You Can Actually Trigger Two Shortcuts With the iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button

The iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button is a game-changer. With it, you can quickly launch features like the camera and flashlight, or, if you’re really creative, a host of useful shortcuts and automations. But what’s better than assigning one shortcut to the Action Button? Assigning two shortcuts to the Action Button.

That’s the clever hack Federico Viticci published on his MacStories blog. Viticci is known for creating a huge library of shortcuts, and his latest creation is MultiButton, which uses a workaround that let’s you to trigger two shortcuts using the Action Button. The logic behind MultiButton is easy to follow—press the Action Button once to trigger your primary shortcut, and press it a second time—within seven seconds of the first press—to trigger the second shortcut.

Here’s what Viticci says about his shortcut:

All of this wouldn’t have been necessary if Apple supported multiple gestures for the Action button, such as double- and triple-presses. Alas, in this version of iOS 17 for the iPhone 15 Pro, the Action button can only be associated with one shortcut at a time. That seemed like something I could fix with some clever programming in Shortcuts.

As he notes, Apple doesn’t allow you to double or triple-tap the Action Button for different actions by default, and so his shortcut addresses this gap—sort of. Your first Action Button tap will still trigger your first shortcut, even if you immediately follow it up with another to launch your second, so you’ll need to be thoughtful about the shortcuts you choose and the order in which you assign them. And if you’re wondering about the seven-second timer between the two presses of the Action Button, Viticci says it’s an arbitrary number he chose based on his usage of the button. If you press the Action Button a second time after seven seconds, it’ll continue to trigger the primary shortcut you assigned.

You can download the MultiButton shortcut here, but it’s worth checking out the original blog post, where Viticci offers detailed instructions on how to configure the shortcut, suggests potential use cases, and provides examples of how you can make the most of this shortcut tweak. Have fun doubling the utility of one of the best features of your new iPhone 15 Pro.

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