If the rumors are to be believed, with the upcoming iPhone 16 announcement Apple will introduce a new capture button that will be added to the phones across the line (both pro and non-pro models). The tea leaves also say that this new capture button will be mechanical, not capacitive, but that it may be touch-sensitive. This is so it can detect, for instance, swiping across the button as opposed to pressing it.

After a year with the Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, I can tell you I am sold on these additional buttons. I’ve programmed my Action button to be context-sensitive to my current Focus mode. If I’m in Work Focus mode, pressing the button does different things than when I’m in Personal Focus mode or Disneyland Focus mode. (Yes. I have a Disneyland Focus.) In most modes, the Action button gives me a menu of options. In Disneyland mode, it just takes a picture. So, adding an additional button makes it that much better in my mind.

However, what we haven’t heard from the rumors is whether this physical button will be programmable. While I have no problem with Apple making the default behavior of the capture button to take a picture, I admit I would be disappointed if it wasn’t programmable. Not everybody wants to take a picture. Maybe for some people, “capture” means adding an item to their task list or recording a voice memo, or, in my case, triggering a customized shortcut that does all sorts of cool tricks. While I suspect a large percentage of people will use a capture button just to take photos (and by “large percentage” I mean over 90%), I hope Apple makes that button programmable for the rest of us.