The Action Button Experiments: 15 Apps Later, We Know What's Actually Worth Your Time

When Apple announced the Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, it felt like a long-overdue move. A fully customizable hardware button that does whatever you want? Yes, please. But then you actually sit down to configure it, stare at the options, and realize: what do I even want this thing to do?

We've been living with the Action Button for a while now, and we got a little obsessive about it. We mapped it to 15 different apps and use cases — everything from obvious picks to some genuinely weird experiments — to figure out what actually earns that prime real estate on the side of your phone. Here's our honest breakdown.

First, a Quick Refresher on How This Works

For anyone who hasn't dug into the settings yet: the Action Button lives on the left side of the iPhone 15 Pro, replacing the old mute switch. You configure it in Settings > Action Button, where Apple gives you a handful of built-in options — silent mode, Focus, camera, flashlight, voice memo, magnifier, shortcuts, and accessibility. The real power comes from the Shortcuts option, which lets you tie the button to basically any app or automation on your phone.

That's where we spent most of our time.

The Ones That Actually Changed Our Daily Routine

1. Shazam — Tier: S

This is the sleeper hit of Action Button assignments. You hear a song playing at a bar or in a store, you hit the button, and Shazam is already listening before you've even raised your phone. No unlocking, no app-hunting. It's genuinely instant and it works flawlessly every time. If you're a music person, this might be the best use of the button, full stop.

2. Voice Memos — Tier: S

Apple actually includes this as a native option, and it earns its spot. Journalists, students, anyone who needs to capture a thought on the fly — one press starts recording immediately. No friction whatsoever. We used this constantly during commutes and it never once let us down.

3. Flashlight — Tier: A

Another native option, and it's genuinely useful. Yes, you can swipe up to the Control Center for this, but the Action Button is faster when your hands are full or your screen is off. Downside: it's easy to accidentally trigger in your pocket, which is annoying. Still a top-tier pick for a lot of people.

4. Launching the Camera in Video Mode — Tier: A

The default camera shortcut opens the standard photo mode. But if you build a shortcut that jumps directly into video, that's a different story. For anyone who films a lot of spontaneous moments — kids, travel, whatever — skipping that extra swipe in the camera app matters more than you'd think.

5. Dark Sky / Weather Apps — Tier: B

We tried mapping the button to pull up weather at a glance. It works, but there's a half-second delay launching a third-party app through Shortcuts that breaks the snappy feel. Fine if you check weather obsessively, but the slight lag keeps it out of the top tier.

6. Google Maps Navigation — Tier: B

With a Shortcut, you can set the Action Button to kick off navigation to a saved location — like your home or office. Useful during a commute, but it's a bit situational. Once you're already in the car, you're probably not fumbling for your phone anyway.

The Middle of the Pack

7. Todoist / Task Apps — Tier: C

The idea here: press the button, a new task entry opens, you dictate or type your to-do. In practice, the shortcut-to-app handoff adds just enough delay to kill the impulse. You lose the thought before the app loads. A dedicated quick-capture widget on your home screen is honestly faster.

8. Translate App — Tier: C

Great concept if you travel internationally or live somewhere with a lot of multilingual interactions. But the app still takes a beat to open and orient itself. It's not bad, it's just not as seamless as you'd hope. Worth it if translation is a regular need for you specifically.

9. Calm / Headspace — Tier: C

We tried mapping the button to start a breathing exercise. It's a nice idea in theory — one-press stress relief — but meditation apps aren't really built for that kind of instant launch. You end up staring at a loading screen, which is the opposite of calming.

10. Drafts App — Tier: B+

For writers or note-takers, Drafts is a cult favorite, and it actually handles the Action Button pretty well. You can configure it to open a new draft immediately, and the app is fast enough that the delay is minimal. If you're already a Drafts user, this is worth setting up.

The Ones That Just Didn't Work

11. Spotify — Tier: D

We tried every variation of a Spotify shortcut we could think of — play a specific playlist, resume playback, open the app. All of them were sluggish and inconsistent. Spotify's shortcut support just isn't tight enough for this to feel good. Skip it.

12. Instagram Stories Camera — Tier: D

The dream: press the button, instantly start filming a story. The reality: Instagram takes forever to load, the camera permissions dialog sometimes pops up anyway, and by the time you're actually recording, the moment is gone. Hard pass.

13. 1Password / Password Managers — Tier: D

Seemed clever at first — one button to open your vault. But Face ID handles password autofill so smoothly now that a dedicated button for it is redundant. You're solving a problem that doesn't really exist.

14. HomeKit Scenes — Tier: B

If you're deep into smart home stuff, triggering a HomeKit scene with the Action Button is actually pretty cool. Press it when you get home, the lights come on, the thermostat adjusts. It works reliably and the response is fast. The limitation is that it's a single scene — you can't toggle between them without reassigning the button.

15. Custom Accessibility Shortcut — Tier: A (for the right person)

This one's highly personal, but for users who rely on accessibility features — like AssistiveTouch, zoom, or display accommodations — having that mapped to a hardware button is genuinely meaningful. If this applies to you, it should probably be your first consideration.

So What Should You Actually Set It To?

Honestly, the answer depends on your life. But if we had to pick one recommendation for most people: Shazam or Voice Memos. Both are fast, both work without hiccups, and both solve a real problem that you'd otherwise need several taps to handle.

The bigger takeaway from all of this testing is that the Action Button rewards simplicity. The best assignments are the ones where the app or function launches almost instantly and does exactly one obvious thing. The moment you're building complex multi-step shortcuts, you're adding the kind of friction the button was supposed to eliminate.

Apple gave you a powerful little tool here. It just takes a few experiments — or maybe 15 of them — to figure out what actually fits your workflow.