In iOS 11, which was released in the fall of 2017, Apple gave users an unprecedented number of ways to customize their devices – allowing control over things that had been unchangeable in the past. One great example of this is Control Center – iOS’ one stop shop for quick access to your device’s settings that’s just a simple swipe up from the bottom of the screen away (or down from the top right of the screen, if you happen to be using an iPhone X).
Having the ability to swipe up and quickly interact with one of these controls regardless of where a user was – on the Lock Screen, the Home Screen, or in an app, was a game changer when Control Center was introduced in iOS 7.
In the past, though, Control Center had been a static, preconfigured set of controls and toggles that was the same for everyone regardless of what device they were using or what their personal preferences were.
In iOS 10 and below, Control Center provided users with quick access to the following settings:
- Airdrop
- Airplane mode
- Airplay
- Bluetooth
- Brightness
- Calculator
- Camera
- Do Not Disturb
- Flashlight
- HomeKit devices
- Media controls
- Night Shift
- Rotation Lock
- Timers
- Wi-Fi
iOS 11 retains all of the controls from iOS 10 and adds several more, including quick access to:
- Accessibility Shortcuts
- Alarm
- Apple TV Remote
- Cellular data
- Do Not Disturb While Driving
- Guided Access
- Low Power Mode
- Magnifier
- Notes
- Screen Recording
- Stopwatch
- Text Size
- Voice Memos
- Wallet
What’s more, Apple has even given users the ability to customize many of these controls – to show the ones that are important to them, hide others, and put the controls in the order that makes the most sense for their personal workflows.
Here’s how you can customize Control Center to get quick access to the settings you use most.
Start by opening the Settings app and then tapping on Control Center. Then tap on Customize Controls. You’ll be presented with a list of available controls, divided into Include and More Controls sections. If you’ve never modified your Control Center, the Include section will list the default controls that shipped with your device. You can remove controls by tapping the red minus next to the items in the Include section, add new controls by tapping the green plus next to items in the More Controls section, and rearrange included controls by tapping and holding on the three grey lines next to the included controls and then dragging to reorder them.
If you’d like to see how your Control Center is shaping up during the customizing process, just access Control Center and take a look.
When you’re all done and Control Center is set up how you want it to be, just navigate back to your home screen and you’re good to go.
I know that, for me, the most useful non-default controls to add to Control Center have been Low Power Mode, Apple TV Remote, and Screen Recording. How about you? Let us know in the comments section below!
