Loving my new iPhone, but the flashlight drives me mad!

While on the lock screen (for example while working on my car), I have tried multiple times to just use my Action Button shortcut to turn it on. It has never worked once... while the phone was locked. It works perfectly if I unlock my phone and swipe up.

It also works if I use the Control Center to turn the flashlight on instead of trying to use the Action Button. But doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the Action Button? I don't want to have to open up the phone.

Especially while working on my car, where I usually have gloves on, picking up the phone and unlocking it is super annoying and I don't want to have to stop everything I'm doing to focus on it.

Using iPhone 16 Pro on iOS 18.2.

TL;DR: The flashlight button won't work with Action Button while the screen is locked. Is this a bug or a feature?