I have used the action button of my iPhone 16 – but it is my favorite

First, make sure that you are running the latest version of iOS. Go to settings, choose general, and tap on the software update. Allow the latest updates to download and install.

Go to the settings, select the action button, and then swipe through the available actions. When you see an action, just get out of the settings or go back to the home screen. Currently available works include the following:

• Silent Mode – Switch between silent and ring mode for calls and alerts
• Focus – Inserts your phone into a silence notification in focus mode
• Camera – Camera opens the app
• Visual Intelligence – Activates Visual Intelligence to analyze what you capture through camera
• Torch – Built -in Torch turns on
• Voice Memo – Lets you record voice memo and other audio snipites
• Identify music – Uses Shazam to identify the current playing song
• Translation – translates a phrase or interaction between two different languages
• Magnifier – Turn on the magnifying to zoom on nearby items
• No action – disables action button

Three of the screen let you choose from different types of actions. This includes:

• Control – You use a specific control, such as timer, clock, calculator, or one from a third party
• Shortcut – You use a Siri shortcut
• Exhibition – Lets you choose an accessibility feature, such as contrast, voiceover or zoom

For these, just tap on the select button and then select the specific action you want to use.

Triggering an action varies only on the basis of action. For most of them, press and keep the action button. With some tasks, by pressing the button switch between the two states. For example, with silent mode, holding the button once to switch your phone to silent mode; Catching it down again changes it back to the ring mode.

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In some cases, you can also tap on the action button to take follow -up action. For example, with the camera being set as an action, the camera is launched by pressing the button; Taping again snaps a picture.

After trying a kind of various tasks, some people stand out. Since I have an iPhone 16 Pro, I use the camera control dedicated to activate the camera and launch visual intelligence, so they are already set.

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In direct functions, people whom I have used most often are silent mode, focus and translation. Both silent mode and focus come in handy when my wife and I participate in live performance or other programs, where I need to silence or activate my phone, which do not disturb into the mode. At other times, the translation provides a quick way to translate a single phrase or sentence between English and any other language.

Beyond using some direct functions, I like to use an action button to launch a specific control, shortcut or accessibility feature.

Among the controls, my favorite launched an AI in conversation mode: Open Chatgate Voice Mode, talk to Copilot, or Mithun’s talk live. To set them, install Chatgpt, Copilot, or Gemini App; Different options appear for each when you see the control screen.

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Among the shortcuts, I have one for music that lets me choose an artist or album to play, for another podcast that automatically plays the next episode, and a third for the yellow that helps me find a nearby restaurant. For access, I sometimes add magnifying.