by David Redmond

If you have an iPhone you’ll likely be familiar with the left side of the device. Two volume buttons and a mute switch. What more could one possibly desire you might ask? Well, on the iPhone 15 Pro that mute switch is no more. It’s been replaced by a third button called the Action Button. That once familiar left side now feels different. It’s got three buttons instead of the usual two, 2 volume buttons, and the new action button, which is now the top of the three.

What even is an action button?

This isn’t Apple’s first device with a feature like this, it actually came to the Apple Watch Ultra last year, but this year it’s making its first appearance on iPhone. An action button is a single button that can basically do whatever you want it to. It’s got eight functions at launch with a ninth already confirmed for later this year.

1. Mute/unmute
2. Focus / do not disturb
3. Camera
4. Torch
5. Voice memos
6. Magnifier
7. Shortcuts
8. Accessibility
9. Translation (coming later this year,)

Because one of those actions lets you trigger a shortcut, you can effectively program it to do whatever you want. Call your partner? No problem, control your smart home? You bet, start an Apple Watch workout? 100%. The possibilities are really endless with the action button if you jump into Shortcuts.

Once you select your desired action in settings, a quick hold of the action button will perform your desired function. It’s snappy, it’s cool, and really versatile which is great.

Is it actually worth it?

I’ve been playing around with the iPhone 15 Pro for a few days now and have been generally impressed by the new action button. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly an improvement from the mute switch which was really just a one-trick pony.

I’m not going to oversell it. It does have issues. The fact that you can’t assign multiple actions to the button is stupid in my view, but I guess this is something Apple could change in software. I also found myself pressing the action button instead of the volume up button at times, but thankfully the button requires a hold rather than just a press so that means this isn’t a major issue.

I found the holding for the button surprisingly efficient. It’s not like Siri where you kind of feel like you’re holding for a second before anything happens. It’s almost instant once you start holding, and it feels really responsive.

Initially, I had my action button set up to turn on and off voiceover. My intention was to change this to a shortcut at some point, but I hadn’t got that all configured straight away. I’ve been triple-clicking the side button for years to turn on voiceover, an action I’d do easily 100 times a day. Even though I intended to change it I can’t deny that the action button felt more comfortable than the triple click. Even with my muscle memory, I was into it straight away. I was honestly tempted to change my plans there and then.

Eventually, I did switch to a smart home shortcut, toggling on and off a Philips hue ceiling light. I found this equally responsive. I also wanted to set up the button to start a workout on my Apple Watch. That way I could just press as I go out the door and have my workout start. In the end, I didn’t do that though as realistically I’d forget about it.

The various options are the action button’s greatest strength, and also its greatest weakness as it really makes it frustrating that you can’t use multiple actions at once.

The feature coming to iPhone has convinced me of its benefits though, and for a while, I was legitimately tempted to upgrade my old Apple watch to the ultra just to get the action button on that too. In the end, the cost and rumours of Apple Watch X next year stopped me, but using that to start workouts is something I really see the benefits in.

Conclusion

The action button is a great feature, really responsive, and sadly has stupid software limits. With that said I’m happy with it. I hope this feature is further upgraded soon for both iPhone and Apple Watch, but being honest it’s already tempted me to get an ultra Apple Watch next time I upgrade. I didn’t expect that a tiny button could be a gateway drug like this, but I guess Apple is good at always leaving you wanting more.

Be sure to tune into our podcast this Tuesday where we’ll be talking about experiences with the new iPhone. You can listen to talking technology on NCBI Live, On your podcast app of choice, via the NCBI Labs YouTube Channel, and on the My NCBI Smart Hub.