before posting. That is nasty, yes, I’m not defending that. But that is bad usage of a tool.

I trust that, once educated, most persons will make an effort to do better in the future. We just need to explain it to them. That is my point.

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Well, for what it is worth, most posts were OK, bad posts were flagged (not by me, I only read them on my email) and your actions showed that some people to care about keeping a good environment around here, and that is encouraging. Be aware that your efforts are appreciated.

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