Got a tip for us?

Control Center

How to use Control Center on Apple Watch

by Moses Johnson

Control Center gives you quick access to essential Apple Watch features and settings. In Control Center, you can check your connection status and battery level, toggle settings like Airplane Mode and Theater Mode, use the flashlight, ping your iPhone, and more.

You can organize Control Center by rearranging, adding, and removing controls, too, and reset it whenever you like. You can quickly access the default controls there, and close Control Center when you’re done.

Here’s how to use Control Center on Apple Watch.

Open Control Center

  1. Press the side button.
  2. Tap any of the controls. (Scroll down to see more controls.)

Use the default controls

In Control Center, you have quick access to any of the following default controls:

Button Description For more information
Cellular Data Switch button Turn cellular on or off (available on Apple Watch models with cellular). See Set up and use cellular service.
Wi-Fi Switch button Connect or disconnect Wi-Fi. See Disconnect from Wi-Fi.
Airplane Mode Switch button Turn on Airplane Mode. See Use Airplane Mode.
Battery Power button Check the battery percentage and turn on Low Power Mode. See Turn on Low Power Mode.
Ping your iPhone. See Ping your iPhone with Apple Watch.
Flashlight Switch button Turn on the flashlight. See Use the flashlight.
Focus Switch button Turn on Do Not Disturb or choose a Focus. See Turn on Do Not Disturb or a Focus.
Silent Mode Switch button Silence Apple Watch. See Turn on Silent Mode.
Water Lock Switch button Turn on Water Lock. See Go for a swim.
Theater Mode Switch button Turn on Theater Mode. See Turn on Theater Mode.
Volume button Change the volume. See Adjust the media volume.
AirPlay Switch button Choose audio output. See Choose an audio destination.
Text Size Switch button Change text size. See Adjust the text size.

Rearrange, add, and remove Control Center buttons

Rearranging, adding, and removing controls is how you organize Control Center. The controls you can add cover accessibility features, Backtrack, Settings, and many apps like Home, Notes, Reminders, Shortcuts, and supported third-party apps.

  1. Press the side button to open Control Center on Apple Watch.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of Control Center and then tap Edit.
  3. Do any of the following:
    • Rearrange controls: Touch and hold a control and drag it to a new location.
    • Add controls: Tap the Add button, tap the controls you want to add, and tap the Close button.
    • Remove controls: Tap the Delete button in the corner of a control you want to remove.
  4. When you’re finished, scroll to the bottom and then tap Done.

Reset Control Center

You can revert Control Center to the original layout with default controls.

  1. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
  2. Tap Control Center and tap Reset Control Center Layout.

You can also revert Control Center on your iPhone—go to the Apple Watch app, tap My Watch, tap Control Center, then tap Reset Control Center.

Close Control Center

Turn your wrist away from you or press the side button again.

See also

Tag: Control Center
Show Full Article

How to use and customize Control Center on iPhone

by Chris Smith

Control Center on iPhone gives you instant access to useful controls, including Airplane Mode, Do Not Disturb, flashlight, volume, screen brightness, and more. It’s customizable. You can see more groups of controls, change them to suit you, and temporarily disconnect from a Wi-Fi network or Bluetooth devices.

Open Control Center

To open Control Center, use the method that matches your iPhone:

  • On an iPhone with Face ID: Swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen. If you continue swiping down, you see more groups of controls.
  • On an iPhone with a Home button: Swipe up from the bottom.

You can jump to specific groups of controls by swiping through the icons on the right edge of the screen. Swipe up through the icons to go back to the first group.

To close Control Center, swipe up from the bottom center of the screen (on an iPhone with Face ID), or press the Home button.

Access more controls in Control Center

Many controls offer additional options. To see available options, touch and hold a control. For example, you can do the following in Control Center:

  • Touch and hold the top left group of controls, then tap the AirDrop button to open the AirDrop options.
  • Touch and hold the Camera button to take a selfie, record a video, or take a photo.
  • Touch and hold the Control Center Power button at the top right of the screen (while Control Center is open) until you feel a vibration. Then drag the slider to power off the iPhone.

Two Control Center screens side by side—the one on the left shows controls for Airplane Mode, cellular data, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth in the top-left group. The Camera icon is shown at the bottom right. The screen on the right shows more options in the Quick Actions menu for Camera: Selfie, Video, Portrait, and Portrait Selfie.

Customize controls

You can rearrange, add, and remove controls in Control Center.

  1. Open Control Center.
  2. Tap the Add button of Control Center to begin editing the controls.

    Control Center being edited, with a Remove button and resize handle on every control.

  3. Do any of the following:

    • Rearrange controls: Drag a control to a new position.
    • Remove a control or a set of controls: Tap the Remove button at the upper left of the control.
    • Resize a control: Drag the handle at the lower right of the control.
    • Create a new section of controls: Tap the bottom most icon (the little circle) along the right edge of the screen and then tap Add a Control, and choose which controls to add to your custom group. Or you can drag a control off the bottom of the page to create a new section.
    • Add more controls: Tap Add a Control at the bottom of the screen to open the controls gallery. Tap a control to add it to Control Center.

    The controls gallery, showing the available Control Center controls.

  4. When you finish customizing, close Control Center by swiping up from the bottom center of the screen.

Temporarily disconnect from a Wi-Fi network

In Control Center, tap the Wi-Fi Switch button; to reconnect, tap it again.

To see the name of the connected Wi-Fi network, touch and hold the Wi-Fi Switch button.

Because Wi-Fi isn’t turned off when you disconnect from a network, AirPlay and AirDrop still work, and iPhone joins known networks when you change locations or restart iPhone. To turn off Wi-Fi, go to the Settings app, then tap Wi-Fi. (To turn on Wi-Fi again in Control Center, tap the Wi-Fi Switch button.)

Temporarily disconnect from Bluetooth devices

In Control Center, tap the Bluetooth Switch button; to allow connections, tap the button again.

Because Bluetooth® isn’t turned off when you disconnect from devices, location accuracy and other services are still enabled. To turn off Bluetooth, go to the Settings app, tap Bluetooth, then turn off Bluetooth. To turn on Bluetooth again in Control Center, tap the Bluetooth Switch button.

Turn off access to Control Center in apps

Go to the Settings app on your iPhone, tap Control Center, then turn off Access Within Apps.

Tag: Control Center
Show Full Article