Key Takeaways
- Customize your Action Button to perform different actions based on location, Focus mode, iPhone orientation, and more.
- Create a more complex shortcut that considers multiple criteria to execute different actions depending on a variety of conditions.
- Utilize various shortcut actions like battery status, current song, network details, and weather data to further customize your Action Button.
The biggest problem with the Action Button found on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro models is that it can only be set to do one thing. However, by setting it to run a custom shortcut, you can get your Action Button to perform different actions based on your location, Focus mode, iPhone orientation, and more.
Changing Your Action Button Based on Orientation, Location, Time, or Focus Mode
In previous articles, I’ve looked at how to automatically change the behavior of your Action Button based on one single criterion. You can learn how to change what your Action Button does based on location, based on the Focus mode, based on your iPhone orientation, or based on the current time.
For example, in the article on iPhone orientation, I gave an example of a shortcut that you can assign to your Action Button. This shortcut can play or pause the current media when you are watching something on your iPhone in landscape orientation, but toggles Do Not Disturb in any other orientation. Using the shortcut, the Action Button can perform different actions based on which way up you’re holding your iPhone.
It’s possible to create powerful shortcuts that look at multiple criteria to decide what to do. For example, you could add further steps to the orientation shortcut to make it mute the ringer when it’s face down, and turn on Low Battery Mode when the iPhone is upside down, giving you four different actions from the same Action Button.
You can even build more complex shortcuts that can take into account a combination of orientation, location, time, and Focus mode. For example, one action could be triggered when you’re at home and your iPhone is in landscape mode, but a different action could be triggered when you’re away from home and your iPhone is in landscape mode.
Creating a shortcut using a combination of criteria means you can assign even more actions to your Action Button so that it will always perform the most useful action for the circumstances.
Change What the Action Button Does Based on a Combination of Criteria
All the examples in the previous articles have used a single “If” action to switch the Action Button between two different options. However, you can make your shortcuts even more powerful by nesting “If” statements within one another, to give your Action button multiple different actions, depending on time, location, orientation, and more.
For example, you might want the Action Button to take a voice memo when you’re in Work Focus, turn the page of your book in the Books app when you’re in Sleep Focus, open Candy Crush when you’re in Do Not Disturb Focus, and start a timer when you’re in any other Focus.
If your iPhone is upside down, however, you might prefer the Action Button to ignore the Focus mode and toggle Silent Mode instead. It’s possible to do exactly that by creating a custom shortcut.
Open Shortcuts and tap the “+” icon. Tap “Search Actions,” type “Get Orientation” and select “Get Orientation” from the results.
Search for “If” and select the “If” action. Tap “Choose” and select “Portrait Upside Down.” Search for “Silent” and select “Set Silent Mode.” Drag the “Set Silent Mode” action so it’s beneath your “If” action.
Tap “Turn” and select “Toggle.” This is the action that will happen if your iPhone is upside down. In any other orientation, the action will be determined by the Focus.
Search for “Focus” and select “Get Current Focus” from the results. Search for “If” and select the “If” action. Drag the “If” action so that it’s beneath the “Get Current Focus” action.
Tap “Icon” and select “Name,” then tap the cross to close the window. Tap “Anything” and type “Work.” Search for “Recording” and select “Create Recording” from the results. Drag the action up so it’s beneath your second “If” action.
Search for “If” and add another “If” action to your shortcut. Drag the “If” action up so that it’s underneath the “Otherwise” action. Tap “Icon” and select “Name.” Close the window, tap “Anything,” and type “Sleep.” Search for “Turn Page” and select “Turn Page.” Drag the action up under your third “If” action.
Search for “If” and add a fourth “If” action to your shortcut. Drag the action up until it is under the third “Otherwise” action. Tap “Icon” and select “Name.” Tap “Anything” and type “Do Not Disturb.”
Search for “Open App” and select the “Open App” action. Tap “App” and select “Candy Crush Saga.” Drag the action up until it is underneath the third “If” action.
Search for “Start Timer” and select “Start Timer.” Drag the action up so that it’s directly under the final “Otherwise” action.
Tap the name of the shortcut at the top of the screen, tap “Rename,” and give the shortcut a memorable name. Tap “Done” to save it.
Go to Settings > Action Button and swipe left to the “Shortcut” option. Tap the dropdown and select your new shortcut under “My Shortcuts.”
Your Action Button will now record a voice memo in Work Focus, turn the page of your book in Sleep Focus, open Candy Crush in Do Not Disturb Focus, and start a Timer in any other Focus. However, if you flip your iPhone upside down, the Focus mode will be ignored, and the Action Button will toggle Silent Mode on and off instead.
You can now get creative and change these actions and conditions to your liking when creating your own shortcut.
Other Useful Shortcut Actions to Change the Behavior of the Action Button
The examples in this series of articles have focused on four useful ways to change the behavior of your Action button, including changes based on your location, your current Focus mode, the orientation of your iPhone, and the current time.
There are plenty of other options available, however, allowing you to customize the Action Button however you want. For example, you can use the “Get Battery Status” action to change the Action Button based on your battery level. You can use “Get Current Song” to change the Action Button depending on whether Apple Music is playing.
You can use the “Get Network Details” action to change what your Action Button does depending on whether you’re connected to Wi-Fi or not. You can even use the “Get Current Weather” action to change your Action Button based on information from your weather app. There are plenty of actions available from third-party apps, too, so it’s worth exploring all the actions available to you in the Shortcuts app.
The Action Button can feel like a wasted opportunity when it can only perform a single action, no matter the circumstances. By building a custom shortcut, you can make the Action Button automatically do the most useful thing for your location, iPhone orientation, Focus mode, or even the time of day, making it a genuinely useful way to interact with your iPhone.
