Your iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button is getting more powerful in iOS 18

iOS 18 is a big release for new customization tools on your iPhone, enabling you to create a more personalized experience with your device than ever.

There’s one such enhancement that’s built specifically for users of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. It brings new powers to the Action button.

Upgrading the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button

When the iPhone 15 Pro first debuted and replaced the mute switch with an Action button, that new button was user configurable from the start.

iOS 17 users can currently set the Action button to trigger one of the following different types of actions:

• Silent Mode
• Focus
• Camera
• Flashlight
• Voice Memo
• Recognize Music
• Translate
• Magnifier
• Shortcut
• Accessibility

The most versatile of these options is Shortcut, since you can set any shortcut from the Shortcuts app to run when the button is triggered. And Shortcuts can do an awful lot.

However, the average iPhone user never opens the Shortcuts app. So Apple has created a new Action button option that takes some of the power of the existing Shortcut option but makes it more accessible.

Tying iOS 18’s new controls to the Action button

iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max users using iOS 18 will see a new option when configuring the Action button in the Settings app.

The new option is labeled, simply, Controls. It pulls in the existing set of controls that are configurable in the new Control Center.

Here are the controls currently available in iOS 18 developer beta 1:

• Calculator
• Stopwatch
• Alarm
• Home
• Wallet
• Timer
• Dark Mode
• Scan Code
• Stopwatch
• Airplane Mode
• Cellular Data
• Personal Hotspot
• Remote
• Tap to Cash
• Ping My Watch

The list is set to grow upon iOS 18’s public launch this fall, as third-party developers will be able to supply new controls that work inside Control Center, as Lock screen buttons, and with the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action button.

Most of these functions can be triggered using the existing Shortcut option, but Apple making them easier to configure to a broader set of users is a very good thing.

What do you currently use your iPhone’s Action button for? Do you expect to set it to one of the new controls? Let us know in the comments.