Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Do You Use It? iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Adam Engst Much was made of how Apple replaced the Ring/Silent switch in the iPhone 15 Pro models with the [1]Action button. By default, pressing and holding the Action button toggles Silent mode, just like the Ring/Silent switch did, though you can't tell at a glance which mode it has enabled. In exchange for the loss of mode information, the Action button lets you customize its functionality. You can also have it turn a Focus on or off, open the Camera app, turn the flashlight on or off, start or stop recording a voice memo, open the Magnifier app, start translating speech, and quickly access an accessibility feature. If one of those options doesn't catch your fancy, you can set the Action button to trigger a shortcut, allowing it to launch apps or accomplish anything you can script in Shortcuts. It sounded great! I wanted it! I initially configured my iPhone 15 Pro's Action button to open the Camera app, but it turns out I don't take photos often enough to remember to use it. I also tried having it enable voice control, which lets me edit dictated text with my voice and which I had previously assigned to a triple-tap Back Tap shortcut (see '[2]iOS 14's Back Tap Feature Provides Interaction Shortcuts,' 24 September 2020). Alas, I didn't need to activate voice control often enough to build the Action button into muscle memory. I flirted with triggering a shortcut that let me talk with ChatGTP, but again, that's not something I do regularly. I currently have it open CARROT Weather, one of my most used apps, though I've long done that by tapping its Lock Screen or Home Screen widgets. In light of the rumors suggesting that Apple will bring the Action button to other iPhone models and add a capacitive shutter button for taking photos, I've become curious. Am I the only one who has had trouble working the Action button into my everyday iPhone use? [3]If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, do you use the Action button, and if so, for what? Please share details if you use it for one of the more flexible options, like toggling a Focus, running a shortcut, or accessing an accessibility feature. If you don't have an iPhone 15 Pro model, please don't vote in the poll, but feel free to chime in with your thoughts about the Action button. [4]Read original article References 1. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/iphe89d61d66/ios 2. https://tidbits.com/2020/09/24/ios-14s-back-tap-feature-provides-interaction-shortcuts/ 3. https://talk.tidbits.com/t/do-you-use-it-iphone-15-pro-action-button/28742?u=ace 4. https://talk.tidbits.com/t/do-you-use-it-iphone-15-pro-action-button/28742?u=ace .