I’m using an iPhone 15 Pro Max on iOS 27, with the Action Button assigned to the flashlight.
The problem is that the Action Button only activates the flashlight when the front of the phone is unobstructed. If the phone is facing away from me, against clothing, partly covered, or otherwise detected as being in a pocket, iOS ignores the Action Button press.
I understand why proximity/pocket detection exists to prevent accidental activation, but for the flashlight this behaviour is inconvenient. The flashlight is one of the functions where a physical button is especially useful because I often want to activate it without looking at or repositioning the phone.
I also tried assigning a Shortcut that toggles the flashlight instead of using the native Flashlight Action Button option, but the same restriction still applies.
Steps to reproduce:
- Assign Flashlight to the Action Button.
- Lock the iPhone.
- Hold the phone normally and cover the front/proximity sensor, or place the phone screen-down.
- Press and hold the Action Button.
- The flashlight does not activate.
- Uncover/turn the screen toward you and try again — it works.
Expected behaviour: An intentional press-and-hold of the Action Button should be able to activate the flashlight regardless of phone orientation or proximity sensor state.
At minimum, it would be useful to have an option such as:
“Allow Action Button while proximity sensor is covered”
or an exception specifically for the flashlight.
The current behaviour makes the Action Button significantly less useful as a physical flashlight switch.