You can use the LED icon editor app to assign LED icons for individual contacts or apps, or create your own LED icons, if you use any of Samsung’s LED cover (e.g., Galaxy S21 Smart LED View Cover or the Galaxy S21 LED back cover).
This Galaxy S21 how-to guide shows you how to customize LED icons for individual contacts and apps, create your own LED icons in the LED icon editor, disconnect LED icons from some contacts and apps, and delete LED icons.
Please note, Galaxy S21 Smart LED View Cover are for all three models of Galaxy S21(Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21Ultra). But the LED Back Cover are not available Galaxy S21 Ultra.
What is the LED Icon Editor?
When you attach the Galaxy S21 Smart LED View (Wallet) Cover to the phone, the LED icon editor app will be activated immediately.
In other words, the app is pre-installed on all Galaxy S21 phones. But it is hidden unless a compatible LED cover is detected.
For Galaxy S21, there are two types of LED cover compatible with the LED icon editor:
- Galaxy S21 LED View (Wallet) Cover for Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra.
- Galaxy S21 LED Back Cover for Galaxy S21 and S21+.
Once the app is activated, you will see a new app icon for the LED icon editor. You can add it to the Home screen.
At the same time, you will find an additional entry in Settings —Advanced features — Accessories. Under the LED View cover (or LED back cover), you can find the entry of the LED icon editor.
You can open the LED icon editor from either the Apps screen (and Home screen) or Settings.
The LED icon editor app lets you:
- Assign a LED icon to one or more contacts so that you will know who is calling you by peeking on the icon on the cover.
- Assign a LED icon to one or more apps so that you will know which app is sending you notifications based on the LED icon on the cover.
- Create your own LED icons.
- Manage the association between LED icons and contacts (and apps).
- Edit or delete your own LED icons.
Please note, you cannot change/customize the LED icon for text messages (SMS). And the LED notification icon for text messages will be identical for all contacts on Galaxy S21 Smart LED View Cover. The customization only applies to calls.
Do not confuse LED icons with notification icons and status icons on the status bar. LED icons are shown on the LED cover only and they are exclusive to LED covers.
Customize LED icons for contacts and apps with the LED icon editor
When you open the LED Icon Editor app, you will see a list of pre-installed (preloaded) LED icons, as shown in the screenshot below.
You can assign any of these icons to any contacts (for incoming call notification) or any apps (for notifications) so that you will know who is calling you from the LED icon. You can then accept or reject the call without opening the case.
For example, you want to use the Friends icon for one or two contacts. So, tap the LED icon, as shown below.
On the Friends icon page, by default, you are on the Calls tab (as shown in the screenshot above), where you can assign contacts to this icon.
Currently, this icon is not used by any contacts. So, tap the Add button to open the Contacts app and select contacts.
You can assign multiple contacts to one LED icon. But one contact can only be assigned one LED icon.
If you select one contact who was assigned to another LED icon (old icon), then the new icon will take effect immediately.
All these LED icons can also be assigned to apps for notifications. Tap the Notification button, as shown below, to switch to the notifications panel.
Then tap the Add button to select one or more apps for this icon.
Once you assign any contacts or apps to the icon, you will see a number other than 0 below the name of the LED icon.
For example, after assigning two contacts and two apps to the Friends icon, the number below the name now is 4, as shown in the screenshot above.
Create your own LED icons in the LED icon editor
In addition to using the preloaded LED icons, you can also create your own LED icons in the app.
On the LED icons screen (the first screen when you open the LED icon editor), tap the Custom button, as shown in the screenshot below, to manage your own LED icons.
Because we haven’t created any LED icons, so the list is empty.
You can tap the + button to create your own custom LED icons.
On the Create LED icon page, as shown above, You can tap any dots to choose them to be lighted up for the icon.
You may also think the drawing area is a canvas. You can use Draw, Erase, Redo, and Undo buttons, as shown above.
After composing the LED icon, you can then give it a meaningful name in the LED icon name field so that you know what it is after a few weeks.
You must tap the Save button, as shown in the screenshot below, to save your LED icon.
Otherwise, all your customization will be discarded.
After tapping the Save button, you should see a head-up notification, as shown above,
New LED icon XXX created.
Now, you can use the newly created LED icons just like the preloaded icons.
For example, you can add contacts and/or apps to this icon.
Manage contacts and apps for LED icons
After assigning contacts or apps to the icons, you also re-assign a new icon for the contact or app in the LED icon editor app. You can also remove the association.
In the LED icon page, for example, in this example, in the Friends icon page, as shown below, you can choose one of the following two methods to manage contacts and apps for this icon:
- Tap and hold the contact (or app) you want to manage (marked as A).
- Tap the menu key (3 vertical dots) (marked as B).
The workflow will be slightly different, depending on the method you choose. We will explore them one by one.
If you tap and hold (long tap) the contact (method A), you will notice the contact is now selected, as shown above.
You can tap (not hold because you are in selection mode now) other contacts to add them to the selection. If you tap the selected contact, it will be deselected.
For the selected contacts, as shown on the top right of the screenshot above, you can:
- Set icon. You can assign a new icon for the selected contacts. Because one contact can only be assigned to one LED icons in the LED icon editor, the selected contacts will use the new icon, not this one any more.
- Delete. You can delete (disconnect) the selected contacts from this icon. So, it deletes the association between the selected contacts and this icon. It does NOT delete the LED icon. Of course, it does not delete the selected contacts from your phone either.
If you use method B, after tapping the menu key, you will get the menu of the icon, as shown below.
The LED icon menu varies depending on:
- whether It is a preloaded LED icon, or a custom LED icon (created by you). For custom LED icons, you will have additional options to edit or delete the icon (read on). For preloaded icons, the LED icon editor app does not allow you to delete or modify them.
- whether you are on the Calls tab or Notifications tab. If you are on the Calls tab (default), you can manage contacts associated with this icon. On the notifications tab, you can manage apps linked to this icon.
For example, as shown below, in the Calls tab, you can tap Manage contacts to access the selection page discussed earlier.
If you are on the Notifications tab, as shown in the screenshot above, you can select apps instead of contacts.
Edit and delete LED icons in the LED icon editor
The LED icons editor app also lets you edit and delete custom LED icons (which you created).
Please note, You can only edit or delete custom LED icons, not the preloaded ones.
As shown below, on the Custom tab, you can tap and hold (long tapping) any of the icons to select it.
Once in the selection mode, you can select more icons.
Then, you can tap the Delete button to delete the selected LED icons.
Alternatively, you can tap the Delete button first. Then it will ask you to select icons.
If you want to edit a custom LED icon in the LED icon editor, then you need to open the icon first.
For example, on myIcon page, as shown below, you can tap the menu key to get the menu.
On the LED icon menu, as shown in the screenshot above, you can:
- Edit. You can modify the LED icon on the canvas.
- Delete. Delete this custom LED icon. All contacts and apps assigned to this icon will become unassigned and
- Manage apps (or manage contacts if you are on the Notifications tab).
As mentioned, the Edit and Delete entries are only available for the custom LED icons (which you created in the LED icon editor app). You can not edit or delete the preloaded LED icons in the app.
If you have any questions on the LED icon editor app or customize LED icons for the LED Wallet Cover (Smart LED View Cover) or LED Back Cover, please let us know in the comments.
The community will help you.
You may also share your thoughts on Galaxy S21 vs Galaxy S21+ vs Galaxy S21 Ultra in the comment box.
If you have any questions on using Galaxy S21, you may check our detailed step-by-step Galaxy S21 guides:
- Galaxy S21 new features guides.
- Galaxy S21 how-to guides.
- Galaxy S21 camera guides.
- Galaxy S21 accessories guides.
You can also post questions or share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
The official Samsung Galaxy S21 user manual (PDF) in your local language can be read and download here.
If you want, you can drop us an email on the contact us page.
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