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You are here: Home / iPhone / How to Customize and Use Control Center on iPhone

How to Customize and Use Control Center on iPhone

By Andrew Martin 8 comments Last updated February 28, 2023

Ever since its inception the iPhone’s Control Center was accessible with a double-press on the Home Button or a swipe up from the bottom of the screen. However, with the release of iOS 11, Apple completely overhauled this feature. Previously, the only way to customize and use Control Center on iPhone before iOS 11 was to have a jailbroken device.

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Something that made this change so surprising was that iOS 10 introduced a rather drastic overhaul of Control Center in its own right. Instead of your various controls being available from a single card, you had to swipe between three different panels in order to access the controls.

How To Use Control Center on iPhone

Customize iPhone Control Center using iOS 11

How to Customize Control Center on iPhone

Another one of the frustrations with Apple’s decision to overhaul the Control Center with iOS 10 was that iPhone users still couldn’t customize which options appeared. Thankfully, that also changed with the release of iOS 11 and is still available with the latest version of iOS on the most recently-released iPhone.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Scroll down and tap Control Center.

Right off the bat, you’ll see two options at the top of the Control Center page within the Settings app. The first of which allows you to toggle the ability to access Control Center when an app is open, and not just from the Home Screen or Lock Screen. The second toggle is to show Home controls within Control Center, which is convenient if you want quick and easy access to smart home accessories that have been added to the Apple Home app.

How to Customize iPhone Control Center Using iOS 11

Scrolling further down, and this is where the real fun begins. There are two different sections named Included Controls and More Controls. While Apple has been expanding its “walled garden” a bit, those changes have yet to come to the Control Center. So everything you see in either section has been implemented by Apple and third-party app developers don’t have access.

How to Customize Control Center in iOS 11

That being said, here are the different options and toggles you have access to if you want to customize and use Control Center on iPhone:

  • Flashlight
  • Timer
  • Calculator
  • Camera
  • Apple TV Remote
  • Hearing
  • Low Power Mode
  • Sound Recognition
  • Accessibility Shortcuts
  • Alarm
  • Code Scanner
  • Dark Mode
  • Feedback Assistant (only appears if you have a Developer or Public Beta installed)
  • Guided Access
  • Home
  • Magnifier
  • Music Recognition
  • Notes
  • Quick Note
  • Screen Recording
  • Stopwatch
  • Text Size
  • Voice Memos
  • Wallet

When it comes to customizing, the steps are pretty easy. First, you’ll want to locate the control(s) that you want to appear in Control Center from within the More Controls section. Then, tap the + button found to the left, and it will be moved to the Included Controls section.

Go ahead and repeat those steps until you’ve added all of the controls that you want to appear within the Control Center. The best practice would be to add in your top 4 to 5 favorite controls into your control center so that it makes it more convenient and looks good.

Once you’ve finished adding all of the different controls, then you can organize them. Doing so will rearrange them in Control Center, with the options at the top of the list in the Settings app, appearing closest to the top when you open Control Center. So if you have an iPhone 14 Pro Max, you might want to move your most-used controls to the bottom, making them easier to access with one hand. In order to do so, just touch and hold, then drag the three horizontal lines to the left of the name up or down based on your preference.

What About The Other Controls?

iOS 11 Control Center Defaults on iPhone

The options that we listed out in the previous section are only one part of the puzzle which is the Control Center. You probably already noticed there are a few other toggles, buttons, and sliders that appear which can’t be removed. These are as follows:

  • Connectivity
    • Airplane Mode
    • Cellular Network
    • Wi-Fi
    • Bluetooth
  • Music Controls (with AirPlay)
  • Screen Orientation Lock
  • Screen Mirroring
  • Focus Modes
  • Brightness
  • Volume

These are all pretty self-explanatory, as you can quickly toggle any of the connectivity buttons on or off just by tapping the appropriate icon. But there’s even more functionality built-in, as for example, you can long-press the Bluetooth icon to connect to a different set of headphones, or access the Bluetooth Settings.

This also applies to the other areas within Control Center. For example, if you have AirPods connected to your iPhone, long-press on the volume slider to toggle between Active Noise Cancellation or Transparency Mode. We recommend playing around with the different options in order to familiarize yourself with what’s available and what’s possible with a long press.

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Reader Interactions

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Show 8 Comments

  1. Jeanne Boutilier says

    October 29, 2017 at 8:12 AM

    Hi. Since the latest update, when I use an app it moves from the group I’ve arranged it in to the bottom of my home page. How do I stop this?? Example…I have a travel grouping that includes maps, weather, etc. if I open weather it it disappears from my grouping and moves to screen bottom. Hate that!

    Reply
    • SK says

      October 29, 2017 at 1:34 PM

      Hi Jeanne,

      Are you using an iPad? If so, take a look at your Dock settings in Settings > General > Multitasking and disable Show Suggested and Recent Apps. For more info, see our article on using the iPad Dock in iOS 11.

      If this problem is happening on another iDevice like an iPhone or iPod, please let us know.

      Cheers,

      Sk

      Reply
  2. Luis G says

    October 23, 2017 at 9:50 AM

    Within the control center the audio icon is stuck in the Loading… mode. How can I address this? Thank you,

    Reply
    • Elizabeth says

      October 23, 2017 at 10:02 AM

      Hi Luis,

      Please force restart your iPhone or iDevice.

      Perform a Forced Restart

        On an iPhone 6S or below plus all iPads & iPod Touches, press Home and Power at the same time until you see the Apple logo
        For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
        On an iPhone X or iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Then press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo

      Liz

      Reply
  3. Luis G says

    October 23, 2017 at 9:49 AM

    My Audio icon in control center is suddenly started up, and seems to be stuck in the Loading… mode. How can I address this? IOS 11.0.3

    Reply
  4. Le Trong Phuong says

    October 23, 2017 at 1:12 AM

    I can’t disable control center in Block screen. Because i don’t want the other person turn off wifi or cellular data when the Iphone is blocked. Help me!

    Reply
  5. anon says

    October 18, 2017 at 11:21 PM

    I cannot find the “Access Within Apps” to disable Control Center within apps. it only shows Customize Controls. Apple released another bugged crappy OS. Rollback needed.

    Reply
  6. Michelle Schuster says

    October 4, 2017 at 9:22 AM

    I have always listened to audible books from the audible app with my earbuds but now with iOS 11.01 my control center play pause and the on and off when paused and played automatically switches off my book and my iTunes on. This is extremely annoying and I really want to switch it back so it controls whatever audio I am listening to instead of switching it how it chooses to. Please help with this, thank you

    Reply

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