Flashlight and SOS
Turn your screen into a light, switch on the camera torch where your browser allows it, and flash SOS if you are ever in real trouble.
Screen light
For the most light, also turn your phone's own brightness all the way up.
Tap the light to hide or show the controls. The screen is kept awake while it is on, where the browser supports it.
Camera torch
Uses the camera's light only. The browser will ask for camera permission: nothing is shown, recorded or uploaded, and the camera is released when you switch it off.
Runs on your phone. Nothing is uploaded or saved.
SOS signal
Flashes · · · — — — · · · over and over: three short, three long, three short. It is understood worldwide as a call for help.
Only in a real emergency. First call for help if you can:
Flashing light warning. Flashing can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. It flashes no more than 2 times a second, but don't point it at others' faces and stop if anyone feels unwell.
Good to know
The camera's LED is far brighter and reaches further. The screen light is softer and lights a face, a lock or a bag without dazzling. A page can't change your phone's own brightness: you do that.
A web page can only switch on the torch through the camera, and many browsers, including those on iPhones, don't allow it yet. The phone's built-in torch, in its quick settings, always works.
SOS was picked in 1906 because it is easy to send and hard to miss, not as short for anything. It is sent as one unbroken signal.
A full-bright screen and the LED both drain the battery. In a real emergency, call first, then flash in bursts when you see or hear help nearby.
Sources: UAE Government portal u.ae, "Handling emergencies" (999 police, 998 ambulance, 997 civil defence); W3C, Understanding WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.3.1 "Three Flashes or Below Threshold" (content should not flash more than three times in any one second); W3C MediaStream Image Capture (the "torch" camera setting a page can request); Wikipedia, "SOS" (adopted by the International Radiotelegraph Convention of 1906; the letters don't stand for anything; sent as one unbroken sequence). Morse timing here: a dot is 0.25 s, a dash 0.75 s. This is not a replacement for calling the emergency services.