A new app makes the HiLight feature on the Pixel 11 Pro actually useful

Google’s new HiLight notification LED on the Pixel 11 Pro is nearly useless. Out of the box, the only two things it can glow for are when the phone is face down and you’re interacting with Gemini, or when you get a call from a favorite contact. And even then, it can only glow one of five colors!

This is a massive wasted opportunity for a feature that used to be so beloved on older Android phones, so developers have wasted no time doing what Google won’t.

X user Dhananjay_Tech developed a new app called HiLight Studio, which lets you do practically anything you want with the HiLight LED array. Did you receive a new Slack notification that mentions a certain word? Make HiLight pulse in a rainbow array. Get a new text? Make HiLight spin in a wave of green. You can even control things like timing per cycle, brightness, intensity, and saturation.

Unlike the official feature from Google, you can select any color you want through eight preselected colors, or a classic color slider. HiLight Studio even lets you import and export presets, so you can share them with your friends.

The app isn’t on the Play Store quite yet, so you’ll have to grab it from GitHub and sideload a couple of apps to make it work. Running it requires unlocking developer settings and tweaking a couple things on your phone. It’s not as easy as a regular app, but if you’re willing and comfortable, it’s worth it. I know I’m going to be using the hell out of this.

Photos by David Imel / The verge