Apple makes it simple to turn on an iPhone’s flashlight from the lock screen—too simple. All of us have found ourselves noticing our pocket is glowing, or lift our phone and assault someone in the eye with our phone’s LEDs. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t offer a way to disable the Flashlight button (nor the Camera button) from your lock screen.
However, if you find it a common annoyance, you can make a tradeoff in ease of waking your phone to avoid triggering the flashlight (or Camera app). In Settings > Accessibility > Touch, disable Tap or Swipe to Wake. With this option off, you need to press the side/top (standby or wake) button to activate your iPhone so you can then use a passcode, Touch ID, or Face ID.
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, you can set the Action button to trigger the flashlight. That button requires an intentional press of about a second, making it quite difficult to trigger without meaning to.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Diane.
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Author: Glenn Fleishman, Senior Contributor
Glenn Fleishman’s most recent books include Take Control of iOS and iPadOS Privacy and Security, Take Control of Calendar and Reminders, and Take Control of Securing Your Mac. In his spare time, he writes about printing and type history. He’s a senior contributor to Macworld, where he writes Mac 911.