Take Control of Control Center

Control Center is a handy way to access common controls. To open Control Center, swipe up from beneath the bottom of the screen. In iOS 11, Control Center has been redesigned, compressed back into a single page, and made to be customizable (Figure 18).

Use and Customize Control Center

Control Center is now composed of three types of controls: buttons, sliders, and platters—which are groups of buttons. Many Control Center controls can be pressed to reveal a panel with more functions.

It’s possible to add more controls to Control Center than can fit on the screen at once. Swipe up or down to scroll through them, or better yet, remove the ones you don’t need.

To customize Control Center, visit Settings > Control Center > Customize. It works just like Add a Widget and Delete a Widget:

• Tap the green add button to add a control.
• Tap the red delete button, and then tap Delete to remove a control.
• Drag the grab handle up or down to reposition the control.

However, there are seven controls you cannot remove or reposition: the networking platter, media platter, Orientation Lock, Do Not Disturb, Screen Mirroring, Brightness, and Volume.

Discover Control Center Functions

If you’re an iOS veteran, many of the controls will be instantly familiar, but some are all-new. Here’s what each one of them does.

Networking Platter

The networking platter (Figure 19, A) lets you quickly turn various networking features of your device on and off. In the main Control Center view, it displays four controls:

• Airplane Mode: Tap the Airplane Mode button to disable all wireless connections: cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. An airplane icon appears at the upper-left corner of the screen, in the status bar, when Airplane mode is on.

  Use Airplane mode to comply with airline regulations or to reduce battery usage.

  

• Cellular Data: Tap the Cellular Data button to disable all cellular connectivity, including voice.
• Wi-Fi: Tap the Wi-Fi button to turn Wi-Fi connectivity off or on.
• Bluetooth: Tap the Bluetooth button to enable or disable it. If you’re not using Bluetooth, leave it off to save battery.

Press the networking platter to see two additional controls:

• AirDrop: Tap the AirDrop button to choose who you can receive AirDrop content from: no one, only your contacts, or everyone. Contacts Only is a safe choice, because you can receive AirDrop content from people you know, but won’t get nefarious stuff from strangers.

• Personal Hotspot: If your iOS device has cellular data connectivity, tap this button to share that connection over Wi-Fi if your carrier supports this feature. Your other devices will be able to connect to your iOS device just like any other Wi-Fi access point. Devices signed in to your iCloud account will be able to connect without a password. Other devices will need to enter the password, which you can find on your Personal Hotspot device in Settings > Personal Hotspot.

Media platter

The media platter (Figure 19, B) lets you control background audio, such as music and podcasts. The platter shows the following:

• Track information: For music, the platter shows the song and artist. When playing a podcast, it shows the episode title and the show name.
• Skip buttons: When playing music, these display as previous and next track buttons. If a podcast is playing, they appear as 15-second skip buttons, which are handy for catching a line you missed or bypassing ads. Other apps may present different icons here.
• Play/Pause: These buttons / simply play or pause the audio.
• Output: Tap the Output icon in the upper-right corner to choose an audio or AirPlay video output. Note that after pressing the media platter, that icon changes to this , but it does the same thing.

Pressing the platter reveals two more controls:

• Scrubber: This shows how far you are into an audio track and the total duration. Drag the white knob to change the playback position.
• Volume: Drag the white knob to adjust the playback volume.

Other Control Center Functions

• Orientation Lock: Tap Orientation Lock (Figure 19, C) to lock the screen’s orientation and prevent it from rotating.

  On older iPads with a physical side switch, if you set the side switch to Lock Rotation in Settings > General, the Orientation Lock button in Control Center becomes a Mute button (Figure 20). Tap it to mute audio from alerts, notifications, and sound effects. Media playback will not be muted.

  

• Do Not Disturb: Useful while you are at a performance or asleep, Do Not Disturb (Figure 19, D) can be enabled to prevent notification alerts, FaceTime calls, and phone calls from disturbing you with noise, vibration, or your screen’s backlight. Timers or alarms set in the Clock app will override Do Not Disturb.

  To allow repeated calls or key people (see Additional Apple Apps) to override Do Not Disturb, visit Settings > Do Not Disturb. There, you can also set Do Not Disturb to operate on a schedule, in order to avoid unnecessary early morning wake-ups.

• Screen Mirroring: Unlike most of Control Center’s controls, tapping Screen Mirroring (Figure 19, G) does nothing, but if you press it, you can select an Apple TV to mirror your device’s screen to. To stop mirroring, press Screen Mirroring again and tap Stop Mirroring.
• Brightness: Adjust the slider to a comfortable level (Figure 19, E). You can also automatically keep the brightness at an appropriate level: visit Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations to access the Auto-Brightness switch.

  Press the brightness slider to reveal the Night Shift button. Night Shift warms the colors of your display to make it easier to sleep. Tap the button once to either schedule Night Shift or manually turn it on until 7 AM. Tap it again to turn Night Shift off.

  On True Tone-equipped iPad Pro models, the brightness slider also reveals a True Tone button. True Tone adjusts the display to maintain consistent color presentation in different lighting situations.

• Volume: Adjust the system volume to a comfortable level. Press the slider to see a full-screen volume control (Figure 19, F).
• Accessibility Shortcuts: Press Accessibility Shortcuts to quickly access Accessibility features (Figure 21, H). You can choose what appears here in Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcuts.

  

• Alarm: Tap Alarm to open the Clock app to the Alarm tab (Figure 21, I).
• Apple TV Remote: Press Apple TV Remote to reveal a virtual Siri Remote that you can use to control your fourth-generation Apple TV (Figure 21, J). You can select which device you control at the top of the screen (Figure 22).

  

• Calculator: Tap Calculator to open the Calculator app. Press it to reveal an option to copy the last Calculator result (Figure 21, K). (Not available on iPad.)
• Camera: Tap Camera to open the Camera app (Figure 21, L). Press it to reveal Take Selfie, Record Video, Record Slo-Mo, and Take Photo (or Take Portrait on the iPhone 7 Plus). See Pick a Camera Mode.
• Do Not Disturb While Driving: Tap Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode to enable or disable the new Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode (Figure 21, M). While enabled, you will not see notifications of new text messages, and anyone who messages you will receive an automatic response informing them of that. See Enable Do Not Disturb While Driving. (Not available on iPad.)
• Flashlight: Tapping Flashlight turns on the LED flash on iOS devices that have one, turning your device into a flashlight (Figure 21, N). Press it to reveal a slider that lets you adjust the flash’s brightness.
• Guided Access: The Guided Access control enables Guided Access for the current app (Figure 21, O). Until Guided Access is turned off, the user is stuck in the designated app, which is handy for young children. See Other Accessibility Options.
• Home: Tapping Home opens the Home app (Figure 21, P). Press Home to reveal a panel that lets you control Favorite Accessories and Favorite Scenes—switch between the two with the button in the upper-right corner (Figure 23). Tap an accessory or scene to turn it on or off. Press an accessory to see additional controls. See Control Your Home.

  

• Low Power Mode: Tapping Low Power Mode turns Use Low Power Mode on or off (Figure 21, Q). (Not available on iPad.)
• Magnifier: Tap Magnifier to open the super-handy Magnifier feature (Figure 21, R). See Accessibility for Everyone.
• Notes: Tapping Notes while your device is unlocked opens the Notes app (Figure 21, S). But tap it while your phone is locked to create an Instant Note, which is like a regular note, except that it’s accessible from the Lock screen for an amount of time set in Settings > Notes > Resume Previous Note.

  Press the Notes button to reveal these options:

  • New Note: Open Notes with a new note.
  • New Checklist: Open a new note with a checklist already created.
  • New Photo: Create a new note and open the Camera to capture an image for the note.
  • New Sketch: Make a sketch in a new note.
• Screen Recording: Tap Screen Recording to begin recording your screen (Figure 24, T). The control’s icon turns red while recording. Tap it again to stop. Press the control to reveal an option to turn Microphone Audio on or off, which is handy if you want to narrate your screen recording. Screen recordings are saved in Photos.

  

• Stopwatch: Tap Stopwatch to open the Clock app to the Stopwatch tab (Figure 24, U).
• Text Size: Press Text Size control to reveal a slider that lets you adjust system text size (Figure 24, V).
• Timer: Tapping Time opens up the Clock app to the Timer tab (Figure 24, W). Handy for cooking! Press to quickly set a timer between one minute and two hours.
• Voice Memos: Tap Voice Memos to open the Voice Memos app (Figure 24, X). (Not available on iPad.)
• Wallet: Tap Wallet to open the Wallet app (Figure 24, Y). Press for shortcuts like payment methods and recent transactions. See Organize Your Wallet (Not available on iPad.)