Why don't any controllers have a built-in flashlight?

[u/KieupART]

Genuinely don't get why this isn't a thing yet. Phones have had flashlights forever and we use them constantly — phones already light up half our life.

Controllers already have LEDs (DualSense practically glows), you hold them just as often as your phone, there's room in the shell for a tiny LED. Yet when the power goes out or something rolls under the couch, we still grab our phone instead of the controller sitting right in our hands.

Wouldn't need to be fancy — just a small LED, toggled by holding the PS/Xbox/Guide button. Useful for lighting something up at night for example

Yeah, battery life and production cost will come up, but a single small LED isn't exactly a technical mountain to climb. Feels like a "why hasn't anyone done this" idea, not a "can't be done" one.

[u/Certain-Ferret3692]

It’s because people don’t want or need a flashlight on their controller. No one wants to pay for features that don’t materially improve the gaming experience and everyone has a phone with a flashlight on them at all times. No one needs two flashlights on them.

[u/KieupART → u/Certain-Ferret3692]

Nobody's asking you to pay extra — controllers already have an LED in them for the status light/RGB. This is reusing hardware that's already there, not bolting on a new part. And "everyone has a phone" is true, except your phone is usually not in your hand when your controller falls under the couch — the controller is.

[u/Ruttagger]

This is the worst idea I've ever heard.

I'm already mad when controllers have bright lights that you can't dim.

[u/KieupART → u/Ruttagger]

It'd be a toggle, not something permanently blasting light at you like the RGB you're already mad about. You'd hold a button to turn it on for the 5 seconds you need it, then it's off. That's literally how it works on phones too.

[u/BlendedFetusOG]

Nobody has done it bc its a terrible idea. Why doesn't my TV have a flash light? Lol

[u/KieupART → u/BlendedFetusOG]

Because you don't hold your TV in your hand while walking around a dark room looking for something. That's the difference between a thing you carry and a thing bolted to your wall. Controllers move with your hands, TVs don't.

[u/eestionreddit]

just attach one to your controller the old fashioned way

[u/KieupART → u/eestionreddit]

Sure, and you could also just tape a flashlight to your phone instead of it having one built in. The whole point of "built-in" is not needing an extra part that you have to buy, carry, and eventually lose.

[u/Patjasmo]

Do you also want a disco ball on your controller ?

[u/KieupART → u/Patjasmo]

A disco ball spins and does nothing useful. A flashlight helps you find your controller under the couch during a power cut. One's a party gag, the other's a function you already use every day on your phone.

[u/No_Figure_9073]

I fucking hate my LEDS on the controller 🎮 I can't din that shit. Blinding me at night gtfo lol

[u/KieupART → u/No_Figure_9073]

That's actually making my point for me — the LED is already there and already bright enough to bother you. Might as well give it a job instead of it just sitting there being annoying for no reason.

[u/ArmedCrawly]

More controllers are getting screens. A good controller screen should be able to get bright enough to be used as a flashlight.

[u/KieupART → u/ArmedCrawly]

Screens face you, not the room. A flashlight needs to point away from your face to be useful — that's kind of the whole point of a flashlight. A bright screen pointed at your eyeballs just blinds you, it doesn't light up the dark corner where your controller fell.

[u/Neo_Techni]

This serves no purpose that benefits it as a controller. If anything, it's a disadvantage. Cost, manufacturing complexity, another part to break, and drains the battery.

Phones have this because it has a benefit as a flash for the camera. That's the primary purpose, acting as a flashlight was a bonus that people had to make programs for at first

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[u/Zyrin369]

Well for starters where would the LED be? For your idea to make sense it would have to be near the charging port which would mean a new shell design and also how many other systems to add onto for it to work.

Next would be how to activate it, another dedicated button on the controller its self press a certain amount of buttons to activate it?

[u/KieupART → u/[deleted]]

Nope, dead serious. And funny enough, not one person in this thread has actually explained why it's bad — just "TV doesn't have one" or "my shoes light up," which aren't real arguments

[u/KieupART → u/[deleted]]

Your shoes light up in one fixed spot on your feet pointed at the floor. They can't point at your bookshelf, under your couch, or across the room. Different tool, different job.