How to use Control Center in iOS 16 on iPhone

The Control Center on your iPhone gives you one-tap access to the features you use regularly. Thus, you can turn Wi-Fi on or off, activate or deactivate Airplane Mode, adjust the volume or screen brightness, etc. But it’s not limited to this. You can add, remove, and change settings in the Control Center. So let’s find out how to customize what you see in Control Center on your iPhone so you can use it like a pro!

How to Access Control Center on iPhone

Depending on your iPhone model, there are different ways to open and close Control Center on your iPhone.

On an iPhone with Face ID:

• To open the Control Center, swipe down from the top right corner of the screen.
• To close Control Center, swipe up from the bottom of the screen or tap anywhere, not the icons.

On an iPhone with a home button:

• Swipe up from the bottom to access the Control Center.
• Tap the down arrow at the top of the screen or tap the Home button to close Control Center.

How to set up Control Center on iPhone

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Click Control Center.

From here, you can make the following changes to the Control Center:

• Adding a control. Tap the green plus icon next to any control.
• Deleting a control. Tap the red minus sign next to the option.
• Changing the position of controls. Touch and hold the three-line icon next to an option and drag it to a new location.

Note. You cannot delete or move default settings such as Network Settings, Focus, Screen Mirroring, Brightness, Volume, Portrait Orientation Lock, and Now Playing.

How to turn off Control Center when using apps on iPhone

When you turn off access to the Control Center in apps, you can only open it from the home screen.

1. Go to Settings → Control Center.
2. Then turn off the “Access in Applications”toggle.

Functions and shortcuts available in the Control Center

Many controls are available to add and change Control Center settings. Therefore, let’s understand the controls and their functions.

Connecting to a network or Bluetooth device

• Flight mode. By turning on Airplane Mode, you can restrict all cellular connections on your iPhone.
• Cellular data: Turn on cellular data to allow apps and services to instantly connect to your carrier’s internet network.
• Wi-Fi: Touch and hold the Wi-Fi icon to connect to an available Wi-Fi network.
• Bluetooth: Turn on Bluetooth and connect with other Bluetooth devices. Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth can go to the Settings app.
• AirDrop: Share your media, location, and more with other nearby Apple devices.
• Personal Hotspot: Allow other devices such as computers and mobile phones to use your internet service.

Sound control

Press and hold the audio player in the top right corner of the Control Center to manage music, podcast, and streaming service controls.

Other options in the Control Center

• Alarm Clock: Set a wake-up timer or change your Sleep Focus schedule.
• Calculator: Open the calculator with one tap. In addition, you can access the scientific calculator by rotating your iPhone.
• Code Scanner: Use your device’s built-in camera to scan a QR code.
• Portrait Orientation Lock: You can enable this feature to prevent screen rotation while FaceTiming or using any other app/service.
• Brightness: To change the brightness of the display, press and hold the Brightness icon and drag the slider up or down.
• Volume: To change the volume of any playing sound, simply press the volume control and drag the volume slider up or down.
• Focus: Various modes enhance productivity by reducing distraction caused by your iPhone. Here’s our complete guide to using focus mode.
• Camera: Touch and hold the camera in Control Center to take selfies or portraits and record videos.
• Flashlight: You can turn your camera’s LED flash into a flashlight. Long press to change brightness.
• Dark Mode: Use your phone in dark mode to avoid straining your eyes and get the best viewing experience in low light.
• Guided Access: If someone is using your iPhone, turn on Guided Access. It will restrict your iPhone to a specific app and manage the available features.
• Low Power Mode: When your iPhone’s battery is low or you don’t have access to outlets, switch to Low Power Mode.
• Magnifier: You can use your iPhone as a magnifying glass to magnify nearby objects.
• Quick Notes: Take quick notes right from the Control Center while using the app or any screen.
• Stopwatch: Calculate the duration of your session and record your lap times.
• Text Size: You can increase or decrease the text size for better viewing.
• Voice notes. You can set up Control Center on iPhone to add voice memos. Thus, you can quickly record using the iPhone’s built-in microphone.
• Screen mirroring: Wirelessly stream audio, video, and images to Apple TV and other AirPlay-enabled devices.
• Screen Recording: Press and hold the Screen Recording button to start screen recording or broadcast to Instagram/Messenger. You can disable your device’s microphone.
• Sound Recognition: Enabling sound recognition control will detect certain sounds such as alarms, sirens, etc. and alert you.
• Hearing. If you use hearing aids, quickly connect or disconnect them, or use Live Listen on AirPods from Control Center on iPhone.
• Wallet: Adding a wallet control makes it easy to access cards for Apple Pay or other services like movie tickets, plane tickets, and more.

Hidden Features in Control Center on iPhone

Did you know that there are many additional features you can add to the Control Center? Let’s find out!

• Accessibility shortcuts: Allows you to quickly activate accessibility features such as AssistiveTouch, Switch Control, Zoom, and more.
• Announce notifications: If you turn on this setting, Siri will read notifications on your AirPods or other compatible Beats headphones.
• Apple TV Remote: You can use your iPhone to control your Apple TV.
• House. Control your favorite home appliances without opening the Home app.
• Night Shift: If you long press Brightness, you can enable Night Shift. Thus, it will turn your display into a warmer tone at night.
• Noise control: When using AirPods, noise control detects external noise and blocks it.
• Notes: In addition to quick notes, there’s another Notes control that lets you quickly jot down thoughts, make lists, draw pictures, and more.
• Music Recognition: No more guessing for unknown music. You can turn on music recognition right from the Control Center to see what you’re listening to. Also, save the results as music recognition history.
• Spatial Audio: How about 3D audio or dynamic listening with AirPods Pro or AirPods Pro Max? Spatial Audio transforms sounds so that they appear to be coming from the direction of your device.
• Timer: Tapping and holding Timer will display a slider. So, set the length of time by dragging the slider up or down, then click Start.
• True Tone: Another control in the Brightness section is True Tone. This allows the color and brightness of your display to automatically adapt to ambient light.

So that’s all for today, friends!

We all use the Control Center on a daily basis to access important functions. So, I hope you now understand how to use and customize Control Center on your iPhone to make the most of it.