On the outside, the iPhone 15 Pro looks almost identical to the iPhone 14 Pro, but there's one minor change to the exterior that makes a huge difference when it comes to functionality. On the newer model, the switch that would previously mute the phone with a satisfying click has now been replaced with the Action Button: a handy new input that allows the user to determine what it does. Here's a quick rundown of things you can do with it:
Use it to toggle silent mode on or off. This is the Action Button's default setting, and using it will mute any ringtones, alerts, and vibrations according to your setting selections.
Use it to toggle focus mode. This is basically a more robust and customizable form of silent mode that allows you to selectively silence notifications, alarms, and other distractions according to your preferences preferences.
Use it as a quick way to open up the camera. It's worth mentioning that this might be a wasted opportunity, though, as your iPhone's Back Tap feature already allows you to access your camera quickly by tapping twice (or three times, depending on your settings) on the back of your phone. That being said, the Action Button is slightly more robust than Back Tap, since it lets you jump directly into a specific camera mode (like Selfie or Portrait) with a single press.
Activate to your flashlight in, well, a flash. iOS does already offer quick access to the flashlight from the iPhone lock screen, but the Action Button allows you to do it with just a single button press, which is a bit faster and more convenient in certain situations.
Use it to capture a Voice Memo. This one is pretty straightforward. It just activates the iPhone's audio recording function and gives you a seamless way to capture personal notes, memos, and ideas.
View things close up with the magnifier feature, or turn on any of the other iPhone accessibility features, like voice control or color filtering.
Translate from one language to another. This function doesn't actually appear to be available yet, but Apple says it's set to roll out later this year.
Quickly run any shortcut you've set up on your phone. This is arguably the Action Button's most powerful ability, as it essentially allows you to build custom functions (like, say, opening Shazam and starting a recording so it can identify a song) that would otherwise require a multi-step activation process. The options here are extremely vast, so we highly recommend checking out our guide to iPhone shortcuts to learn more!
Nothing at all. The final option that Apple offers for the Action Button is to simply turn it off and make it useless, which might make sense if you're worried about accidentally activating the button for whatever reason.
