Show what is going
In the Settings app: Action Button › Controls. Tap the control's name, then find In hand under Routine Run.
One press opens In hand: what is going, what comes back, and what to start. It never does anything by itself.
Do the one thing
In the Settings app: Action Button › Shortcut, then Do the One Thing under Routine Run.
A press acts only on a run you have pinned, that is going (not paused, not put off until later). On that run's current step, it does the actions marked for the button, in the order they are written. Nothing else is ever done from a pocket.
To mark an action:
- Open the step and its action.
- Under When it runs, set Set off by to When I press it, or the button does.
Or swipe the action's row on the step and tap Let the button. Only by hand takes the mark off. A marked action wears a small badge on the step and on the Lock Screen card.
What a press does
| What is true | What happens |
|---|---|
| One pinned run, with something marked | It is done. Nothing opens. |
| Several pinned runs with something marked | In hand appears over the screen. Each run's row offers what the press would have done |
| Nothing pinned, or nothing marked | The app opens at In hand |
| The action is a link, or its words use the clipboard | The app opens to finish it |
On Apple Watch Ultra
Choose Do the One Thing for the watch's Action button. It follows the same rule, and asks the iPhone to do it. Out of reach, the watch says "Asked the phone", and it happens when they are back in touch. With several runs to choose from, the watch app opens on them. See The Watch app.
When it goes wrong
The press opened the app instead. Nothing was pinned, or the step has nothing marked. In hand says "Nothing is pinned, so the Action button leaves these alone" when that is the reason.
It did the wrong run. Only pinned runs are reached. Unpin the ones you are not watching.
Nothing happened at all. Press it, then open Settings › Diagnostics in the app. The last press lists how far the press got. One that finished ends at "answered".
See also Actions in Shortcuts and Live Activity buttons.