Given the ubiquitous nature of the iPhone it’s not such a surprise that owners would want to make them a little more personalised. Brave souls may mod and unlock their phones, but for the more moderate user there are a number of products on the market.

The ILight, for use with the iPhone 5, provides a lot more than your average phone protection as it allows your phone to light up when you get either a call or notifications. In the box you get a back cover, mine was orange. I am unsure whether you can get different colours and the official web page doesn’t mention colour choice.

The case fit on your phone like any other case, but you also get a set of four screen protectors and four inserts which changes the reverse of the phone with differing patterns., a MATRIX looking pattern, a generally techie looking pattern, a map of the world and one which will make the reverse of your phone look as if it has taken a bullet.

In practice it works well, lighting up the whole back and sides of the phone when it rings or you get a message, so far so good. The cover does not cover up the camera and the makers have even included a small window which can be opened if you want to use the flash to take photos, rather than light the phone.

The thing I didn’t like about the product was the complete lack of information as to how you’re supposed to get the thing to work. The add-on relies on the tiny light situated in the top left hand corner of the phone's back. For most people you have only ever seen this light up when you take a picture. The cover uses this bright light to diffuse through the whole case. Only problem is the package does not tell you how this is supposed to work. So here’s how to get it to work.

You need to go into settings, then into general and you should see a further option for accessibility. In this subfolder check the LED Flash for Alerts. The last thing you need to know is that none of this will work while the screen is active, so you touch your power button, lightly, once to turn the screen on. With all that done the next time someone or something contacts your phone the whole thing will light up.

So it does well in succeeding in what it set out to achieve, but the lack of detailed instructions was annoying.

6

Charles Packer