We had heard the iPhone 15 Pro may be getting an Action button instead of a mute switch, but we didn't really have any idea what it was for. That was until Steve Moser at MacRumors found a surprising explanation in iOS 17.
As of iOS 17 beta 4, code exposing the Action button's potential settings are visible if you look for it. From the visible parts of the code, it appears that the Action button will have presets letting you assign a Camera, Flashlight, Translate or Voice Memos app shortcut, enable the display Magnifier or other Accessibility options, or activate Shortcuts and Focus modes. That's in addition to the option to trigger good old Silent Mode as the current iPhones' mute switch does.
What will you set your iPhone Action button to? I would map it to Control Center (through a Shortcut) instead of having to reach to top of my phone to activate it. https://t.co/yrIfusn3zd pic.twitter.com/JdDbTC5OwFJuly 26, 2023
All of these apps/functions sound like potentially useful applications for the Action button. But Shortcuts is perhaps the most significant of these. It means that with a little knowledge of Apple's automation app, you can get the Action button to do anything you can make a shortcut for, including complicated strings of actions requiring multiple apps to execute.
We're looking forward to trying out this rumored iPhone 15 Pro Action button, even ignoring these leaked features, since we love the original Action button that appeared on the Apple Watch Ultra very much. This uses its Action button to do things like launch a specific workout, quickly pause an activity, start/stop the stopwatch and more.
We're also excited to try out other rumored iPhone 15 Pro features like the Pro Max's periscope telephoto camera, tougher and lighter titanium frame, and the power of the A17 Bionic chipset. We're less keen on the alleged iPhone 15 Pro price hike these phones will receive, but considering this raft of upgrades, perhaps it'll still feel worth the money.
Apple will likely launch the new iPhone series at the Apple September event. But with the iOS 17 beta likely to continue receiving regular updates all the way up to that point, hopefully we'll see more unintended teasers of the iPhone 15 family's features before then.
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