Assign Control Center Functions to Your iPhone's Action Button

[newyorksole]

I use it for my calculator. I use it all day at work, so why not? I didn't use it at all before this.

yoo I came in to say the EXACT same thing lmao

I switched it last week and was like “yeah I’m gonna use this way more than silent mode or any other button”

 

[Populus]

yoo I came in to say the EXACT same thing lmao

I switched it last week and was like “yeah I’m gonna use this way more than silent mode or any other button”

Still, would be really nice to not have to give up the mute feature when assigning it to other features… a long press or short press for different actions would enable two actions on the same button, and people who still want to mute their phone with a physical button should’t have to choose between one or another.

In my view, this would be the ideal solution:
- Quick press (less than 1 second): Flashlight, timer, calculator, or any other action.
- Long press (more than 2 seconds): Mute (or any other action).

I cannot understand why Apple hasn’t implemented this yet on iOS 18.
Maybe we’ll have to wait until iOS 19 or 20… Hopefully they won’t restrict it to newer iPhones.

 

[attila]

I use it for my calculator. I use it all day at work, so why not? I didn't use it at all before this.

Just curious, but have you considered swapping the flashlight button with a calculator button on the Lock Screen?

 

[Rafagon]

Can I set my Action Button to trigger my new Camera Button?

 

[Papanate]

I don’t really get it - an Action button so you can access something a little faster than before?

 

[Shanghaichica]

I’ve set it for the remote.

 

[ignatius345]

View attachment 2432840

Goodbye Siri.

That's all well and good if you just want a bunch of text or whatever -- but as ***tty as it is, Siri is actually connected to stuff on your phone. So I can say "add butter to the grocery list" and it goes on there, or "turn off all the lights" all my HomeKit lights turn off.

 

[Brendan.Porter]

I have it set to trigger a shortcut that preconditions my Tesla.

 

[mavis]

I’ve had it set to a shortcut to toggle orientation lock and use it daily. Hopefully they add this option, if not I recommend that shortcut!

Same. Kind of asinine that toggling orientation lock isn't one of the supported functions yet.

 

[Chaka Jon]

Can we program the action button to bring up the control screen? That would be useful.

THIS!!!

 

[freezelighter]

Yeah, the problem is the privacy loss that comes with it. You don’t know what Open AI is doing with your voice. You don’t know what Apple does either, but I trust more Apple than Open AI.

Apple = OpenAI since 2024.

 

[cocky jeremy]

yoo I came in to say the EXACT same thing lmao

I switched it last week and was like “yeah I’m gonna use this way more than silent mode or any other button”

Yup. The mute switch was always pointless for me. I'm always muted because noisy notifications drove me crazy.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Just curious, but have you considered swapping the flashlight button with a calculator button on the Lock Screen?

I thought about it but decided against it for two reasons. It wouldn't really save time as both are available while the lock screen is up. The second reason is pure muscle memory. I'd pull up the wrong thing for weeks until I got used to it. lol.

 

[newyorksole]

Still, would be really nice to not have to give up the mute feature when assigning it to other features… a long press or short press for different actions would enable two actions on the same button, and people who still want to mute their phone with a physical button should’t have to choose between one or another.

In my view, this would be the ideal solution:
- Quick press (less than 1 second): Flashlight, timer, calculator, or any other action.
- Long press (more than 2 seconds): Mute (or any other action).

I cannot understand why Apple hasn’t implemented this yet on iOS 18.
Maybe we’ll have to wait until iOS 19 or 20… Hopefully they won’t restrict it to newer iPhones.

unfortunately that’s just what Apple does. leaves out an obvious, easy and useful feature.

I say we’ll see it in iOS 19 lol (hopefully). because I would like the option.