I’ve recently spent some time customizing the Action Button on my iPhone 15 Pro Max to quickly perform actions and invoke shortcuts. This hardware button was a new addition to the iPhone 15 Pro models, allowing you to invoke an action or shortcut with one long tap.
With iOS 17, you can now create a folder of shortcuts that displays as a menu when invoking the Action Button. This is how I’ve settled on using it – a single-purpose shortcut didn’t work for me, but being able to select from eight different actions I’ve set up works quite well.
The setup process is straightforward. In the Shortcuts app, create a new folder (I named mine “Action Button”). Save up to eight shortcuts you might want to invoke into that folder. Then, in Settings, configure the Action Button to show that folder of shortcuts. That’s all there is to it. When you tap the Action Button, a menu of eight shortcuts will pop up, and you can quickly make a selection.
Here are the shortcuts in my Action Button folder:
- Focus Off – turns off any active Focus mode
- Reading Focus – turns on my Reading Focus mode
- Choose Focus – allows me to choose from a menu of Focus modes to enable
- 20 min Nap Time – sets a 20-minute nap timer
- Scan Document – opens the Camera app to scan a document and save it as a PDF
- Perplexity Search – performs a Perplexity web search
- Today’s Reminders – shows my Reminders for today
- Log Weight – allows me to quickly log my weight each morning in the Health app
After months of ignoring it, the Action Button has become a useful and frequently utilized tool. I’ve enjoyed customizing it with a set of handy shortcuts.