That’s right! The two inconspicuous buttons on the left side of your iPhone can do much more than just turn down the music or turn up the ringtone. Apple has cleverly linked them to various system and camera functions.

Here’s an overview of the “secret arsenal” of your volume buttons:

Camera Tool (Physical Shutter)
When you have the Camera app open, the volume buttons turn into actual camera buttons:

Take a photo: Press the volume up or down button to instantly take a photo. This provides significantly more stability than tapping the screen.

Start/stop video: In video mode, press either button to start and stop recording.

QuickTake: In normal shooting mode, press and hold either volume button to instantly record a video. As soon as you release it, recording stops.

Burst mode: If you enable the “Use volume up button for burst mode” option in the camera settings, you can hold down the volume up button to take a series of quick action shots.

Scan documents: When using the scan feature in Files, Notes, or Mail, you don’t have to tap the screen. Press either volume button to scan a document at the right moment.
Tame alarms and calls: Snooze alarms: When your alarm goes off in the morning, you don’t have to fiddle with the screen while you’re half asleep. Simply press either volume button to snooze the alarm.
Mute calls: An incoming call interrupting your meeting? Press either volume button once. Ringing and vibration will stop immediately, while the call continues in the background (without directly rejecting the caller).

Safety and emergencies
Make an emergency call: Press and hold the side button (power button) and either volume button at the same time. The emergency call slider will appear. Continue holding the buttons to automatically start the countdown for the emergency call.
Show Medical ID: With the same key combination, emergency responders can quickly access your saved emergency information (blood type, allergies, emergency contacts) without having to unlock iPhone.

Quickly disable Face ID: After accessing the emergency call menu above, Face ID is temporarily disabled for security reasons. iPhone can then only be unlocked with a PIN code – useful if you need to protect your phone from unauthorized viewing.

System Tricks
Take a screenshot: Briefly press the Volume Up button and the Side button at the same time.
Shut down: Press and hold the Volume Down button and the Side button at the same time until the “Power Off” slider appears.

Force restart (hard reset): If your iPhone freezes completely:

Press and release the Volume Up button.

Press and release the Volume Down button.

Press and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Which of these features do you already use in your daily life, or is there a specific feature you would like to configure in more detail?