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The iPhone 16 Is Getting an Action Button: Here's Everything It Will Do

There's nothing more unnecessary than letting a button come between you and what's truly important.

When an iOS bug puts a fun weekend on the line, guess who springs into unnecessary action?

Does your phone need an Unnecessary Action Button? Why not be an Unnecessary Action Button? All you need is Apple's iPhone 16 and a little training from a certified Genius.



Screen Shot 2024-04-19 at 10.27.52 AM.jpg
 
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DrWojtek said:
This is the problem. This IS an Android feature, and it sucks. The mute switch was one of the few hardware specific differences between iPhones and Androids, and the only thing I missed when I used a P30 Pro for a while. It was one of the reasons I wanted to switch back.

Q: Is my phone in silent?
iPhone 14: Take a look, or feel in your pocket.
iPhone 16 and all androids: Press that button, and yes it was silent, cause you just disabled silent mode. So you have to press AGAIN. That means at least one press of a button, but more likely two, every time you want to know whether you are. Means handling your phone every time instead of just looking. Morons!

They should have just kept the mute switch and put the Action button where this new Capture button will go.
In camera mode, Action button is Capture and commence autofocus on half-press.
Outside of camera mode it's customizable. Easy as pie.
Click to expand...
You do have to look at the phone, but there is mute icon on the screen. I also didn't see the value in removing the mute switch.
 
I love the action button and use it all the time to quickly bring up my home's outdoor security cameras. It's great.

I wouldn't mind one more button.
 
I need to develop the habit for using it. I guess I missed that I could set it to something more than the original options which I had covered in other ways. Calculator seems to be a good option for the button. I can launch it without unlocking and getting to the app which is nice. Just need to build the muscle memory for it.
 
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Kind of depressed at these comments. I thought the action button might be kind of useful. Ideally I'll get the new iPhone this fall as an upgrade from my 13 Pro. Mine is always in silent, and there's a toggle in control center for it.

I'm actually more worried about the new camera button and accidentally pressing that.
 
CarAnalogy said:
Kind of depressed at these comments. I thought the action button might be kind of useful. Ideally I'll get the new iPhone this fall as an upgrade from my 13 Pro. Mine is always in silent, and there's a toggle in control center for it.

I'm actually more worried about the new camera button and accidentally pressing that.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry to much about that. On my iPhone 15PM the action button takes a very deliberate press (rather than an accidental quick press) to activate. It's about half the length of the volume buttons so there's no confusing by feel what your about to press.

In the year's time that I've had my 15PM I've never accidentally pressed it.

Too many of the comments here reflexively come to a "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" conclusion. I've come to count on that in just about every Apple related post.
 
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Motawa said:
I use it every day for dnd flashlight and camera
Click to expand...
hmm forgot you can, I have double tap back of phone for cam and triple tap for screen shot - might change triple tap to flashlight, this is why its confusing to use the ACTION button when they enable tap actions too.
 
citysnaps said:
In the year's time that I've had my 15PM I've never accidentally pressed it.
Click to expand...
There's also the option to have the button do nothing, which I may select when I eventually upgrade.
citysnaps said:
Too many of the comments here reflexively come to a "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" conclusion. I've come to count on that in just about every Apple related post.
Click to expand...
As we become more and more dependent on these devices to do so many important tasks while out in the world, we develop muscle memory and workflows that get disrupted by these changes. I'm still re-learning how to navigate a couple things on my Apple Watch after the recent changes.
 
I never use it. But I can totally see how it works really well if you’re using it as your camera button / to take photos. Beats using the volume button as a shutter.
 
I use mine constantly for the camera. I do a ton of photo and video and especially with kids I often benefit from fast access to the camera.
 
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I honestly have not configured the action button on my 15 Pro since I got it. I still use it as a mute button. I’m not sure that I would use it for much else… perhaps if more apps support it, I would utilize it for something else other than muting my phone.
 
xmarcuswildx said:
Apple has stopped any innovation of their phones. Had to create the island instead of under screen camera. Not as if their selfie camera is even that great. They’ll be years behind under screen camera and it’ll be like gods gift to the world.
Click to expand...

No ones managed to crack the under screen camera though. Others have just used a hole punch and been done with it. Apple saw the limitation and turned it into a feature with the Dynamic Island. How is that not innovative?
 
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I think more important than the extra functions, is knowing if Apple is working on implementing more than one action, natively, using long press for one function (for silent mode, for instance), short single press for another, and a double quick press for a third one.
 
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Already loving the articial hype by all the Apple Fan YouTubers about the new „capture button“, how magic this is and how crazy this has changed their photography routines with the new iPhone 16 Pro… what did I say, it changed their whole experience with the new magical phone.
Pretty sure the scripts are already made and ready to go for their content videos in a couple of weeks.
 
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