Jessica writes: Hey Ben! I got my iPhone updated and was looking forward to the button that would turn on the camera from the lock screen, but where is it? All I see is the usual “Slide to Lock” thing. Thanks!

Hi Jessica! Yes, I too was excited about the new iOS 5 feature that lets you launch the iPhone’s camera without having to unlock your handset … and then I was puzzled when I didn’t see a camera button on the lock screen of my freshly updated iPhone.

Well, the one-touch camera feature is there, alright, but it’s well hidden.

What’s the trick? Simple: just double-click the Home key, and the camera button will appear, right next to the “Slide to unlock” slider.

Update [3/8/2012]: Thanks to the just-released iOS 5.1 software update, the iPhone camera shortcut is a lot easier to find now. Read all about it right here.

The button bypasses your iPhone security code, if you’ve set one, which means you’ll be able to capture that perfect moment without scrambling to enter your PIN.

That said, you’ll be locked out every other iPhone feature (including your photo albums, email, and the dialer) until you successfully enter your passcode—a handy safeguard in case your precious handset falls into the wrong hands.