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How to Get the Most Out of the iPhone 15 Pro's Action Button
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i need to be “on call” for my work. too risky i would activate silent mode by accident. i reset the action button to shazam … i like it - i hear a song in a cafe or whatever and i can do a sneaky shazam without anyone knowing
I wasn’t sure if I would like it just because I never used the tapping gestures on the back of the phone, but after playing around with it I do find it useful. I have it tied to perform different actions depending on where I am and what time it is. I also have it determine if something is being used as well. For example when I am at home it turns my tv on or off unless it’s before or after a certain time and then it would perform other actions. When I am at work I have it toggle between my focus modes and set a different timer depending on the time and have a different action when I am not at either location
I think at some point Apple will unlock a short-press option, maybe a double-press option. Until then it's a Silent/Ringer switch for me.
Federico’s MultiButton shortcut is awesome. I’ve set it up to launch Camera on the first press, then a list of more shortcuts (including ring/silent, magnifier, and a few more) on the second press.
Super geeky “power user” setup I suppose, but hey, it is a “pro” phone after all.
Super geeky “power user” setup I suppose, but hey, it is a “pro” phone after all.
With the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple replaced the traditional mute switch with a new multi-function Action Button. The button can be assigned to perform a number of tasks, ranging from activating the flashlight to turning on the camera. Perhaps the most useful way to use the Action Button is with Shortcuts, because the single button can perform more than one action at once or bring up a selection of tools.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up three of the best methods for using Shortcuts to get the most out of the Action Button.
Have you found other interesting ways to use the Action Button? Let us know in the comments below.
- MultiButton Shortcut - Federico Vittici of MacStories created a way for two separate shortcuts to be assigned to the Action button. With MultiButton, if you press the Action Button once, it runs the primary shortcut, but if you press it twice in quick succession, it will run a secondary shortcut. Since Apple doesn't support multiple presses for the Action Button, this is a clever workaround. The MultiButton Shortcut is available from MacStories, and Viticci also has some Shortcut suggestions to use with the MultiButton.
- Position-Based Actions - YouTuber Dan Vittorini created a Shortcut that performs different actions depending on the orientation of the iPhone when it's activated. If the iPhone is in portrait orientation, it toggles silent mode. If the phone is held with the top to the left, it takes a photo, and if the phone is held with the top to the right, it takes a video. You can, of course, customize these to your liking.
- Shortcuts Folder - Perhaps the simplest way to make use of the Action Button is to set it to show the Shortcuts Folder, a unique action only available to the Action Button. You can set it to show all of your Shortcuts or just your favorites, so when you press the Action Button, you get a menu with your most useful Shortcuts. To set this up, open up the Settings app, choose Action Button, swipe over to Shortcut, tap on Choose a Shortcut... then select Show Folder and choose your preferred folder.
Article Link: How to Get the Most Out of the iPhone 15 Pro's Action Button
With an upper left hand mute ”switch” being standard and a must on all mobile phones (even for those of us who silence our phones through software and rarely if ever use the mute switch), I can’t believe that this “Action Button” can perform only one function and not at least two — mute being one of the two, permanently!
No one wants to silence their iPhone accidentally (”butt silence” their phone?), so the recessed mute switch was good design because it was hard to activate or deactivate accidentally and required deliberate intention (except if you’re drunk or high — where I personally think your phone should be taken away from you altogether much like your car keys. Many a person has gotten themself in real trouble “drunk tweeting” or texting!).
Apple should allow for the Action Button to perform — at minimum — two functions, one of the two always being mute.
A long press plus a single short press immediately following would enable the Action Button to behave like a mute switch at all times — where a single long press requires that same deliberate intention that the former “mute switch” does — PLUS allows any of the other available functions it affords — if a user immediately follows a long press with a short press.
Another method would be a quick double press — with no long press (like “double clicking”) — to activate any Action Button feature, always reserving one long press for mute to make it easy for less savvy users.
(And there are a lot! My older sister’s had iPhones and iPads for years, and just yesterday I “floored her” by showing her how pressing the Shift key twice puts it in All Caps/Caps Lock mode. “Wow…” she responded. I hope I remembered to tell her that it takes only one press of the Shift key to get it out of Caps Lock mode…🤔 Ohhh…she’ll figure it out. Actually, no she won’t…)
Whether Apple wants to get into complex “triple presses” (or more) would be up to the discretion of its talented and experienced UX team.
I remember Apple’s “one-and-a-half” mouse clicks on Macs, where you’d double click but keep the button pressed in the second click. (Or “not let go.”)
Is that still a thing?
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Plus, like keeping the old Home Button pressed down, keeping the Action Button pressed until you’re done talking would allow you to pause between thoughts/requests without Siri thinking you’re done speaking.
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/03/iphone-15-pro-action-button-tools/
With the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple replaced the traditional mute switch with a new multi-function Action Button. The button can be assigned to perform a number of tasks, ranging from activating the flashlight to turning on the camera. Perhaps the most useful way to use the Action Button is with Shortcuts, because the single button can perform more than one action at once or bring up a selection of tools.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up three of the best methods for using Shortcuts to get the most out of the Action Button.
Have you found other interesting ways to use the Action Button? Let us know in the comments below.
- MultiButton Shortcut - Federico Vittici of MacStories created a way for two separate shortcuts to be assigned to the Action button. With MultiButton, if you press the Action Button once, it runs the primary shortcut, but if you press it twice in quick succession, it will run a secondary shortcut. Since Apple doesn't support multiple presses for the Action Button, this is a clever workaround. The MultiButton Shortcut is available from MacStories, and Viticci also has some Shortcut suggestions to use with the MultiButton.
- Position-Based Actions - YouTuber Dan Vittorini created a Shortcut that performs different actions depending on the orientation of the iPhone when it's activated. If the iPhone is in portrait orientation, it toggles silent mode. If the phone is held with the top to the left, it takes a photo, and if the phone is held with the top to the right, it takes a video. You can, of course, customize these to your liking.
- Shortcuts Folder - Perhaps the simplest way to make use of the Action Button is to set it to show the Shortcuts Folder, a unique action only available to the Action Button. You can set it to show all of your Shortcuts or just your favorites, so when you press the Action Button, you get a menu with your most useful Shortcuts. To set this up, open up the Settings app, choose Action Button, swipe over to Shortcut, tap on Choose a Shortcut... then select Show Folder and choose your preferred folder.
Article Link: How to Get the Most Out of the iPhone 15 Pro's Action Button
They had an ideal place for this. But then decided to get rid of the home button...
As-is the whole thing is very awkward, and would be surprised if anyone notices when it quietly goes away.
It doesn't seem to work if you have the first action set to open the camera and the second double press set to open the flashlight. For me it just opens the camera and does nothing else until I close out of the camera app, then it turns on the flashlight. I figured it would wait to open the camera before waiting a moment to determine if you were double pressing? Or is there some trick to the double press this that I'm missing or something I need to configure?
I wish Apple would eliminate the need to hold down on it. I want an override option! Give me single, double, triple, short hold, and long hold. Five actions I can do with it easily! Better yet, next year add Force Touch to it so it can be clicked into deeper "layers" from one to three, depending how hard you press.
I wish Apple would eliminate the need to hold down on it. I want an override option! Give me single, double, triple, short hold, and long hold. Five actions I can do with it easily! Better yet, next year add Force Touch to it so it can be clicked into deeper "layers" from one to three, depending how hard you press.
I use mine to run a shortcut to get Shazam to identify a song. Whenever I want to do that, I have to look around for it, run it, and then usually the song is over lol.
I really want to use all of these shortcuts and quick actions, but in reality I do everything just as quickly manually.
I haven’t really seen any examples of things I would want to use.
I haven’t really seen any examples of things I would want to use.
I only want this button to do ONE thing and apple have made it impossible.
Toggle between 'limit charging to 80%' and 'optimised charging'. That's it.
I don't need my phone to stay at 100% charge for several hours when I'm plugged into carplay.
Toggle between 'limit charging to 80%' and 'optimised charging'. That's it.
I don't need my phone to stay at 100% charge for several hours when I'm plugged into carplay.
best way to utilize that sunnuvabicch iz-ta strap some ice cubes down to it, Jesus fricckin Christ!
Shortcuts can’t undo previous shortcuts, so if you run a shortcut to open the camera, then the camera is open, and the flashlight doesn’t work if the camera is open.
I’m not sure what shortcut you’re using, but you should be able to add a “Go to Home Screen” step before running the flashlight step. That would close out of the camera and allow the flashlight action to work.
You can already launch Siri with a long press of the Power button; not sure using the Action button would be more convenient than that.
Putting on the action button is good, I just put it in the Control Panel.
How do you this? One of the things that irritates me the most is having to click speaker mode every single time I’m on a call. Especially since I have to click the button twice — once to bring up the menu, and the second to click speaker. I use it much more often than not, so I’d rather just answer the phone straight into speaker mode.
I think he’s saying he’d rather have the side (Siri/Power) button have the functionality of the Action Button, instead of having the new button. Probably since it’s easier to reach.
The orientation Action mode isn't working for me. The orientation action seems to be missing in 17.1b2?
It's so weird. I get it for the first setup, but it looks like a tutorial screen not an actual config screen.