Control Center (iOS)

Control Center (or Control Centre in some countries) is a feature of Apple Inc.'s iOS operating system, introduced as part of iOS 7, released on September 18, 2013.[1] It gives iOS devices direct access to important settings for the device by swiping a finger up from the bottom of the display (or a swipe down from the top right corner on iPhone X and newer, and on certain iPad models). It is similar to the SBSettings tweak for iOS jailbreaking.[2] In June 2020, Apple announced that the upcoming macOS version, Big Sur, would also include a Control Center panel.[3]

Control Center
Control Center on an iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 11
Developer(s)Apple Inc.
Stable release
iOS 12 / September 17, 2018 (2018-09-17)
Operating systemiOS 7 and later
PlatformiOS
LicenseSame as iOS 7
WebsiteArchived November 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

Usage

Control Center gives iOS 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.[4][5]

Since iOS 7, it also included an integrated flashlight function to operate the reverse camera's flash LED as a flashlight.[4][5] 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.[4][5] 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.[4][5][6]

Design

In iOS 7 through iOS 9, it 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, it morphed into a card-like design with a white background, and 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.

The 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] The 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] These changes are still present in the current stable release of iOS 12.

iOS 12 brought few new additions to Control Center, but of them, the most notable being updates to Do Not Disturb. Now, when users 3D Touch, or long press the Do Not Disturb icon, it allows them to automatically set when a Do Not Disturb session will end. Current options include setting it to turn off after one hour, when leaving your current location, the next morning, or when a calendar event ends.

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."[11]

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 everyday.[12]

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 Center in iOS 7 Brings SBSettings from Cydia to the iPhone". iPhone in Canada. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  3. "macOS Big Sur Preview". Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  4. Guarino, Sarah (September 18, 2013). "iOS 7 How-to: Use Control Center to quickly manage settings". 9to5Mac. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  5. Frakes, Dan (September 18, 2013). "Get to know iOS 7: Control Center". Macworld. IDG Consumer & SMB. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  6. "Control Center. Some things should be only a swipe away. And now they are". iOS 7. Apple Inc. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  7. 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. 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.
  12. 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.
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