Networking Platter

The networking platter (Figure 13, 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 in the upper-left corner of the screen, on 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 and your carrier supports this feature, tap this button to share that connection over Wi-Fi. Your other devices can connect to your iOS device like any other Wi-Fi access point. Devices signed in to your iCloud account can connect without a password. Other devices require the password, which you can find on your Personal Hotspot device in Settings > Personal Hotspot.

Media Platter

The media platter (Figure 13, B) lets you control background audio, such as music and podcasts, as well as playback on AirPlay 2 devices like the Apple TV and HomePod. 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 skip buttons, which are handy for catching a line you missed or bypassing ads (you can change the button durations in Settings > Podcasts). 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.

Touching and holding 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.

Touching and holding also shows playback controls for AirPlay 2 devices in your home. Tap the bubble for a device to switch to controlling that device (Figure 14). Even after exiting that screen, the Media Platter’s controls continues controlling that device until you change it back. While controlling an Apple TV, tapping the remote control icon will bring up an onscreen Apple TV remote.

Other Control Center Functions

Here’s everything else Control Center can do:

• Orientation Lock: Tap Orientation Lock (Figure 13, C) to lock the screen’s orientation and prevent it from rotating.

• Do Not Disturb: Useful while you are at a performance or asleep, Do Not Disturb (Figure 13, 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 override Do Not Disturb.

  You can touch and hold the Do Not Disturb Control Center button to reveal options to turn it off automatically after one hour, when it becomes evening or morning, or when you leave your current location. From this pane you can tap Schedule to jump to Do Not Disturb settings.

  To allow key people or repeated calls from the same person 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. You can also enable Dim Lock Screen for scheduled Do Not Disturb periods—it dims the Lock screen and hides notifications in Notification Center.

• Screen Mirroring: Tapping Screen Mirroring (Figure 13, G) lets you select an Apple TV to mirror your device’s screen to. To stop mirroring, tap Screen Mirroring again and tap Stop Mirroring.

• Brightness: Adjust the slider to a comfortable level (Figure 13, E). You can also automatically keep the brightness at an appropriate level: visit Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size to access the Auto-Brightness switch.

  Touch and hold the brightness slider to reveal three other buttons:

  • Dark Mode : Tap this to turn Dark Mode on and off.

  • Night Shift : Work the 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 A.M. Tap it again to turn Night Shift off.

  • True Tone : True Tone (available on select devices) adjusts the display to maintain consistent color presentation in different lighting situations.

• Volume: Adjust the system volume to a comfortable level. Touch and hold the slider to see a full-screen volume control (Figure 13, F).

The following controls can be added, removed, or repositioned in Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls:

• Accessibility Shortcuts: Press Accessibility Shortcuts to quickly access Accessibility features (Figure 15, A). 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 15, B).

• Apple TV Remote: Tap Apple TV Remote to reveal a virtual remote that you can use to control your Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K (Figure 15, C). You can select which device you control at the top of the screen.

• Calculator: Tap Calculator to open the Calculator app. Touch and hold it to reveal an option to copy the last Calculator result (Figure 15, D). (Not available on iPad.)

• Camera: Tap Camera to open the Camera app (Figure 15, E). Touch and hold it to reveal Take Selfie, Record Video, Take Photo (or Take Portrait on compatible phones), and Record Slo-Mo. See Pick a Camera Mode.

• Dark Mode: Tap the Dark Mode button to turn Dark Mode on and off.

• Do Not Disturb While Driving: Tap Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode to enable or disable Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode (Figure 15, F). While enabled, you won’t see notifications of new text messages, and anyone who messages you receives 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 15, H). 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 15, I). Until Guided Access is turned off, the user is stuck in the designated app, which is handy for young children. See Other Accessibility Options.

• Hearing: If you have AirPods connected, this button lets you turn the Live Listen feature on and off, which turns your AirPods into a listening device, with the iOS device acting as a microphone (Figure 15, J).

• Home: Tap Home (Figure 15, K) to reveal a panel that lets you control Favorite Accessories and Favorite Scenes. Tap an accessory or scene to turn it on or off. Press an accessory to see additional controls. Check out Take Control of Apple Home Automation for a complete guide to HomeKit.

• Low Power Mode: Tapping Low Power Mode turns Use Low Power Mode on or off (Figure 15, L). (Not available on iPad.)

• Magnifier: Tap Magnifier to open the super-handy Magnifier feature (Figure 16, A). See Accessibility for Everyone.

  

• Notes: Tapping Notes while your device is unlocked opens the Notes app (Figure 16, B). 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 > Access Notes from Lock Screen.

  Touch and hold 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.

  • Scan Document: Scan a document with the camera and add it to a note.

• QR Code Reader: Tap this (Figure 16, C) to open a scanner for QR codes. The Camera app can read those codes, but this is much more full featured.

• Screen Recording: Tap Screen Recording to begin recording your screen after a three-second countdown (Figure 16, D). The control’s icon turns red while recording. Tap it again to stop. Touch and hold 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 16, U).

• Text Size: Tap Text Size control to reveal a slider that lets you adjust system text size (Figure 16, F).

• Timer: Tapping Timer opens up the Clock app to the Timer tab (Figure 16, G). Handy for cooking! Touch and hold to quickly set a timer between one minute and two hours.

• Voice Memos: Tap Voice Memos (Figure 16, H) to open the Voice Memos app.

• Wallet: Tap Wallet to open the Wallet app (Figure 16, I). Touch and hold for shortcuts like payment methods and recent transactions. See Organize Your Wallet (Not available on iPad.)