Beyond the Mute Switch: 8 Pro Ways to Use the Action Button

The Action button is one of those newish iPhone features that can feel a little underwhelming if you leave it on the default setting and never think about it again. You might even wonder why the company bothered to remove the Silent switch in the first place.

However, the Action button can do a lot more than you think. Apple gives you a few obvious options right out of the box, including Silent Mode, Camera, Flashlight, Focus, Controls, Shortcut, and Accessibility. Those are a good starting point, but the Action button can do so much more. Where the feature becomes really interesting and powerful is once you treat it as a hardware shortcut for the one thing you always use.

The Controls option will let you select from the same gallery of buttons that can be assigned to the iPhone’s Control Center, but the Action button’s real hidden superpower comes from the ability to assign it to a Shortcut. With your own custom shortcuts, your Action button can do pretty much anything — launch an app, open a menu of actions, or start a chain of tasks that would normally take several taps. 

So if you’ve been leaving the Action button underused, read on for are some of the best ways to make it feel genuinely useful.