Someone already figured out how to fully control Pixel 11 Pro’s ‘HiLight’ and make it useful [Gallery]

The "HiLight" feature on Google's Pixel 11 Pro devices has been heavily limited by the company, but it has been hijacked by a determined individual to make the smartphone's RGB light a lot more useful. Android being Android, developer @Dhananjay_Tech discovered how to control the Pixel 11 Pro's "HiLight" LED, despite Google explicitly stating it wouldn't open the feature to third-party developers.

The result of this discovery is "HiLight Studio," an app that grants users full control of the Pixel 11 Pro's light, allowing them to do a myriad of things.

Where Google supports call notifications and a status light for Gemini, this app enables users to use the "HiLight" feature as a customizable notification LED with patterns and custom color choices. It can be customized per-app basis with granular settings and presets can be built and exported to share with other users. You can also have "HiLight" active all the time if you want. This is exactly what we wanted from this feature.

To install the app, you'll need to sideload it from Github, then use Shizuku and ADB sideloading from a computer to finalize the install. Even after installation, the app needs to be reactivated every time the phone is rebooted. Google didn't exactly make "HiLight" easy to control – it's a wild development that someone has figured out how to do this on day one.

The discovery opens up hope that Google might make this all possible directly through the software someday. However, given that this is sideloaded and uses advanced permissions, install at your own risk. Follow Ben on Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram for more updates. Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news.