The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models have an Action button instead of the Ring/Silent switch on older iPhones, and iOS 18 makes it even more useful.
iOS 18 allows the Action button to be assigned to one of dozens of controls available in the new Control Center gallery, allowing the Action button to invoke dark mode, airplane mode, personal hotspot, and more. Options like Low Power Mode and Orientation Lock don’t appear to be available as of iOS 18 beta 1, but the Shortcut action now allows the Action button to be assigned to those options if desired.
These new options are in addition to the actions that were already available for the Action button in iOS 17, including Ring/Silent, Do Not Disturb, Camera, Flashlight, Voice Memo, Magnifier, Translate, Shortcut, and Accessibility. Some of the new Control Center options were already possible with the shortcut or accessibility options.
The Action button is rumored to be expanding to all four iPhone 16 models later this year, so these new controls will be coming to even more devices.
iOS 18 is currently in beta and should be released in September.
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