For all the Apple Intelligence hype coming out of WWDC 2024, there was also an undeniable cut that only iPhones with an A17 Pro chip or higher would support it. It’s a real case of the haves and have-nots. Still, as far as sheer utility goes, there’s one promised iOS 18 change coming to every iPhone supporting the platform update: a Control Center makeover.
Control Center isn’t sexy, nor is it tied to any specific, deeply embedded AI or iPhone Machine Learning capabilities. It’s a tool to control, among other things, critical utilities by simply swiping down on the top right corner of your iPhone screen.
It’s a panel so dull it’s mostly colorless. Even the name “Control Panels” sounds like home infrastructure, not a nifty mobile feature. Of course, anyone who uses Control Center (basically anyone with an iPhone) knows its importance. It’s quick access to connectivity, media playback, brightness, audio, focus modes, mute functions, camera, Shazam and perhaps most importantly, the flashlight.
It has some customization and depth for several versions of iOS. A long press on most controls will bring up more detailed settings. You can also add to Control Center – if you know where to look.
The iOS 18 Control Center will be redesigned and significantly more customizable. It will also feel much more like a destination.
A real utilitarian home
Apple gave us a taste during the nearly two-hour WWDC 2024 keynote, and even then I could see how big a change was coming to a core iOS feature. Later, I took a closer look and saw the iOS 18 version of Control Center in action.
There are subtle design changes throughout Control Center and its icons, but they look small enough to go almost unnoticed.
Perhaps the biggest change is that you can move Control Center icons around Control Center pages. In the demo I saw, they held the Control Center panel open and after a while cutouts appeared around each element with minus signs so you could remove them, and an extra semi-circle in the lower right corner that you could use. to resize the search control. I think they can be resized all the way to full custom Control Center pages.
It’s also easy to grab and move controls on a page or even to another Control Center page. Unlike the new iOS 18 home page, there will still be a grid and the icons will shuffle to fill the empty spaces.
New Gestures and Control Center Friends
To access these pages, you can scroll through them slowly or use the new continuous swipe to cycle through them all. I’m not sure how useful this will be, but it looks like fun.
I especially like that Apple is finally making it easier to find and add new controls. When I want to add screen recording to iOS 17, I open my iPhone’s Settings, go to Control Center, and then select Screen Recording (or some other control I want to add).
In iOS 18, you’ll be able to add new controls to Control Center, and you can find them the same way you move them, by holding down on the Control Center screen until a small “Add Control” message appears on the Control Center screen. bottom of the screen. This will take you to an extensive gallery of controls, but also add a Search field, making it an even easier way to find controls.
The iOS 18 Control Center will also finally offer the ability to add third-party controls. Of course, app developers have to create them, but imagine the possibilities. Your favorite app works with just a swipe of your finger and sits next to the flashlight.
Apple also extends some of these options outside of Control Center. I’ve seen how you can toggle and remove icons for tools like camera and flashlight from the lock screen (maybe you want a QR code reader instead). You can even remove them all for a completely clean look.
Of all that, and there are a lot of changes for Control Center, the biggest news might be that it’s coming to all phones with iOS 18. There’s no need for Apple Intelligence or a special, more powerful phone. This means that all iPhones going back to the iPhone 12 will get the Control Center makeover.
It’s a little balm to soothe the pain of maybe not getting into that sweet Apple Intelligence event, right?