Introduction to the iPhone Layout

Your iPhone has several external buttons. Some of these have more than one use. For instance, the Side button has one function for a single press (sleep or wake) and another function for a long press (summon Siri or power off). The image below is the iPhone 7 and is representative of early iPhone models with a physical Home button.

The iPhone X (pronounced “iPhone ten”) and later models do not have a Home button. They replace the fingerprint reader with Face ID (facial recognition) and add gestures for the control functions of the Home button.

External iPhone buttons

Here is a brief explanation of some of the buttons shown above.

1. Side (power) button.
   • A single press puts your device to sleep or wakes it up.
   • On iPhones without a Home button, use a long press to activate Siri.
   • Activates Emergency SOS.
2. Volume control. Press to adjust the volume for the current app (phone, music, etc.) You can also press a volume button to take a picture if your Camera app is open.
3. Home/Touch ID button.
   • Press once to return to your last-used Home Screen. Press a second time to go to your main Home Screen.
   • Quickly double-click the Home button (when the phone is unlocked) to open the App Switcher and display your recently opened apps.
   • Press and hold the Home button to summon Siri.
4. Ringer/Silent switch. Silences phone calls and notifications. Any timer/wake alarms will still sound.

Other features (not all models)

• Flash. A built-in LED flash helps with low-light photography and provides fill light when you have a bright background.
• Headphone jack. The 3.5mm audio/headphone jack was discontinued with iPhone 7.
• Cameras. The iPhone has a front-facing and a rear-facing camera. Both are capable of recording video. Some iPhones have multiple lenses for zoom and wide-angle photographs.