Control Center (Apple)

Last updated
Control Center
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Operating system

Control Center (or Control Centre in British English, Australian English, and Canadian English) is a feature of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS operating systems. It was introduced as part of iOS 7, released on September 18, 2013. [1] In iOS 7, it replaces the control pages found in previous versions. It gives iOS and iPadOS devices direct access to important settings for the device by swiping down from the top right corner on the iPhone X and newer, and on all iPad models starting with iOS 12 or iPadOS, with previous models using a swipe from the bottom of the screen. It is similar to the SBSettings tweak for iOS jailbreaking. [2] Control Center was also added to Macs in macOS 11 Big Sur, released on November 12, 2020.

Contents

Usage

iOS and iPadOS

Control Center gives iOS and iPadOS users quick access to commonly used controls and apps. By swiping up from any screen–including the Lock screen (if the control center is set to be accessed from the lock screen)–users can do such things as switch on Airplane mode, turn Wi-Fi on or off, adjust the display brightness and similar basic functions of the device. [3] [4]

Since iOS 7, it has also included an integrated flashlight function to operate the reverse camera's flash LED as a flashlight. [3] [4] The flashlight feature is only available on iPhone and iPod Touch, and iPad Pro. Beginning with iOS 9.3, a Night Shift toggle became available through the Control Center on all iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad models that have an Apple A7 chip or later.

Other functions are offered, such as the ability to turn Bluetooth and Do Not Disturb on or off; lock the screen's orientation; play, pause, or skip a song, see what is playing; connect to AirPlay-enabled devices; and quickly access the clock, calculator, and camera apps. [3] [4] Users also have access to AirDrop, previously only available on Macs and newly added to iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch models using the Lightning connector in iOS 7, as a method of transferring files between Apple devices. [3] [4] [5]

macOS

Introduced with macOS 11 Big Sur in 2020, Control Center on macOS gives users quick access to many system-level settings such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and Airdrop, as well as display brightness and system volume. The Control Center icon is on the right side of the menu bar. [6]

visionOS

Apple's spatial computing platform launched with Control Center, providing access to similar settings as iOS, as well as visionOS-specific features such as guest user access, Mac virtual display, and travel mode.

Design

iOS

In iOS 7 through iOS 9, Control Center featured a single-paged slide up panel with a blurred background, which provided a layer of translucency over the content below. The design for the most part remained the same, aside from a few small, occasional changes. Due to the intense resources needed to create a blurred effect, iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPad 3 do not feature a translucent background, and instead feature a grey background with slight transparency without blur.

In iOS 10, Control Center morphed into a card-like design with a white background, and was separated into three separate cards accessible by swiping horizontally. The first card consisted of main device controls, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb, while the second page was dedicated to media controls, and the third page for controlling HomeKit enabled devices linked in the Home application.

Control Center received a significant redesign in iOS 11, unifying its different pages into one and allowing users to 3D Touch (or long press on devices without 3D Touch) [7] the icons for additional options, and vertical sliders allow users to adjust volume and brightness. [8] Control Center is customizable via the Settings app, and allows for a wider range of settings features to be shown, [9] [7] including cellular service, Low Power Mode, and a shortcut to the Notes app. [10]

iOS 12, released in 2018, brought a few new additions to Control Center, with Do Not Disturb being updated to allow 3D Touching or long pressing the icon to access a menu of preset durations of a Do Not Disturb session. With the 2020 release of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Control Center received a few other new additions, like sleep tracking, sound recognition and a Shazam toggle. While in 2021, Control Center received a new Focus option and a new Keyboard Brightness option in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. And in 2022, in iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, Control Center's sound recognition Shazam feature integrated its history with the main Shazam application's history, instead of the histories being separated.

During WWDC 2024, a new version of Control Center was announced to be added to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. [11] The new Control Center is revamped with a new design featuring more circular buttons and controls. It also now has multiple pages of different classes of controls, separating controls for connectivity, media, home, a user's favorite controls, and even an option to create new groups or pages personalized by the user. It also allows editing the size of each control (With exceptions being the volume and brightness sliders, among others) using a "wiggle mode" similar to editing the iPhone and iPad Home Screen. There is also a small "+" button in the top left that allows for opening the controls gallery and adding more controls, including 3rd-party controls for specific apps.

visionOS

In visionOS 1, the Control Center is accessed by looking up and selecting the Control Center icon (a downward-facing chevron) that appears at the top of the users' view. [12] in visionOS 2, access to Control Center has been replaced with a new hand gesture. [13]

Reception

Control Center has received generally positive reviews. In contrast for the user having to access the Settings application to change most preferences, Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch thought that "separating [Control Center] from that function and making it accessible throughout the iOS user interface via a simple swipe up from bottom is a really big improvement." [14]

The iOS 11 update was criticized for changing the way the buttons for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work; more specifically, the toggles would disconnect devices from Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, while leaving the radios on. The Electronic Frontier Foundation stated that this change not only hurt battery life, but was also bad for security, describing the buttons as turning Wi-Fi and Bluetooth "off-ish" (greyed out, but not crossed out, as it would appear if switched off directly from the Settings app), as well as further criticizing the connections resuming at 5:00 am every day. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keynote (presentation software)</span> Apple-made presentation software

Keynote is a presentation software application developed as a part of the iWork productivity suite by Apple Inc. Version 10 of Keynote for Mac, the latest major update, was released in March 2020. On January 27, 2010, Apple announced a new version of Keynote for iPad with an all-new touch interface. It is now also available for the iPhone to download from the App Store.

iOS Mobile operating system by Apple

iOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple exclusively for its smartphones. It was unveiled in January 2007 for the first-generation iPhone, launched in June 2007.

SpringBoard is the standard application that manages the iPhone's home screen. Other tasks include starting WindowServer, launching and bootstrapping applications, and setting some of the device's settings on startup.

iOS 4 2010 mobile operating system

iOS 4 is the fourth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iPhone OS 3. It was announced at the Apple Special Event on April 8, 2010, and released on June 21, 2010. iOS 4 was the first version branded as "iOS" rather than "iPhone OS", due to the release of the iPad. It was succeeded by iOS 5 on October 12, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AirDrop</span> Proprietary file sharing between Apple devices

AirDrop is a proprietary wireless ad hoc service in Apple Inc.'s iOS, macOS, iPadOS and visionOS operating systems, introduced in Mac OS X Lion and iOS 7, which can transfer files among supported Macintosh computers and iOS devices by means of close-range wireless communication. This communication takes place over Apple Wireless Direct Link 'Action Frames' and 'Data Frames' using generated link-local IPv6 addresses instead of the Wi-Fi chip's fixed MAC address.

iOS 5 2011 mobile operating system

iOS 5 is the fifth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 4. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6, 2011, and was released on October 12, 2011. It was succeeded by iOS 6 on September 19, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messages (Apple)</span> Instant messaging software applications

Messages is a text messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. for its macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS operating systems.

iOS 6 2012 mobile operating system

iOS 6 is the sixth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc, being the successor to iOS 5. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11, 2012, and was released on September 19, 2012. It was succeeded by iOS 7 on September 18, 2013.

iOS 7 2013 mobile operating system

iOS 7 is the seventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 6. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10, 2013, and was released on September 18 of that year. It was succeeded by iOS 8 on September 17, 2014.

iOS 8 2014 mobile operating system

iOS 8 is the eighth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 7. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2, 2014, and was released on September 17, 2014. It was succeeded by iOS 9 on September 16, 2015.

iPhone OS 3 2009 mobile operating system

iPhone OS 3 is the third major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., succeeding iPhone OS 2. It was announced on March 17, 2009, and was released on June 17, 2009. It was succeeded by iOS 4 on June 21, 2010, dropping the "iPhone OS" naming convention.

iOS 9 2015 mobile operating system

iOS 9 is the ninth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 8. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8, 2015, and was released on September 16, 2015. It was succeeded by iOS 10 on September 13, 2016.

iOS 10 2016 mobile operating system

iOS 10 is the tenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc., being the successor to iOS 9. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13, 2016, and was released on September 13, that year. It was succeeded by iOS 11 on September 19, 2017.

iOS 11 2017 mobile operating system

iOS 11 is the eleventh major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple, being the successor to iOS 10. It was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2017, and was released on September 19, 2017. It was succeeded by iOS 12 on September 17, 2018.

iOS 12 2018 mobile operating system

iOS 12 is the twelfth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple. Aesthetically similar to its predecessor, iOS 11, it focuses more on performance than on new features, quality improvements and security updates. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 4, 2018, iOS 12 was released to the public on September 17, 2018. It was succeeded for the iPhone and iPod Touch by iOS 13 on September 19, 2019, and for the iPad by iPadOS 13 on September 24, 2019. Security updates for iOS 12 continued for four years after the releases of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 for devices unable to run the newer versions. The last update, 12.5.7, was released on January 23, 2023.

iOS 13 2019 mobile operating system

iOS 13 is the thirteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple for the iPhone, iPod Touch and HomePod. The successor to iOS 12, it was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 3, 2019, and released on September 19, 2019. It was succeeded by iOS 14, released on September 16, 2020.

iPadOS is a mobile operating system for tablet computers developed by Apple Inc. It was first released as a modification of iOS starting with version 13.1 on September 24, 2019. Before the release of iPadOS, iPads were released with iPhone OS, which was later renamed to iOS. New iPadOS versions are released every year mostly in sync with iOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

iOS 14 2020 mobile operating system

iOS 14 is the fourteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple for the iPhone and iPod touch lines. Announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 22, 2020 as the successor to iOS 13, it was released to the public on September 16, 2020. It was succeeded by iOS 15 on September 20, 2021.

The iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple has had a wide range of bugs and security issues discovered throughout its lifespan, including security exploits discovered in most versions of the operating system related to the practice of jailbreaking, bypassing the user's lock screen, issues relating to battery drain, crash bugs encountered when sending photos or certain Unicode characters via text messages sent through the Messages application, and general bugs and security issues later fixed in newer versions of the operating system.

iOS 16 2022 mobile operating system

iOS 16 is the sixteenth major release of Apple's iOS mobile operating system for the iPhone. It is the successor of iOS 15, and was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, 2022, alongside iPadOS 16, and released on September 12, 2022. It was succeeded by iOS 17 on September 18, 2023.

References

  1. ↑ Tam, Donna (September 10, 2013). "Apple to release iOS 7 on September 18". CNET . CBS Interactive . Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  2. ↑ Ng, Gary (June 10, 2013). "Control Centre in iOS 7 Brings SBSettings from Cydia to the iPhone". iPhone in Canada. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Guarino, Sarah (September 18, 2013). "iOS 7 How-to: Use Control Center to quickly manage settings". 9to5Mac . Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Frakes, Dan (September 18, 2013). "Get to know iOS 7: Control Center". Macworld . IDG Consumer & SMB . Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Control Center. Some things should be only a swipe away. And now they are". iOS 7 . Apple Inc. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  6. ↑ Loyola, Roman; Macworld. "How to use and customize Control Center on the new iMac". Macworld. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  7. 1 2 Hughes, Neil (June 7, 2017). "Inside iOS 11: Apple's Control Center grows modular, gets customizable". AppleInsider. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  8. ↑ Hardwick, Tim (June 5, 2017). "iOS 11 Preview: Enhanced Siri, Voice Translation, Unified Control Center & More". MacRumors . Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  9. ↑ Clover, Juli (June 5, 2017). "iOS 11 Tidbits: Customizable Control Center, One-Handed Keyboard, Type to Siri and More". MacRumors . Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  10. ↑ Gil, Lory (June 5, 2017). "How to customize Control Center in iOS 11". iMore. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ "iOS 18 makes iPhone more personal, capable, and intelligent than ever". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  12. ↑ "Open Control Center on Apple Vision Pro". Apple Support. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  13. ↑ published, Mike Prospero (2024-06-10). "VisionOS 2 — all the new features coming to Vision Pro". Tom's Guide. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
  14. ↑ Etherington, Darrell (September 17, 2013). "Apple iOS 7 Review: A Major Makeover That Delivers, But Takes Some Getting Used To". TechCrunch . AOL . Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  15. ↑ Arrieta, Andrés (4 October 2017). "iOS 11's Misleading "Off-ish" Setting for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is Bad for User Security". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.