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iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to Feature Multi-Use Action Button Instead of Mute Switch

I'd love for the button to be Muti-use so I could set it as a camera or flashlight one. That'd be way more useful to me than the mute switch, which I use maybe once every few months to briefly unmute my phone.
 
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Yay! Pull a Van Helsing, and put a stake in the slide switch. I'd be good with a mute button that I'd never use. Since Focus (especially on a schedule, and with geofencing) came along, I left the slider behind.
 
Screenshots are so difficult to create with the iPhone. I think this is a great idea and I will map mine to take a screenshot and post it on social media.
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JK - I think this will cause more problems than my hundreds of accidental action-button presses on Apple Watch Ultra… the phone is held a lot more, and we often press buttons on one side or the other with one hand… causing the unintentional button pressing on the opposite side.
 
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I know we like to be negative at MacRumors, but this is a feature I am going to allow myself to get excited about!

I touch the mute switch maybe once every couple months, MAYBE. A customizable button that can be mapped to the camera or flashlight would be amazing! Yes I know you can access those from the home screen but that is still too slow and can't be done without looking at your phone.

The iPhone 15 Pro is starting to feel like a big update (relatively speaking) and I always try to upgrade the year AFTER a big hardware upgrade. But my husband is on an iPhone 11 right now and desperately needs an upgrade so we might have to go for it this year anyway.
 
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What's next? Removing the 3.5mm jack, removing regular SIM and going eSIM only, then adding USB-C? Talk about throwing salt in an open wound....
 
The loss of a dedicated physical mute switch would be a mistake. Loss of the Home button was a mistake, IMO. Ease of use dropped off significantly for the uninitiated. Even for the tech-savvy, the number of times you have to swipe up on the iPad can be maddening.

The most user-friendly devices should include the following:

Physical mute switch
Physical home button
Physical volume buttons
 
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I wonder who actually uses the mute switch.
Loud ringtones (any ringtone really) are so rude.

The vibration alerts (especially through the Apple Watch are quite enough).
 
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Reminds me of the jailbreak app Activator, but just for one button.

If there’s anything I miss from jailbreaking, it’s Activator. I loved being able to toggle the flashlight by clicking both volume buttons simultaneously.
 
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citysnaps said:
No doubt this will spawn major outrage from many, the likes of which that hasn't been seen since Apple removed the floppy disk from computers.
Click to expand...
Well the floppy was replaced by something more useful, this… meh I mean so much for ease of use.

One of the many thing I like about the phone is that I can mute and umpire with one button and I can feel if the phone is on mute without getting it out of my pocket.

This is just a change for the sake of it, we are not getting any new functionalities…
 
leonremi said:
I wonder who actually uses the mute switch.
Loud ringtones (any ringtone really) are so rude.

The vibration alerts (especially through the Apple Watch are quite enough).
Click to expand...
Difference of someone at private home relaxing with some entertainment, versus someone working/mobile with phone in jacket/pocket when noise is unattractive around others. Strictly user preference vs environment.
 
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If it can be used as a home button it would be great. The one thing I hate about full screen is swiping up for home.
I wish I could program the power button to go home if an app is open and then once on the home screen power off with another push.
 
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No thank you, Apple! We don't want it! It's clear you are just trying to reduce cost per unit. Being able to mute the phone with a flick of a switch is the most important thing ever.
 
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My two cents: let the mute be multifunctional, and if it can be mapped to many functions, maybe show all your "favorite" functions on the display when it is pressed, providing the user with a field of screen button choices, with mute being one of those choices. Yeah, this becomes a two step process and requires looking at the phone to choose a function, but if the button can to do many things, sending me to a window with a collection of my preferred actions would be pretty swell. Agree with others on the watch-Ultra, the orange button is pretty, but I get almost no use out of it. A physical mute button is nice since it 1) does one thing well and 2) Can be operated in your pocket without looking at the screen.
 
I'd rather have the side button back on top again and an option to change (or disable) the mute switch.

The side button often is the cause of unwanted screenshots when I want to change the volume, using just one hand.

The mute switch is often inadvertently turned on. Apparently the switch has just enough mass to let it slide to on when the phone is dropped flat on its back. For now I have a piece of scotch tape to keep it in the off position.
 
Great, so add Push To Talk Walkie Talkie & enable the same via this action button! This has been my ask since I got an iPhone in 2007!
 
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