The iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button Could Control Cameras, iMessage, and Voice Memos

It’s time for iPhone buttons to get more… actionable. Code inside the fourth beta of iOS 17 reveals the potential capabilities of the Action Button for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. As uncovered by MacRumors, the code shows nine options to program the button.

We’ve already seen the Action Button with the Apple Watch Ultra, but it’s bound to get more use on the iPhone 15 Pro models, and while we’ve only had hints at nine options so far, there could be more applications to follow.

MORE THAN A BUTTON

The code in the iOS 17 beta teases a few use cases for the Action Button. The simple functions include turning on or off silent mode, flashlight, or Focus mode. The button can also be programmed to launch the camera app and take a photo or video with another press, launch the translate app and start a conversation or text translation, or start or stop Voice Memo.

The more complex functions include assigning the button to do a shortcut that you’ve programmed on your iPhone or activating one of the various accessibility features like VoiceOver, Zoom, or Assistive Touch.