To date, I have mentioned Control Center only twice: In Mobile Screenshots regarding screen recording and in Pushing Buttons regarding the Mute Switch. Today, I give it the attention it deserves to help you discover some of the hidden capabilities of your devices.

Control Center is a special interface area accessible by swiping from a specific edge of an iPhone or iPad display. Some functions located in Control Center are also available elsewhere on a device, however a number are present there alone.

Where to Find Control Center

How to access Control Center depends on the device model and sometimes on the software version:

  • On an iPhone with a Home button or any iPad running iOS 11 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom edge of the screen
  • On an iPhone without a Home button or any iPad running iOS 12 or later, swipe down from the top right corner (where the battery status is)

Speed of swipe is not important; rather, that you are swiping with enough intention from beyond the edge of the screen. You’ll get the hang of it.

Control Center was introduced in iOS 7, so a device running earlier software won’t have this feature. Also, the design of Control Center changed significantly in iOS 11 and today’s review covers the current version in iOS 13.

Flashlight

In the early days of iPhone, many users downloaded a dedicated app which would use the device’s camera flash as a flashlight. Naturally, this only worked on devices that had a flash in the first place.

Well, y’all can delete your flashlight apps now because Apple built this functionality into the device. Just tap the flashlight in Control Center. Touch and hold on it to access its four levels of brightness, which you can change by tapping or swiping.

Antennae

The card in the top left corner shows the glyphs for Airplane Mode, Cellular Data, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. You can easily enable or disable with just a tap. (No need to open Settings for these.) Also, disabling Wi-Fi or Bluetooth in Control Center is temporary and useful in certain scenarios.

Touch and hold on the card to reveal additional buttons for AirDrop and Personal Hotspot. You can additionally touch and hold on the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth buttons to show available networks and devices.

Audio Source & Output

The top right card contains audio controls for music or other media playing in any capable app. Touch and hold to expand the card and reveal the playback timeline/scrubber and volume slider. Tap the audio output glyph in the top right to select available speakers or audio playing devices.

Additionally, smart devices such as a HomePod or Apple TV, which are capable of independently playing a music library or other content, have their own tiles below with separate controls.

Customize Controls

At the bottom of Control Center, beneath the brightness and volume tiles, there are one or more rows of smaller cards. In Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls, you can choose the controls available to you and change their arrangement.

Some provide quick access to specific apps, like Calculator and Timer, that are safe to open without unlocking your device. Others act on features that are controlled deeper in Settings, such as Low Power Mode. Which ones do you think might be useful to you?

Take some time to explore the hidden capabilities of Control Center. Try touching and holding on various cards to discover their added functionality. When you get stuck or confused, you know where to find me.