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

[SilvioInfante]

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.

Lmao. No.

The whole idea is to map a quick action to the button. There will be a separate settings section where you select which quick action is mapped to the button, and then it will indeed be an instant 1-click launch into that action. I'm sure in some cases like shortcuts Apple's lawyers will cripple its usefulness with 75 "are you sure" dialogs, but beyond that, it will be really useful.

 

[SilvioInfante]

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

Why?

Do you not realize that by moving mute from hardware to software, you can now automate it and not need to worry about toggling it anymore? I don't know how many times a day you are toggling mute/unmute, but I'm sure they are at predictable times. Times that could surely correspond to Focus modes, if they don't already.

I don't see manually toggling mute as being a thing I will be doing anymore going forward with this. At most I will manually toggle a Focus mode (like unexpectedly going into DND). The rest of the time its state will be automated according to my Focus schedule.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

What iPhone 15 Pro Max design may look like. 👀

 

[Muzzakus]

Staying on the 14 pro max till something actually not back assed comes on board

 

[MingChaiDuo BLUMBERG]

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

Thanks you reminded me about it - since I bought iPhone SE 2016 I noticed that and it's weird what they are doing.

 

[IIGS User]

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 disabled mine.

I had it set to the flashlight, but one time I accidentally activated it while I was wearing long sleeves and I didn't notice. It decimated my battery that day.

The other functions didn't impress me either, so I just switched it off.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Ultra and I think it's a great watch, but this feature didn't leave me all that impressed.

 

[phazedout]

PLEASE APPLE. Even the ability to not edit the lock screen from the lock screen... I just want a lock screen where I can't accidentally push any buttons or change anything,... I just want slide to unlock and that's it

Editing the lock screen from the lock screen is so bizarre.

 

[splitpea]

All I want is a physical button to pause/advance/go back a track when playing music. Or a replacement for the iPod mini except with 8GB storage. Plsnthx.

 

[kalafalas]

You have to write your own Shortcut for that 🤪

I really really hope not. I’m guessing anything we can do with back tap we will be able to do with action button

 

[Tagbert]

If this gets rid of the slide over camera gesture I’m all for it, that’s got to be the worst thing ever on iOS. The buttons at least require a long press, when you pull your phone out of your pocket, the slightest swipe on the screen seems to open the camera and always at the worst times.

Has anyone thought that maybe it’ll still be a mute switch like we have now, except it’ll be possible to program custom functions invoked by a firm squeeze so it has no effect on the beloved function of the switch? And possibly only work with the switch being unmuted? That way if you’re muted there’d be no accidentally turning on the flashlight, taking a pic, or whatever you have it set to. So sort of a 3 way switch, but it’s locked when muted.

Is the mute function really “loved”? How many people ever have their phone with audible ringing enabled? A larger percentage of users seem to keep their phones permanently muted. Making the operation of an action button so complicated just to avoid change for a smaller percentage of users seems crazy.

 

[redbeard331]

What iPhone 15 Pro Max design may look like. 👀

View attachment 2238100

Take my money….🤤🤤🤤

 

[bejib66000]

Leave the button to trigger silent then! I literally never use the ringer switch, and would rather have ringer be decided by focus modes.

I hope this will be possible to do via the Shortcuts automations, where enabling/disabling the focus mode would automatically enable/disable the silent mode as well.

 

[bejib66000]

I agree ! I think the mute switch was one of those iconic things that have existed since the first iPhone. The Action Button seems nice to have for those who like it, but I personally prefer the classic mute switch, and it’d be sad to see it removed.

Actually it existed since Palm implemented it in their phones. Much earlier than the first iphone was released. It was considered the Palm's feature back in the day. Jobs copied it from them.

 

[bejib66000]

Still have to look at the screen to determine whether what I just wanted happened or the opposite happened. For removing the mute switch, there’s no tactile way to tell what happened like there is now.

Doesn't your iphone have haptic feedback? Or has it been broken down? Than just get it fixed.

 

[bejib66000]

I leave my phone in Silent mode. The vibration is sufficient since my phone is with me all the time. But you have a good point that the new Focus feature could be a good way to control Silent mode.

Is iOS getting complicated for the average user? Yes.

No one hinders that "average user" to use their iPhone with the default settings that iPhone comes with out of the box.

 

[bejib66000]

Mute switch is better than mute button. With the switch you always know 100% without looking at the phone when you muted because left is always mute. With button, it will be like with Android, you need to doublecheck if it was mute or unmute... I prefer mute switch over mute button.

1) It's not a mute button, it's an action button.
2) Why would you (double)check the silent mode status on Android? Actually there's a silent mode icon 🔕 on the screen to notify you about it while you're using it. Just like iPhone has an icon for the focus mode 🌙.

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Actually it existed since Palm implemented it in their phones. Much earlier than the first iphone was released. Jobs just copied it from them.

Really ? To be honest, I had no idea..

 

[bejib66000]

Really ? To be honest, I had no idea..

Very few know it. Do you want to know another interesting fact? The iPhone magsafe wireless charging was invented also by Palm, back in 2009, 11 years before Apple released it:

 

[Pinkyyy 💜🍎]

Very few know it. Do you want to know another interesting fact? The iPhone magsafe wireless charging was invented also by Palm, back in 2009, 11 years before Apple released it:

View attachment 2238255View attachment 2238254

I didn’t know about that one either.
But what I do know is that Apple has always been very good at marketing. Apple wasn’t always the first one to adopt a technology, but when they do, they always make sure to improve it and make it seem exciting and convincing to lure people into buying their products. Remember that the iPhone was not the first phone to come with a touchscreen, and the iPod was not the first mp3 player. It’s just that when Steve Jobs introduced them, he made them seem very convincing. People simply felt like it’s the product that they didn’t know they needed.

In fact, remember the mouse and the GUI on the original Macintosh ? Jobs took them from Xerox, but he improved them and marketed them better. So yeah, Apple has already been doing this for decades.

 

[StyxMaker]

Would definitely set it to opening camera.

Probably be my choice. A few models ago I had an external battery case that had a camera button on it. Loved it.

 

[ethanmd]

If the button is pressure sensitive, I would love to be able to use it as a two-stage shutter (focus/exposure at first step, take photo on second), because it's still only Sony that offers that on phones.

If it's touch sensitive, swiping down for the control centre is very useful (I'd rather have that on a power button/fingerprint sensor on the right though).

 

[jaworq]

1) It's not a mute button, it's an action button.
2) Why would you (double)check the silent mode status on Android? Actually there's a silent mode icon 🔕 on the screen to notify you about it while you're using it. Just like iPhone has an icon for the focus mode 🌙.

1. <facepalm>... but for me it will be used as MUTE button because there will be no mute switch anymore.
2. I would (double)check to make sure what was the result of pressing the button: if it resulted in mute or unmute. With mute switch I don't even have to look at the screen and pull the phone fully from the pocket to check any stupid icons on the screen. That's the thing.

 

[BC2009]

I’m actually kind of excited for the Camera option. For some reason I can never get the Camera open quickly when I’m in a rush.

Problem is that leaving the camera app running on iPhone while it is in your pocket chews up battery and heats up the phone while it tries to auto-focus your keys and the lint in your pocket. It is bad enough how easy it is to unwittingly turn the camera on today because of that lock-screen button that can be accidentally tapped when putting the phone away.

So I wonder if having a physical button to activate the camera would be better or worse. One thing is for sure…. I would love to be able to get the camera and flashlight buttons removed from my lock screen whether or not I have an “action button”.

UPDATE: I did have the Smart Battery case for both my iPhone Xs Max and iPhone 11 Pro Max. I would use those battery cases on vacations since I would be using the battery-hungry camera app constantly and needed the phone’s battery to last all day long. Both of those cases had a dedicated camera activation/shutter button and I don’t remember ever accidentally activating the camera via that button. So I would guess the physical action button to activate the camera will be better than the lock-screen buttons.

 

[BC2009]

There’s no way rotation lock won’t be an option. CMONNNN

Early iPad versions had a toggle switch and you could configure in Settings whether it should toggle silent mode or rotation lock. But that Settings preference never made it to iPhone even when Apple was doing it on iPad. Probably because orientation lock works differently on iPad versus iPhone — the iPad can do everything in landscape (including the home screen) but iPhone has to go portrait mode (with the notch/island on top or home button on the bottom) in several cases — most notably the home screen.

 

[bejib66000]

1. <facepalm>... but for me it will be used as MUTE button because there will be no mute switch anymore.
2. I would (double)check to make sure what was the result of pressing the button: if it resulted in mute or unmute. With mute switch I don't even have to look at the screen and pull the phone fully from the pocket to check any stupid icons on the screen. That's the thing.

1. Accept the new reality. Don't resist it. That's not a mute button. That's a multifunctional action button that can be used for silencing the phone.
2. Why will you have to look at the screen, if there is haptic feedback when enabling the silent mode? It seems that you don't even know how iPhone works.