Learn about the iPhone power button’s functions and how to customize its behavior to fit your needs.
Unlike your iPhone’s Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center, the power button on the right side offers limited customization. However, you can adjust its press speed and disable certain features to tweak its behavior.
The powers of this button go beyond just turning on your iPhone, locking it, and summoning Siri. You can do the following using it standalone or with the volume button.
- Turn your iPhone on or off
- Lock the device or wake it up
- Invoke Siri
- Access Apple Pay cards and passes
- Take screenshots
- Hang up phone calls
- Turn on Guided Access
- Start emergency SOS
- Temporarily deactivate Face ID
- Force restart your iPhone
- Enter recovery mode
- Access Medical ID from the power off screen
- Activate the accessibility feature mapped to Accessibility Shortcut
- Trigger Face ID authentication when downloading apps, making Apple Pay payments, etc.
That said, here’s how to change the side button behavior on your iPhone.
If you have difficulty quickly double-pressing or triple-pressing the side button for Apple Pay or Accessibility Shortcut, you can adjust your iPhone to register these clicks even at a slower speed. This is helpful for older individuals or those with health issues who may struggle with rapid presses.
- Open iPhone Settings and tap Accessibility.
- Select Side button under the Physical and Motor section.
- Set Click Speed to Slow or Slowest.
Note: If you have difficulty pressing the physical side button, you can use AssistiveTouch or Switch Control as an alternative to the side button whenever a double-click is needed, such as when confirming Apple Pay payments or downloading apps.
If you don’t want your iPhone to play a confirmation tone when locking it, simply go to iOS Settings > Sounds & Haptics and turn off Lock Sound. Going forward, your iPhone will stay silent when you press the side button to lock it.
iOS allows you to invoke Siri using the side button or hands-free with the “Hey Siri” or “Siri” hotwords. If you rarely use Siri, find it triggering accidentally, or prefer activating it with the hotword, you can unmap Siri from the iPhone side button by following these steps.
- Launch the Settings app and tap Apple Intelligence & Siri or just Siri.
- Tap Talk & Type to Siri.
- Turn off Press Side Button for Siri.
From now on, you can’t use Siri by holding the side button, but you can invoke it by saying “Hey Siri” or “Siri,” provided you have checked one of these options on the Talk & Type to Siri settings screen.
If you’d rather use the old Voice Control instead of Siri, you can set the iPhone’s side button to activate the former by going to Settings > Accessibility > Side Button and selecting Classic Voice Control.
You can call emergency services by pressing the side button three times or holding it with one of the volume buttons. Go to iPhone Settings > Emergency SOS and turn on Call with Hold and Release or Call with 3 Button Presses. Note that enabling the latter will disable the Accessibility Shortcut if you have set it up.
You can also turn off both switches if you prefer not to use the side button for emergency calls. However, if needed, you can press the side button and one of the volume buttons to access the power-off screen and use the Emergency SOS slider.
Block Apple Wallet cards and passes from showing up
You can quickly access your payment cards, transit passes, and more by double-clicking the side button on your iPhone. If you don’t want this, go to iOS Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay and turn off Double-Click Side Button.
If you don’t want to end an ongoing phone call by pressing the side button, go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Touch and turn on Prevent Lock to End Call. This is helpful for people who accidentally hang up a call by pressing the side button when they only intended to wake the screen during the call.
If you frequently use one or more accessibility features, you can assign them to the Accessibility Shortcut and trigger them by triple-pressing the side button. However, if you no longer want this or accidentally enabled it, go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and uncheck the selected features. From then on, triple-pressing the side button will no longer activate any accessibility feature.
Note: If Guided Access is selected, turn it off from its dedicated section.
By default, the iPhone App Store requires you to double-click the side button and authenticate with Face ID to download apps, including free ones. You can eliminate this extra step and download iOS apps without Face ID authentication or typing your Apple Account password.
FAQs
Here are some popular questions and their answers related to the side button.
Can you stop your iPhone from turning on with a single press?
To turn on your iPhone, you need to press and hold the side button until the Apple logo appears. However, if your iPhone turns on with a single press, it could be due to software bugs. Update to the latest version of iOS to fix the issue. Also, check that you’re not using an unusual iPhone case that presses the button even after you’ve released it.
You can stop activating Siri, Apple Wallet, Emergency SOS, Accessibility Shortcuts, and more using the side button, but you can’t fully disable this physical switch. It will always remain active for tasks like locking and waking the iPhone, taking screenshots, entering recovery mode, and force restarting the device.
Unlike some Android phones, you can’t double or triple-press the iPhone power button to launch the camera. But you aren’t missing much, as you already have seven easy ways to quickly open the iPhone camera, ensuring you never miss a shot.
Also, check out: 9 useful things you can do with the volume buttons of your iPhone