iPhone 15 Pro Action Button is a Horrible Idea

[thewows]

The more I think about it, the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro is going to make my life much harder -- specifically because it replaces the mute switch which is super important. By being a physical switch, you can just feel if you're on mute without taking your phone out of your pocket. This is something I do daily when in meetings and other scenarios where I don't want my phone to ring. With the Action Button, you have to press and hold but you don't know before if it's already on mute or not. Maybe you can feel with haptics -- don't know. But still you're going to have to press and hold just to find out and undo it if it was already mute.

They should have added the Action Button in addition to the mute switch. There's plenty of room.

(Also never liked the power button moving to the right side. I hit that way too often accidentally. Should be on the top like iPhone 1-5. Then you can stand it on it's side too).

I just created this account to support your opinion. I am an engineer and meetings are part of my job. Even sudden meetings standing one. The whole idea was to mute the phone without looking for the phone or checking the screen. This kind of little thing made me feel iPhone was the one for me. Unfortunately, it would be a perfect phone without that button. But I guess we will get used to it anyway. If you ask me Tim Cook is a good seller not a smart man like Steve Jobs.

Push the button, are you sure it is silent, check the screen, and after a couple of minutes check the screen again. You are in the meeting. Not good.

Yes as an engineer also my job and I am a part of innovation and improvement. I know it is not the end of the world but let's not fool ourselves there are many ways to provide that action button kind of thing for the user. And it shouldn't be by getting rid of the one only unique(!) thing about the iPhone.

Bring it back Apple.

 

[MacCheetah3]

And for what it’s worth. I agree with OP … I check if my phone is on ring just by feel at the start of every meeting. Now I won’t be able to do that and instead will have to get my phone out and look at it while the speaker is presenting and it’s going to make me look like an ass :/

Thank you for describing in those words!

• You check your phone status at (the start of) a meeting? At worst, you should be doing that while walking into the conference, etc room. If you often do preparedness checks at meetings, whether your phone has a switch or button for ringer on/off is the least of your at work problems.
• Vibrate only notifications/alerts can also be audible, distracting to others. How often do you need to be contacted for emergencies/urgencies? The point being you can make exceptions (i.e., set filters) in Focus modes to allow contact in urgent cases. And when those occasionally/rarely surface — which you could do via text message -- I think, most employers will be forgiving. If such cases are frequent, you should be discussing accommodations with your supervisor.

Ultimately, you and the OP aren’t setting yourselves in the glorious light you think. At best, you sound petty and possibly lazy.

With that said, the Action button isn’t going to be a perfect replacement and will require adaptation. However, for most users, it will be integrated seamlessly, eventually.

 

[Jack Burton]

I don't have a mute switch at all on my phone. I just turn it face down and it mutes for meetings. Other than that I use the interface built into my volume controls to switch. It's still pretty fast.

A user definable button is pretty cool. I would find use for it.

If you are a spy sneaking through an enemy warehouse filled with bad guys, having a dedicated mute switch is preferable, for sure. Jack Bauer on 24 had his position given away at least once by his cellphone (a pre smartphone flip phone, I think!) and I thought it was a nice touch ;-)

 

[onenorth]

Unfortunately, it would be a perfect phone without that button.

It seems like quite a stretch to suggest that the mute switch is a deal breaker and that the phone is otherwise perfect. IMHO

Thank you for describing in those words!

• You check your phone status at (the start of) a meeting? At worst, you should be doing that while walking into the conference, etc room. If you often do preparedness checks at meetings, whether your phone has a switch or button for ringer on/off is the least of your at work problems.
• Vibrate only notifications/alerts can also be audible, distracting to others. How often do you need to be contacted for emergencies/urgencies? The point being you can make exceptions (i.e., set filters) in Focus modes to allow contact in urgent cases. And when those occasionally/rarely surface — which you could do via text message -- I think, most employers will be forgiving. If such cases are frequent, you should be discussing accommodations with your supervisor.

Ultimately, you and the OP aren’t setting yourselves in the glorious light you think. At best, you sound petty and possibly lazy.

With that said, the Action button isn’t going to be a perfect replacement and will require adaptation. However, for most users, it will be integrated seamlessly, eventually.

I agree, when in a meeting the phone should be off or completely silenced because I am not able to take any calls without disrupting the meeting and I do not want to be distracted by the phone vibrating. When I see others looking at their phones I know they are not paying attention to the conversation.

This is why I use the Do Not Disturb focus. I can allow family members or others such as my assistant to ring/text through for urgent messages, and everything else is silenced.

 

[jclardy]

Think about it this way:

For those like me, who literally never have the phone off mute, I now have a free button to use for anything (I'll likely use it for camera.)

For those that mute/unmute often - you leave it as the mute button. I find it really hard to believe you can "feel" the state of the switch, without toggling the switch, especially if you use a case. That is how I "feel" it - flick it on, feel nothing, flick it again, the triple vibrate. The button will be a near identical experience, you just have to learn the "unmuted" haptic pattern, and it'll probably take an extra second since it requires a long press.

The biggest advantage here is now you can program your mute/unmute with things like focus modes, because with a physical on/off switch you can't have software control over it.

I do wish it had more than just long press though - like single tap to have it vibrate the "current mute state" pattern, double tap as a different custom action, and long press as the change mute state.

 

[seek3r]

Thank you for describing in those words!

• You check your phone status at (the start of) a meeting? At worst, you should be doing that while walking into the conference, etc room. If you often do preparedness checks at meetings, whether your phone has a switch or button for ringer on/off is the least of your at work problems.

You've never had the pre-meeting "meeting" I see, when everyone's there but people are still chatting and havent settled down for the actual meeting yet? Happens a lot, virtual and in person alike.

You've also apparently never been early to a meeting

That said, if you have to pull your phone out to check at the beginning of a meeting as the OP was saying it's also not that big a deal, I can't imagine a meeting I've been in where that would have bothered anyone.

• Vibrate only notifications/alerts can also be audible, distracting to others. How often do you need to be contacted for emergencies/urgencies? The point being you can make exceptions (i.e., set filters) in Focus modes to allow contact in urgent cases. And when those occasionally/rarely surface — which you could do via text message -- I think, most employers will be forgiving. If such cases are frequent, you should be discussing accommodations with your supervisor.

At least personally I've had enough true emergencies people need to reach me for that I always leave vibrate on. That includes *work* emergencies, where I'm an apex point of contact for some alerts and situations. If my phone goes off in a meeting for anything work related in particular there's a good chance it's a real emergency that's already been escalated a couple levels. The alerting systems will blow up my phone in the case of the automated systems, including calling, texting, DMs, and email, to make sure I see it. In the case of someone calling me it's likely because they need me on the phone pronto.

On the personal side the last time I got interrupted in a meeting by my wife calling it was because her favorite uncle had died. If my wife calls me during work and it isnt on her lunch break I know it's important and I'm going to pick up, if my teammates don't understand (they do) that's their problem.

My coworker just had to stop in the middle of a presentation yesterday because his daughter's school called, she fell off a ledge and broke her leg. No one was annoyed when he took the call and then had to drop.

Just because you dont get emergency calls doesnt mean no one does

and while focus modes are great expecting everyone to set them up rather than the rather simple "I set my phone to vibrate" is a little unrealistic.

 

[russell_314]

They should have added the Action Button in addition to the mute switch. There's plenty of room.

I totally agree with this. I suspect it’s a cost issue as to why they didn’t

The mute switch was a reliable way to keep my iPhone on silent mode. A button will get pressed in my pocket. The existing buttons get pressed multiple times a day in my pocket by accident.

 

[MistrSynistr]

I'm loving the idea of these impromtu 'flash meetings' where you have to covertly switch your ringer volume off and aren't allowed to announce beforehand you need to do it. Or if you did try, the CEO would ice grill you as he's brisking walking by and go "NO TIME, LET'S ROCK N' ROLL" and a canvas zips down from the ceiling with a projector already blasting the day's business dealings.

 

[onenorth]

Apple has a design philosophy that is simple and elegant and adding more buttons to the iPhone is just not going to happen. If anything they will remove buttons and do everything on the screen.

 

[DougiePhresh]

When you enable silent mode the phone does a distinct vibration (at least with the current switch), which you should be able to feel in your pocket in theory.

Right, but then I will be toggling the ringer on/off if I want to confirm it’s currently status. Instead of before when I could just feel what position the switch was in without having to toggle through modes

 

[DougiePhresh]

I'm loving the idea of these impromtu 'flash meetings' where you have to covertly switch your ringer volume off and aren't allowed to announce beforehand you need to do it. Or if you did try, the CEO would ice grill you as he's brisking walking by and go "NO TIME, LET'S ROCK N' ROLL" and a canvas zips down from the ceiling with a projector already blasting the day's business dealings.

We need more people like this 😂

 

[ShadowJade]

I love the idea, I’ll be using it for the camera. My phone is on mute 100% of the time because calls vibrate on my AW. I’ve had the 14PM since launch and it has never rang.

100% agree...I have never heard my iphone ring except the 4 people that I have set to emergency bypass. I LOVE the action button on my AppleWatch Ultra. I am probably going to set my button to a shortcut. I have one that randomly selects a photo from my Portraits folder and makes it my wallpaper...that will be a nice button push feature.

 

[ShadowJade]

I'm not an Apple Watch Ultra user... but I've read a lot of reviews saying that the Action Button is not that useful there either (and has a lot of false presses)

Couldn't agree less. My action button is set to the flashlight on my Ultra...I use it constantly. I do have a few false presses when I golf though. I do, however, wear my AppleWatch in the reverse orientation of most...my action button is on the hand side, rather than elbow side.

 

[Jett0516]

Nobody asks for the mute button to be replaced.

Everybody asks for the lockscreen flashlight/camera button to be replaced.

Apple loves fixing what isn't broken.

 

[onenorth]

Nobody asks for the mute button to be replaced.

Everybody asks for the lockscreen flashlight/camera button to be replaced.

Apple loves fixing what isn't broken.

As if Samsung is any better. Every Android update rearranges the GUI on me. But I still have a headphone jack on my Tab A7 Lite! Which I never use.

 

[Mark Stone]

I’ve never used the mute switch, I am always on vibrate

You’re on vibrate? Or the phone?

 

[TechnoMonk]

it's hard to please the boomers

Ok boomer 😂😂

 

[adrianlondon]

You’re on vibrate? Or the phone?

First the phone, then the person

 

[sherwinzadeh]

Ultimately, you and the OP aren’t setting yourselves in the glorious light you think. At best, you sound petty and possibly lazy.

Nobody is trying to be glorious. Tim said himself that this is tech we use daily and small improvements (let's admit it, the iPhone is only getting small improvements at this point) are supposed to make little things in our lives better, not worse. We can't question Apple? They've made plenty bad design decisions over the past few years.

 

[Nozuka]

Many people are always on mute -> wasted switch.

Also many people always mute and unmute in the same places. Wasted energy. Now they can just automate it based on location, because it doesn't rely on a physical switch anymore. Can probably be bound to a focus mode too.

 

[NT1440]

Nobody is trying to be glorious. Tim said himself that this is tech we use daily and small improvements (let's admit it, the iPhone is only getting small improvements at this point) are supposed to make little things in our lives better, not worse. We can't question Apple? They've made plenty bad design decisions over the past few years.

There is nothing worse about this button over the switch. The default functionality is the same as the switch, right out of the box.

Try it out in a store, I bet this button is harder to accidentally activate than you think, and you’ll get haptic feedback when it is activated.

 

[sherwinzadeh]

I am an engineer and meetings are part of my job. Even sudden meetings standing one. The whole idea was to mute the phone without looking for the phone or checking the screen.

Exactly! I'm also an engineer and this is exactly the daily situation I'm in.

Thanks for joining us on MacRumors Forums

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Hell, it won’t be long until they won’t even have physical form!

iPhone 42 - The answer to life, the universe, and everything.

…from $7m/mth

at which stage, everyone would have forgotten what the actual question was

 

[sunking101]

Have you pressed your action button or are you just pleased to see me?

 

[erikkfi]

I'm not upgrading this year but I couldn't disagree more. The first thing I do when I get a new iPhone is flip the mute switch to "on" and then it stays in that position for as long as I own the phone. I need a switch for that? Better to have a button for something -- anything -- else. Anything but Siri, since I switch that off in the settings.