Do You Use It? iPhone 15 Pro Action Button

I’ve tried doing nothing, but I’ve left it at the default toggle silent mode for now. I’ve had the button pressed in my pocket accidentally at times when I didn’t want it to be, so I don’t want to use any other action, and I may switch it back to do nothing.

Honestly I’d prefer the silent switch over the action button, because that never toggled accidentally.

I use it to open my expenses app so I can scan receipts.

I have my iPhone in the Apple Clear Case. Because pressing a button requires a hard push, I haven’t bothered to change it from the default.

I don’t have an iPhone 15 Pro. It’s impossible to say for sure what I would do if I had an action button, but it’s hard for me to imagine using it for anything aside from the default silent mode toggle. I use the silent mode switch on my 12 mini a few times a day at least, and I can’t think of anything else that I both access regularly and want to be able to get to with the speed and ease the action button provides.

Like Adam, I was excited about the concept of the button when it was announced, but I’ve never found a use for it. I literally forget it’s there.

I just checked and it’s now set to Flashlight. I had it for something different at first and never used it, so I tried Flashlight, since I do use my phone that way quite often. But I never remember to use the button – I activate the flashlight from the Control Center or Lock Screen.

The biggest problem is that you can’t just tap the button. You have to hold it down it activate it. That’s just dumb. I guess Apple was worried about accidental pushes, but if I have to hold it down for a second or so, the hardware benefit of a quick tap is useless and I might as well touch a virtual button on the screen.

Oddly enough, I use Siri on all but Focus and Silence on my iPhone SE G2.

Initially, I was concerned with accidental presses and thought I would prefer the mute switch for that reason. And of course for the fact that the mute switch’s state I can tell blindly by just reaching into my pocket.

But then it dawned on me that I have probably switched the mute switch only about once per year on average making it kind of a wasted widget. So I felt the Action Button would perhaps offer added value.

Now I read folks mentioning how they manage to press it by accident in their pockets which tells me I could not use it reliably for anything important. And if that holds, well then the Action Button is the truly wasted widget.

My bigger peeve though it that it appears something as dull as this silly button (or the rumored Capture Button) is apparently deemed significant enough of a “feature” by Apple that they trumpet it around big time. As if there’d be nothing actually important they could really improve on iPhone instead of these mostly marginal annual updates. /cough

I set my Action button to Camera, but I often forget it’s there. I didn’t want to waste it (Do nothing), but there’s really no single function that I use often enough to suggest assigning it to the Action button. I rarely need Silent, the flashlight is accessible on the lock screen (but I don’t use it often), I don’t use Focus or Voice Memos. I have Magnifier assigned to triple click and it’s been that way for years. I’m still looking for a good use for the Action button.

After thinking about this I realized I often disable the security cameras around my house when I’m working outside. I just created a shortcut that 1) launches the app which controls the cameras and 2) creates a reminder for 2 hours to turn the cameras back on (I often forget). That shortcut is now assigned to my Action button and, if I can remember, I’ll probably use it more often than when it was assigned to my camera.
[After using it a few times I edited the shortcut to give me the option to remind me in 2 hours or not, in case I want to use the app for something other than turning off the cameras.]

I looked everywhere, but I can’t find a Flashlight option in here. There is one for “Torch”, whatever that is. Sounds dangerous though.

Anyway, Focus/DND for me. It’s a dream come true. Do away with a silly switch I simply never use and sometimes switch accidentally, to a button which is actually useful and is in practice very hard to push accidentally from inside the Apple silicone case, especially since you have to press and hold with the device unlocked to get the change in behaviour. Initially the VoiceOver support was very buggy and/or incomplete, but now it’s all good and I have spoken as well as tactile feedback. So it’s fine. Maybe one day I’ll graduate to Shortcuts, but right now I have “back tap” and that’s working pretty well. So we’ll see.

Edit: It turns out if you hold the button long enough the change happens even with the device locked, but I still get clear feedback. This is actually even better news for me, since I can keep the phone in my pocket. I think it’s just a question of getting used to the new thing, honestly.

Torch = British for flashlight. What language/region is your iOS set to?

Be especially careful of the Flamethrower button.

English / United Kingdom. I’m based in London.

And it’s “Aeroplane Mode”, not “Airplane Mode”.

Good idea. If there’s one company that could miniaturise plasma discharge hardware and put it into an all-purpose consumer product without telling anyone about it, it’s Apple.

I’ve assigned it to Accessibility > Spoken Content > Speak Screen.

It’s easier to invoke than the default 2-finger swipe down — I can find the action button no matter how the phone is positioned.

I listen to Instapaper at night when I’m too awake. While IP has its own reading interface, it skips the very start of each article. IP also uses the stock iOS voices. Since Speak Screen is a system level command, I can assign it a Siri voice, which makes for more soothing (thus sleep inducing) reading.

I wish Libby (my libraries’s ebook app) provided decent Speak Screen support.

I use it for Silent Mode Toggle, which I need regularly, so I can’t use it for anything else. Which really makes me miss the old toggle because the silent mode is not generally visible on the phone so I often have no idea whether the phone is in silent mode or not, resulting in me having to toggle it multiple times every time I want it on or off, or missing calls because it is accidentally left in silent mode.

So yeah, not a chance I am trilled with.

I completely agree. The button often gets pressed in my pocket, so I do not assign anything as I want to choose when to activate these features. So, do nothing is the only way to stop this. I much preferred the swich too!

My abject apologies, folks, but the more I thought about this poll, the more I realized that it lacked an important answer, which boils down to “Regardless of how the Action button is set, I don’t use it.” Who cares how it’s configured if you never find yourself using it? I think that’s an important fact to extract from the answers.

I’ve reset the poll to include that answer, so if you answered previously, you’ll have to vote again. I forgot to put it in last week’s TidBITS issue, so only 35 people had participated, making me think I was better off just restarting it before publishing it in TidBITS next week. I hope you’ll forgive me, scroll to the top of this topic, and vote again. Thanks!

@ddmiller @fearghas @aforkosh @xdev @mrnoonan1 @Simon @Nalarider @Sebby @jesse_the_k @peternlewis @LancashireArrow

Here’s what the results looked like before I reset it.

Arc 2024-09-06 at 13.46.36@2x1396×1168 55.9 KB

I use it for Shazam so I can get that going quickly. I hate it when the song ends while I’m fumbling with the phone trying to get Shazam going. The action button makes that go much more quickly.

I resubmitted my answer to the poll to the ‘Don’t Use’ response. As I said, the Apple Clear Case makes pushing a button at least as hard as opening an app on the first or second screen.

Note: this also makes it hard when I need to activate Face ID. I need to carefully position the phone to click the side button and quickly ensure I’m looking at it. Fortunately, I have Apple Pay on my watch, so I only need this for other iPhone security confirmations.

I love it for the camera function. I take lots of photos on the move, and I use it all the time. I also use it to snap photos quickly.

Phew !! I was relieved to see I was not alone in voting the 'Regardless … I don’t use it" I think it is set to camera, but muscle memory already has a path to launch it. Have never taken the time to consider resetting the button to something useful .

I have mine set to Flashlight, but to be honest I am more likely to use the flashlight on my Apple Watch. I might be inspired by some ot these posts to try a different setting!

I have never seen it activate by accident, though—you have to push the button a really long time.

UPDATE: I’ve switched to using the Action Button to invoke Scanner Pro, which I use to scan shopping receipts. Great improvement, something I do all the time.

Thought it was a great idea. Figured I’d use it for the flashlight. Turns out I never bothered to change it. Never use it.

Agree. the long press makes it less user friendly, especially when you have to dig through a case hole to reach it. I use it for the flashlight, but honestly it’s more hassle than feature.

I use it for Silent on/off. I can see which setting it is because it shows up in the space in the middle top of the phone (can’t recall what that is called).

Find My, to see where my kids are.

Ditto…and I too often forget it’s there.

I’m always accidentally hitting it when I want Volume Up, so I just keep it turned off.

I use action button for the Magnifier function. at my age I find it essential for reading instructions! As packaging shrinks, so do instructions. Apple’s a prime offender with iits grey type on a cream .

I LOVE the action button and was the only reason I upgraded. Why? Because I frequently take very spontaneous videos. Without the action button I was constantly futzing around trying to get the camera to open and then switch to video. I managed to get the action button to open directly and straight to video, which is amazing. I can simply grab my phone, hit that button and I am in the video mode. I love it.

I dont have it since I still have an iPhone 14. But just the other day I was thinking how much I like that on/off was controlled by a switch! So I’m skeptical. I use the silent on/off switch mostly only in the morning and evening so maybe not such a big deal….

But I wonder if the placement of the action button lower down on the side will create problems with using iPhone mounts pressing on the button?

I find that when I want a picture, that moment may be gone quickly so the action button fills my need to get the camera “into action” quickly. I use at least once a week.

You could probably write a shortcut to have it act like Volume Up. :-)

Yeah, I keep thinking about doing that. When I have time. Hahahahaha

Multi-choices Shortcut that can launch 7 apps or action : ChatGPT, Scan PDF and so on

You can activate Shazam by saying “hey, Siri, what song is this?”

Yes, I use the button all the time.
I currently have 7 shortcuts I can rapidly access:

open my mobile BANKING app;
open my GROCERY list;
open and start a TIMER;
open and access MAC desktop and files;
open a RECOGNIZE MUSIC macro;
open camera in PORTRAIT mode;
open a SCAN DOCUMENT app.

I hope Apple keeps this extra button for a long time.

That’s a good tip, but I’m not the sort of person who talks to his phone in public.

I currently do not have a model with an action button, although I do plan on getting the iPhone 16 Pro. I regularly use the mute switch, so I will most likely set it to that function.

I use it to activate camera and use it frequently enough to remember this - it’s already muscle memory and cannot imagine going back to the previous way of taking a quick picture.