One of the most useful features of an iPhone is the Control Center, offering instant access to commonly-used controls. From Airplane Mode to Apple's signature Guided Access, the Control Center lets you keep important smartphone settings at your fingertips to increase efficiency.
Accessing the Control Center depends on the type of Apple device you own. While the process may vary depending on the generation, all iOS devices support a pretty straightforward way to open and close the feature.
The Control Center also supports customization, letting users add additional controls over and above the ones available by default. This article will feature a complete guide to using the useful in-built feature in Apple's smartphones.
Here's how you can use and customize the Control Center on your iPhone
For modern Apple smartphones, you can swipe down from the top-right area of your smartphone's screen to open the Control Center. However, the iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and older models require a slightly different approach.
Use Control Center on the iPhone X and later
Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open the Control Center. Similarly, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to close it. You can also tap on the bottom of the screen to close it.
Note that swiping too close to the top center of the screen may open the Notification Center. Make sure to swipe down from the top-right to avoid opening the Notification Center instead of the Control Center.
Use Control Center on the iPhone SE, and iPhone 8 and earlier
For older and certain newer Apple iPhone models, you'll need to swipe up from the bottom edge of any screen to open the Control Center. To close it, tap on the top of the screen or press the Home button.
How to access additional controls from the Control Center?
Some settings featured in the Control Center offer additional controls for iOS users. You can touch and hold control to reveal more options. For example, you can touch and hold the camera control to use further options like Take Selfie, Take Portrait, Take Portrait Selfie, or Record a Video.
Here's a list of controls that offer additional options:
- Accesibility Shortcuts
- Announce Notifications
- Apple TV Remote
- Brightness
- Camera
- Flashlight
- Hearing
- Home
- Night Shift
- Noise Control
- Notes
- Screen Mirroring
- Screen Recording
- Sound Recognition
- Spatial Audio
- Timer
- True Tone
- Volume
- Wallet
How to add, organize, and remove controls?
The Control Center provides flexible options to add more controls and organize the space. Here's a complete list of applications and functionalities that can be accessed via the Control Center:
- Alarm
- Calculator
- Code Scanner
- Dark Mode
- Do Not Disturb
- Driving
- Guided Access
- Keyboard Brightness
- Low Power Mode
- Magnifier
- Music Recognition
- Personal
- Portrait Orientation Lock
- Quick Note
- Slient Mode
- Sleep
- Stage Manager
- Stopwatch
- Text Size
- Voice Memos
- Work
To add applications or settings to the Control Center, open the Settings app and scroll down to locate the Control Center option. Tap on it to open the list of eligible and chosen controls. Tap on the plus or minus icons to add or remove settings to or from the Control Center.
You can also rearrange controls by touching and holding the three horizontal bars beside the control and dragging it to the desired position.