Samuel Oxon
iOS 18 launched this week, and while its flagship feature (Apple Intelligence) is still to come, the new OS includes two notable new customizations: the Home screen and Control Center.
A few days ago we talked about the Home screen, so for the next part of our series on iOS 18, it’s time to turn our attention to the new ways you can adjust the Control Center to your liking. While we’re at it, let’s evaluate some of the features that make iOS more powerful and more efficient for power users.
It’s by no means a significant update for power users that Apple released on the iPhone platform — nothing like, for example, Shortcuts or the Files app it introduced a few years ago. But with increasingly expensive iPhone Pro models, Apple is still trying to make the case that you can do more with your phone than you’re used to.
Let’s start with the Control Center, then get into iCloud, files, external drives, and hidden and locked apps.
Updated control center
Control Center may not be the prettiest corner of iOS, but when Apple adds more functionality and flexibility to a panel that by default can be accessed with a single gesture from anywhere on the platform, including third-party apps. A big step up in how usable and efficient the iPhone is.
This seems to be the aim of a significant Control Center overhaul in iOS 18. Visually, it looks mostly the same as we had in iOS 17, but it’s now side-by-side and customizable, with a wider variety of controls. It also includes the option to grant restrictions to third-party apps for the first time. Additionally, Apple lets you add shortcuts to Control Center, which can be very powerful for those who want to get deeper into things.
When you call it up (by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen on even modern iPhones and iPads), it’s mostly the same as before, but you’ll notice some additional elements on the screen, including:
- “+” sign in the upper left corner: This launches the customization menu for reordering and resizing controls
- Power icon in the upper right corner: Holding it brings up iOS’s swipe-to-power-off screen.
- Three icons on the right side of the screen: heart, music symbol and wireless connection symbol
The control center is now on the side
The three icons on the right represent the three pages the Control Center will now start, and they’re just the beginning. You can add more pages if you want.
Swiping up and down on any empty area of ​​the Control Center moves between pages. The first page (the one represented by the heart) contains all the controls that were in the old version of the Control Center. You can customize what’s here as much as you want.
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The front page resembles the old Control Center, but with more customization.
Samuel Oxon
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By default, the second page has a large “Now Playing” music and audio widget with AirPlay controls.
Samuel Oxon
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The third has a tall widget that contains link toggles.
Samuel Oxon
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Adding a new page provides a grid to add custom control options.
Samuel Oxon
By default the second page has a large “Now Playing” music and audio widget with AirPlay controls, and the third is a one-stop shop for changing connection features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular, AirDrop, Airplane Mode, and any VPN. You are using
This new pagination approach may seem like it introduces an extra step to get some controls, but it’s necessary because there are now so many controls you can add—far more than can fit on one page.
Customizing pages and controls
If you like the way things were, you can remove a page entirely by removing all controls on it. You can add more pages if you want or modify the existing pages to your liking.
Whereas previously you had to go to the Settings app to change what controls are included, you can now do it directly from Control Center in one of two ways: tap the aforementioned plus icon or long-press on any empty space. Place in Control Center to enter customization mode.
In this view, you are presented with a grid of circular dots that the controls can move through. Each existing control has a “-“ button in its corner that you can tap to remove. To move a control, long press it for one second and drag it to where you want it to reside on the grid.
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This is the Control Center customization view, which is far superior to the home screen’s gesture mode.
Samuel Oxon
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Selecting Add New Control brings up this long, searchable, scrollable list of controls from both Apple and third-party apps you’ve installed.
Samuel Oxon
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There aren’t a ton of third-party controls yet, but here are a few examples.
Samuel Oxon
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You can resize the controls, but most of them seem to take up a lot of space and add some text – not very helpful if you ask me.
Samuel Oxon
Each control has a marker in the lower right corner that you can touch and drag to increase the size of the control. The vast majority of these controls don’t offer anything of value when you zoom in on them, though, which is strange and a missed opportunity.
To add a new control, tap the words “Add Control” at the bottom of the screen, which are only visible in this customization mode. This brings up a vertically scrollable list of all available controls with a search field at the top. Controls appear in the list just like in Control Center, which is great for previewing your preferences.
