In defense of the iPhone Action Button

I do all of this by mapping the button to a custom Shortcut — Apple’s powerful automations app that comes included with every iPhone, iPad, and Mac. I use a similar approach to former Verge reviews editor Dan Seifert, who wrote about the button last year. Long-pressing the button runs a Shortcut that brings up a menu of some of the most common actions I take on my phone. These options can do simple things like set my phone to silent or open the Find My app when I need to locate my keys.

They also trigger more complex actions. One of them brings up a quick form to add an appointment to my calendar, rather than having to open the calendar app to do it. And when I tap “Play Podcasts,” it brings up a second menu of all of the AirPlay targets in my house. It’s perfect for when I’m cleaning and I just want to quickly get something playing in every room.

YouTuber Stephen Robles put together a video guide for creating a system like this — and uploaded a template that you can use to get yourself started if you’d rather not begin from scratch. That said, if you do want to do it yourself and don’t want to sit through Robles’ guide, I’ve written up some basic instructions at the bottom of the page.

In a recent Vergecast episode, David said that readers of The Verge “overwhelmingly” told him they do not use the Action Button. Not everybody is interested in this sort of streamlining, and that’s fine. But after that episode, my people — the nerds who love coming up with obtuse and clever ways to use the Action Button — posted to social media about how they use it.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

This person probably used the “Open App” Shortcuts action for this, and I’m fully on board with that.

This person’s friend can just long-press the Action Button with their phone in their pocket, and it will automatically send a heart emoji to their girlfriend. All-time great use, especially if you work a physical job where your hands are always dirty and you just want your significant other to know you’re thinking about them.

This use, from a comment on the YouTube upload of that Vergecast episode, takes advantage of the fact that Shortcuts can trigger different actions based on the orientation of your phone. So this person made their Action Button a context-sensitive automation trigger. Fantastic.

It’s not that the Action Button is perfect. I still wish that Apple had added other options, like the ability to carry out other tasks by double- or triple-tapping it. But as it stands, the Action Button is the sleeper car of features — unassuming, yet more powerful than it seems at first glance.

What I’ve written here only scratches the surface. How do you, dear Verge reader, feel about the Action Button, and how have you used it? Let us know in the comments.