iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Options Potentially Revealed in iOS 17 Code: Flashlight, Shortcuts, Voice Memos, and More

[midkay]

I don't really use the Action Button on my Apple Watch Ultra. Do you?
I'm going to miss the classic Mute Switch which only had one job to do! Some things are great being left alone. Furthermore, less is more.

I don’t use it much, just occasionally for the flashlight. But the Watch is so much more limited than the phone in functionality. I can see it being a lot more useful on the phone than the watch.

 

[Kylo83]

Volume up takes a photo so why have camera shutter

 

[IsaacM]

Yay! Another way to accidentally switch on the flashlight. 🙄

The mute switch was one of those things that was loved by 99% of iPhone users. It worked perfectly and there was 0 reason to change it.

 

[Octavius8]

add complexity to a basic and simple function. Welcome to the age of rings and tones in the cinemas as “older” people will not be able to make it work or understand it.
Really poor idea. Better to assign more functions to a combo of the volume buttons.
We need a petition in line to “leave the mute switch alone!”.

 

[Station Grey]

I like this idea. And I'd actually like it to be more configurable by being able to allocate single/double/(maybe even triple)-click for different actions.

 

[midkay]

Magnifier is the tool of the century

What do you use it for, genuinely curious? Seeing things at a distance or what?

 

[Station Grey]

Yay! Another way to accidentally switch on the flashlight. 🙄

The mute switch was one of those things that was loved by 99% of iPhone users. It worked perfectly and there was 0 reason to change it.

Obviously everyone appreciates you deciding for them Out of curiosity, what poll did you see with the 99% figure?

Personally, I've not used the mute button since audible alerts went out of use about 7 or 8 years ago. Is your vibrate function broken?

 

[jimbobb24]

It sucks getting old and I know I am old when my heart skipped a beat in excitement for the magnifier. 🤬 everything breaking down.

 

[Kraszim]

I just don't get it.

What's the point of having an Action Button? After pressing the Action Button you still have to click on the screen and navigate which actions you want to assign. I don't think it will be instant as activating the mute switch and launching the camera app.

I think you set which action you want in settings, and then it will always do that. So it will be instant camera if you choose it to open camera app.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I wish the iPhone Action button could make me breakfast. If it just starts an application then I'll probably not bother setting it up.

 

[Station Grey]

I'd also just like to say for the record, I have never once accidentally switched the torch on from the home screen. Not suggesting for a second it's not common (as it sounds like it), but I wasn't aware this was a thing. What are people trying to do when this happens to them?

 

[pizzzle]

i rather keep the mute switch lol

 

[jimbobb24]

I don't really use the Action Button on my Apple Watch Ultra. Do you?
I'm going to miss the classic Mute Switch which only had one job to do! Some things are great being left alone. Furthermore, less is more.

The action button on the watch is as useful as you want. I use it everyday because I have it set to something I use often.

 

[Spock]

What a innovative feature... That will for sure be worth the new higher price point! "I think its the greatest button ever put on a smartphone"

 

[poorcody]

What do you use it for, genuinely curious? Seeing things at a distance or what?

For when your Mom says she forgot her reading glasses and could you read the menu to her...

 

[poorcody]

Looking forward to that first YouTube video of someone spending hundreds of hours engineering an Action Button™ into an old iPhone...

 

[orev]

Once you set it to Shortcuts, then you can make it do whatever you want.

It will be set to Ring/Silent as the default, then people can change it as needed.

 

[maxfromdenmark]

can't wait it turns the flashlight by itself in my pocket and drain battery before I notice it

 

[kingtj1971]

My main concern is that a switch has the advantage it doesn't get accidentally triggered just by the phone getting squeezed.

I run into problems, as it is, when I put my iPhone 14 Pro in the wireless charging pocket in my Chevy Bolt. They have this "slot" you push the phone into, vertically, where it's held to charge it. Apparently, it's just a tight enough fit so if you slide it in there at a bit of an angle instead of pushing it straight down, it presses the side buttons -- prompting the SOS mode.

I've had other times the buttons get pressed when it's in a pocket. I don't think I ever had the recessed switch accidentally get toggled one way or the other.

 

[one more]

Can you remove the camera and flashlight button on the lockscreen then? We really don’t need 100 ways to open them

And what about people who will continue using pre-iPhone 15 models? A smarter way would be making those on-screen buttons customisable to do things we want.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

I wish this button had been IN ADDITION TO the mute switch, and not replacing it.

Yeah, having a mute switch is kind of a necessary feature

 

[JosephAW]

Would like the camera to always be ready even if the screen is off, just lift the phone and press button and it would take a picture and then by that time the screen comes on

 

[jamezr]

I just don't get it.

What's the point of having an Action Button? After pressing the Action Button you still have to click on the screen and navigate which actions you want to assign. I don't think it will be instant as activating the mute switch and launching the camera app.

Yes! This is similar to my issues with FaceID. IMHO FaceID should just unlock my iphone and bring me tot he home screen. I should not have to swipe up.
The action button should do the same thing...open the app it is set to open. nothing further to do

 

[Ceecephous]

Samsung had this for years.
Jailbreak had this "programable button to do X thing " for years.

 

[zakarhino]

Ugh… I need it to be a media controls button that mirrors the functionality of the EarPods cable control.