How to change what the Action button does on an iPhone

In short

Open Settings and tap Action Button. Swipe sideways through the choices, such as Silent Mode, Camera or Shortcut, and stop on the one you want. Press and hold the button to use it.

4 of 4 steps show a real screenshot from our iPhone 17e.

What changed: new screenshots from our iPhone 17e on iOS 27.0.1, dark mode, and the wording checked against those screens.

Steps

1. 1

   Check that your iPhone has one

   If the main Settings list has an Action Button row, your iPhone has the button. On our iPhone 17e with iOS 27, Action Button was just below Accessibility.

   Done
   
2. 2

   Open Settings and tap Action Button

   It is in the group with General and Accessibility. On our iPhone 17e with iOS 27.0.1 the page opened on Silent Mode, the default, with a row of dots for the other actions.

   Done
   
3. 3

   Swipe to choose an action

   Swipe sideways across the picture of the current action, boxed. Apple lists Silent Mode, Focus, Camera, Visual Intelligence (requires Apple Intelligence), Flashlight, Voice Memo, Recognize Music, Translate, Magnifier, Controls, Shortcut, Accessibility and No Action. On our iPhone 17e with iOS 27, the first one was Silent Mode, with the note: Switch between Silent and Ring for calls and alerts, and a row of 13 dots below the picture. If an action has more options, Apple says a button appears below it: tap it and pick one. Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility need that choice, or the button does nothing. Then press and hold the Action button to use it.

   Done
   
4. 4

   Check the new action

   After one swipe, ours showed Focus, with the note Turn Focus on to silence notifications and filter out distractions, and an All Focus Modes button below it for choosing the Focus. We swiped back to Silent Mode afterwards.

   Done
   

If you do not see this option

• There is no Action Button row in Settings. Your iPhone has no Action button. Apple says only supported models have one, in place of the Ring/Silent switch; on other models you flip the Ring/Silent switch for Silent mode. On our iPhone 17e the row was just below Accessibility. Sources: Use and customize the Action button on iPhone, Silence iPhone
• There is no options button below the action. Apple says the button only appears when the action has more options. On our iPhone 17e, Silent Mode showed just its name and the note: Switch between Silent and Ring for calls and alerts. Source: Use and customize the Action button on iPhone

If this does not work

• Pressing the button does nothing. Press and hold it, as Apple says. For Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility, Apple says you must also tap the button below the action and pick a specific option, otherwise the Action button does nothing.
• You changed the action and now need Silent mode. Apple says that if your Action button is not set to Silent mode, go to Settings, Sounds & Haptics and turn Silent mode on or off there.

Good to know

If the button no longer controls Silent mode, use the bell in Control Centre, or Settings, Sounds & Haptics, to silence the phone.

With Shortcut you can open any app or start a chain of actions, which makes the button far more flexible.

Choose No Action if you keep pressing it by accident.

About this guide

Device

iPhone

Shown on

iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 17e)

App

Settings

Path

Settings › Action Button

Real screenshots

4 of 4 steps

Checked

October 2026

Sources

2 official, linked below

Sources

• Apple Support: Use the Action button, side button, and other controls on your iPhone
• Apple Support: Use and customize the Action button on iPhone

Links checked October 2026. Menus and features can change with updates.

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