How to open, use, and customize Control Center on your iPhone
Key things
- Control Center on your iPhone gives you quick access to features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Flashlight, Do Not Disturb, and more.
- You can customize the Control Center by adding, rearranging, or removing controls to suit your preferences.
- It’s a good idea to disable access to Control Center on the lock screen to prevent others from making changes to your iPhone’s settings.
The iOS Control Center offers a convenient way to quickly access various settings and features without having to navigate through the Settings app or third-party apps. Here’s everything you need to know about using and customizing your iPhone’s Control Center.
How to access your iPhone’s Control Center
Let’s start with the basics, i.e. opening the Control Center. The method varies slightly depending on your iPhone model:
- On an iPhone with a Home button (like the iPhone SE, 8 and earlier), you need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- On an iPhone with Face ID (such as iPhone X and later), swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen.
To close the Control Center, long press an empty area. Depending on your iPhone model, you can also swipe up (models with Face ID) or down (models with a Home button) to exit.
When Control Center is opened, handy icons such as operator name, rotation lock status, and battery percentage are also displayed at the top. With iOS 18, you also get the ability to turn off your iPhone directly from Control Center.
What to do if you can’t get to the Control Center
If for some reason you can’t access Control Center, try restarting your iPhone first. If that doesn’t help, make sure Control Center is enabled in apps and on the lock screen.
Finally, if nothing else works, update to the latest version of iOS and reset all settings by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings should help.
How to use Control Center on your iPhone
From adjusting brightness and volume to controlling media playback and activating Do Not Disturb mode, Control Center puts essential tools at your fingertips. In addition, using the control center is simple.
If your iPhone is running iOS 18, you can navigate between the different Control Center pages by swiping up and down or tapping the icons on the right. You can control switches by tapping, swiping, or long pressing.
For example, you can slide the brightness slider up or down to adjust the brightness. Press and hold the brightness slider to display icons for Dark mode, Night shiftand True Tone. Similarly, a long press on the flashlight icon allows you to adjust its intensity.
If you tap and hold on WiFi, Bluetoothor AirDrop icon, you can select a different Wi-Fi network, select a different Bluetooth device, or change the AirDrop visibility settings.
How to Customize Control Center on iPhone
Control Center offers several useful options on your iPhone. You can add, rearrange or remove controls and customize them according to your preferences.
To customize Control Center on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Open it Control center and tap on plus (+) button in the upper left corner. Alternatively, you can long-press anywhere on an empty space to edit the Control Center.
- Tap Add a control and then scroll through the list to select the control you want to add.
- Once added, you can drag the control anywhere to place it or move it to another page. You can also resize the control to your liking.
- To remove the control, tap minus icon in its upper left corner.
- Click anywhere on an empty space to save your changes.
By default, the Control Center displays only three pages, but you can add or remove pages as needed. To add a new page to the Control Center, tap and hold an empty space to enter edit mode, then tap circle icon right to access a blank page. Next, tap on Add a control and select the control to create a new page. To remove a Control Center page, simply remove all controls from that page.
How to disable Control Center access on the lock screen
By default, anyone with access to your iPhone can access Control Center from the lock screen. From there, they can put your device into Airplane mode, turn off Wi-Fi, play music, use Home controls, and more.
However, you can prevent this by turning off Control Center access on the lock screen. Procedure:
- OPEN Settingsthen scroll down and tap on Face ID and password or Touch ID & Passcode.
- Enter your iPhone passcode to continue.
- Under Allow access when lockedturn off the switch next to it Control center.
How to turn off control center access in apps
If you play iPhone games that require vigorous swiping, or if your kids use the device for learning and gaming, you may want to disable access to Control Center in apps to prevent it from accidentally opening. Procedure:
- Open it Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap Control center.
- Turn off Access within applications.
You will then need to go to your iPhone’s home screen or lock screen to access Control Center.
Helpful Control Center tips to maximize your experience
Now that you’re familiar with how to access, edit, and disable Control Center on your iPhone, here are some helpful tips to help you get the most out of it:
- With iOS 18, Control Center now supports toggles for various third-party apps, so you’ll see options from apps like ChatGPT, Instagram, Snapchat, and more.
- You can add a Comment icon to Control Center, allowing you to quickly write text from your iPhone’s lock screen.
- If you wish to record gameplay, create tutorials or similar activities, you can add Screen recording representative to the Control Center.
- Addition Shazam icons to Control Center let you recognize songs on your iPhone without having to invoke Siri.
- If you have an Apple TV, add it Apple TV Remote do Control Center gives you a virtual remote control to control your Apple TV.
- You can also add a shortcut to any app to quickly launch it from the Control Center.
The Control Center on your iPhone is very useful for accessing basic functions and settings. By using the iOS Control Center, you can avoid going to the Settings app or opening third-party apps to access features you use frequently.
