The presentation event of Apple It had many surprises, not only about the iPhone 15 itself, but also about many of its new functions. No, I'm not talking about USB-C. I'm talking about the action button, which serves as a programmable hotkey to open a desired app, feature or shortcut and replaces the ring/mute switch on all previous iPhones.
If the "action button" already sounds familiar to you, it's probably because Apple introduced a similar feature with the WatchUltra last year. Only this time, the one on the iPhone is much more customizable and comes with a settings UI that is way ahead of its time. You will understand in a minute, because in today's article, I will try to explain how to customize how to customize the action button on iPhone 15 Pro and Max.
While the new action button is only available for the latest iPhone 15 Pro models, all future iPhones are expected to feature it as well.
How to customize the iPhone action button
To use it on the iPhone, you first have to decide which function will activate when you press it. By default, it serves to silence the iPhone's ringer, exactly what the mute switch it replaces used to do. But that's far from the only thing you can do. There are a number of preset options for the Action button, and one that gives you almost infinite flexibility.
Default gestures
Before we delve into setting up the iPhone, here are the basics of it:
- To activate most functions, you will have to press and hold the button.
- By default, holding it switches between sound and silent modes, just like the behavior of the original alert slider.
- Per app, a single tap will also activate a secondary function. For example, a single touch while the camera is open opens the shutter. A single tap while the voice memo is open will stop recording.
Action Button Customization
If you want to get more creative with the action button, the Settings app is where you should go.
- Open the app and scroll down until you find the Action Button tab.
- The first thing you'll notice is how different the user interface looks compared to other settings on the iPhone.
- There's a slick animation of the action button as you swipe through the programmable functions.
Its options include silent mode (default), focus, camera, flashlight, voice memo, accessibility, shortcut, and more.
- Apple allows you to assign a specific function with the broadest categories. For example, a drop-down box on the camera slide gives us the options of Photo, Selfie, Video, Portrait, and Portrait Selfie.
To customize the iPhone action button, follow these steps:
- First go to Settings on your iPhone.
- Tap the action button.
- Swipe back and forth to choose what you want to happen when you press and hold the Action button. The options are:
Silent mode: Activate silent and ring modes for phone calls, text messages and notifications.
Focus: You can leave it to turn on Do Not Disturb or choose one of your other focus modes like Sleep, Work, Drive, Workout, etc.
Camera: Choosing this will set the Action button to open Photo mode within the iOS Camera app. But you can assign it to open Selfie, Video, Portrait, or Portrait Selfie modes within the Camera app.
Flashlight: Turn your iPhone flashlight on and off. Dynamic Island will display the flashlight icon when activated.
Voice note: After selecting this, holding down the Action button will instantly start recording a new voice memo.
Magnifying glass: Use this to turn your iPhone into a magnifying glass to read tiny text on labels or zoom in on objects around you.
Direct access: This is the magical option that does pretty much everything possible with the Shortcuts app. Tap Choose a shortcut, and then select a shortcut. More on that later.
You should know that thanks to the Shortcut option in the action button menu. You must first create a shortcut with the desired application. Next, select it as the sequence that will open when the action button is activated. Because of how versatile shortcuts can be, the possibilities of what the action button can do are endless.
Accessibility: Tap Choose a feature and select one of the 21 accessibility features you want to activate the Action button.
No action: Finally, you can disable it and set it to do nothing when you press and hold it. This could be useful if you find yourself unknowingly triggering actions or simply don't care about this button.
For some actions, such as Accessibility and Shortcut, there is an additional selection to make, as indicated by the up/down arrows below the selection. If you want to use this feature, you must also tap those arrows and make a selection for the Action button to work.
Examples of these options include the shortcut or accessibility tool that you want to launch when you tap it.
Supporting shortcuts is the secret weapon here. The Shortcuts app allows people to create small scripts and apps to execute simple or complex multi-step actions. Any shortcut task that can be executed can be activated by pressing the Action button. The possibilities are endless!
How to use the iPhone action button
To use it on the iPhone, press and hold it. You don't need to hold it for long: haptic feedback will let you know when you can let it go. For example, three quick haptic taps indicate entering Silent mode, while exiting Silent comes with a haptic vibration. Once you've felt that feedback, you can let it go.
The need to hold the button down a little longer is designed to prevent accidental pressing on pockets or purses.
Remember that the button can enter and exit an assigned mode. In addition to the Silent mode example, pressing it once can put you into a focus mode, and then pressing it again will exit focus.
iPhone models with the action button
Only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have the new action button. Instead, older models have a physical alert slider that switches between sound and silent modes. Naturally, cases and covers made for older iPhone models will not fit the iPhone 15 Pro series.