How to Access Control Center and Home Screen in iOS 12 With the iPad's New Gestures

[Janichsan]

All of these gestures are actually pretty intuitive…

You guys keep using that word, but it does not mean what you think it does.

"Intuitive" is something when you can grasp it without having to actually put in any thought about it. You get it simply by intuition, without the need for an explanation.

Tapping an icon on a screen with the finger is intuitive. Scrolling the screen content by pushing it in the direction you want it move is intuitive. Enlarging or shrinking something on screen by dragging its corners outwards or pinching them together is intuitive. Even using the home button to get back to the home screen is somewhat intuitive as you can understand it with a single exploratory press on the single large, conspicuous button on the front of the device.

Having to swipe down from one specific unmarked corner to pull down one overlay, while having to swipe down from the unmarked other corner to get another overlay, or making a weird swipe-partway-up-but-not-too-far gesture to get the app switcher is not intuitive.

These things might be easy to learn, but nothing of this is anything you would automatically do out of a purely intuition based expectation about how things work.
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I’m so glad the gestures have changed to match iPhone X. Going back and forth from my iPhone X to iPad Pro is always a bit annoying. No more!

So now it's annoying for anyone going back and forth between an iPad and any other iPhone. But hey, good for you.

 

[chris1958]

Why does nobody at Apple notice that these swipes from the bottom of the screen are in conflict with some keyboards, e.g. Japanese. To get a small character you either swipe upward or you have to press two keys. For the bottom row, this swipe doesn't work anymore, which is very inconvenient.

 

[JosephAW]

My friend with Parkinson's really struggles with all these swipe and press swipe gestutures. Fortunately he can still operate the home button most of the time. I feel sorry for those who will not have a home button on future devices.

 

[GoodWheaties]

You guys keep using that word, but it does not mean what you think it does.

"Intuitive" is something when you can grasp it without having to actually put in any thought about it. You get it simply by intuition, without the need for an explanation.

Tapping an icon on a screen with the finger is intuitive. Scrolling the screen content by pushing it in the direction you want it move is intuitive. Enlarging or shrinking something on screen by dragging its corners outwards or pinching them together is intuitive. Even using the home button to get back to the home screen is somewhat intuitive as you can understand it with a single exploratory press on the single large, conspicuous button on the front of the device.

Having to swipe down from one specific unmarked corner to pull down one overlay, while having to swipe down from the unmarked other corner to get another overlay, or making a weird swipe-partway-up-but-not-too-far gesture to get the app switcher is not intuitive.

These thing might be easy to learn, but nothing of this is anything you would automatically do out of a purely intuition based expectation about how things work.

An interesting anecdote to back this up, my dad was given a Samsung phone by his carrier the last time he upgraded (he’s always been a flip phone guy). He hated the thing. He couldn’t figure out how to do anything with all the hidden swipes. It didn’t take long for him to return it for a flip phone. Later I helped him buy an iPad, and he has never had to ask me for help with it. I’m not sure I should ever update his iPad to iOS 12 now.

 

[Pirate!]

How does the one-finger cursor movement translate to the Apple pencil? Or does it?

Also, any reason this article doesn't show up on the macrumors home page in Chrome on my original iPad pro, but does on chrome on my iPhone x (both iOS 11.4 and up-to-date Chrome)?

 

[69650]

iOS swipes are getting far too complicated and confusing. I keep having to go online for how to do simple stuff.

 

[mixel]

.. I like the new gestures.

It’s funny how spoilt we are thinking this is unintuitive.. When compared to desktop OS’ (osX, Windows, whichever it doesn’t matter) it’s infinitely more tactile and intuitive. Anyone growing up with this tech is going to have no problems at all, like how we all got used to the wimp systems, but if you step back and think about their menu bars and system trays etc they’re all pretty damn abstract.

None of these gestures are difficult, you learn them in a few minutes.

 

[jclo]

I’m confused about what the author was saying about three apps only being able to be used simultaneously on iOS 12 with newer iPads with 2GB+ of RAM. I can definitely do this in iOS 11 now. I just checked it. I can scroll and tap in each of the three apps simultaneously. I’ve yet to find much of a need for it, but there it is.

I've done some more research and I guess this isn't new in iOS 12, so I'm going to update the how to. It's weird, I have two iPad Pros running the latest version of iOS 11, but they can't seem to do this. Sorry for the confusion here, guys! Appreciate the heads up on the error, too. Thanks

 

[hagar]

I find a quite incredible how Apple still struggles with these basic things.

Control center was so easy to reach with a swipe up, especially with one hand on an iPhone. This new approach is definitely not better.

I’m not convinced a buttonless device is so great.

 

[Mizouse]

Can you still use four to five fingers to Pinch to the Home Screen?

I've been doing that since they introduced it way back when. I think since iOS 5.

 

[Neepman]

I suppose the only comfort I can take in all these point interface changes is someday those that make these changes will one day become old themselves and be tortured and frustrated by have to re-learn everything too.

 

[macduke]

I've done some more research and I guess this isn't new in iOS 12, so I'm going to update the how to. It's weird, I have two iPad Pros running the latest version of iOS 11, but they can't seem to do this. Sorry for the confusion here, guys! Appreciate the heads up on the error, too. Thanks

That is really weird. Is it the first 9.7” iPad Pro? It only has 2GB RAM, if I remember right. That’s why I skipped it. I wonder if this is only new for 2GB devices because of the additional optimization in iOS 12?

 

[M275]

I've done some more research and I guess this isn't new in iOS 12, so I'm going to update the how to. It's weird, I have two iPad Pros running the latest version of iOS 11, but they can't seem to do this. Sorry for the confusion here, guys! Appreciate the heads up on the error, too. Thanks

You have to drag the third app to the connection line between the two open apps...

 

[jclo]

That is really weird. Is it the first 9.7” iPad Pro? It only has 2GB RAM, if I remember right. That’s why I skipped it. I wonder if this is only new for 2GB devices because of the additional optimization in iOS 12?

One's a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the other is a 9.7-inch iPad Pro. My 10.5-inch is the one running iOS 12. The screenshots that were originally in my post came from the 12.9-inch model (first gen) running the latest version of iOS 11, it wouldn't do the three active apps thing. I'm wondering if you're right and it's maybe something expanded to additional models in iOS 12.
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You have to drag the third app to the connection line between the two open apps...

Yeah, I did that.

 

[WilliamG]

You guys keep using that word, but it does not mean what you think it does.

"Intuitive" is something when you can grasp it without having to actually put in any thought about it. You get it simply by intuition, without the need for an explanation.

Tapping an icon on a screen with the finger is intuitive. Scrolling the screen content by pushing it in the direction you want it move is intuitive. Enlarging or shrinking something on screen by dragging its corners outwards or pinching them together is intuitive. Even using the home button to get back to the home screen is somewhat intuitive as you can understand it with a single exploratory press on the single large, conspicuous button on the front of the device.

Having to swipe down from one specific unmarked corner to pull down one overlay, while having to swipe down from the unmarked other corner to get another overlay, or making a weird swipe-partway-up-but-not-too-far gesture to get the app switcher is not intuitive.

These things might be easy to learn, but nothing of this is anything you would automatically do out of a purely intuition based expectation about how things work.
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So now it's annoying for anyone going back and forth between an iPad and any other iPhone. But hey, good for you.

It’s change that’s actually much faster than the original methods. It’s how ALL Apple’s iOS devices will function going forward. Get used to the future!

 

[pika2000]

I welcome this new change.
Prior to iOS 11, simple flick from the bottom will invoke control center, easy peasy.
iOS 11, a simple flick from the bottom only brings up the dock, so often times I have to do another swipe to get to the control center. But since it is combined with the task switcher, sometimes it lags on the older hardware. Annoying if I just want to change simple things like brightness. Plus it takes you out of the app from UX standpoint.

Glad this is changed in iOS 12, albeit at a different location.

 

[jimbobb24]

Too many gestures. They don’t lend themselves to self discovery.

 

[Neepman]

It’s change that’s actually much faster than the original methods. It’s how ALL Apple’s iOS devices will function going forward. Get used to the future!

Until it changes AGAIN in 18 months.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

You guys keep using that word, but it does not mean what you think it does.

"Intuitive" is something when you can grasp it without having to actually put in any thought about it. You get it simply by intuition, without the need for an explanation.

<snip>

The trouble with Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is all that software randomness. If you buy a car you expect all the pedals, steering wheel, turn indicator, etc. to be in certain places to be able to operate the vehicle smoothly and without conscious effort. Same for computer keyboards. If I would try to touch type on a french keyboard - bad things would happen.

In HCI there was a time when people developed Interface Guidelines that where tested and proven, or at least introduce a sense of order. We seem to have left this path for good. Now it is about differentiation from the competition and shiny features.

 

[WilliamG]

Until it changes AGAIN in 18 months.

Oh come on. It’s not changing again in 18 months. And even if it does, adapt?

At the end of the day, our devices do way more than they used to. It’s not possible for every feature to be as “obvious” for the end user as it used to be, because there’s so much more to them! That’s fine because we as users can evolve with our devices.

Just embrace it. You’ll find these changes make a lot of sense, especially Control Center which is now so much simpler to invoke.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I've done some more research and I guess this isn't new in iOS 12, so I'm going to update the how to. It's weird, I have two iPad Pros running the latest version of iOS 11, but they can't seem to do this. Sorry for the confusion here, guys! Appreciate the heads up on the error, too. Thanks

Judging from the iPad you had in the video, you have the first gen iPad Pro 9.7 inch, which only has 2GB of RAM. On iOS 11 the 3 window multitasking was only available for the iPads that has 4 GB of RAM (12.9 gen 1, 9.7 gen 2, and 12.9 gen 2).

 

[GoodWheaties]

One's a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the other is a 9.7-inch iPad Pro. My 10.5-inch is the one running iOS 12. The screenshots that were originally in my post came from the 12.9-inch model (first gen) running the latest version of iOS 11, it wouldn't do the three active apps thing. I'm wondering if you're right and it's maybe something expanded to additional models in iOS 12.
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Yeah, I did that.

By “three active apps” are you saying all three can be interacted with at the same time? On my Air 2 I can have three apps but then only the Slideover app is accessible. The main two are grayed out. I guess this is expected behavior?

 

[otternonsense]

Just embrace it. You’ll find these changes make a lot of sense, especially Control Center which is now so much simpler to invoke.

Because swiping up or double clicking the home button to invoke the CC was particularly complicated?!

It’s one thing that Apple keeps “fixing” things that aren’t broken as a feature —but people defending their quasi-inventive stalemate as a “future” we smh need to happily embrace have taken shilling to a whole new planet.

PS. If gesture fragmentation is the only new thing about iOS 12 (by the looks of it) I don’t see the point “upgrading” at all on my iPad.

 

[JosephAW]

Those of you who were around when it was Mac vs Microsoft remember how the interfaces, menus and keyboard shortcuts on dos and windows programs were completely different for each application and you didn't know where to look on the screen to find a feature and how nearly all Macintosh programs had exactly the same interface, menus and keyboard commands and your eye knew exactly where to look when you wanted to click or access a feature and learning any new program just took a few minutes and this was touted as one of the many reasons to buy a Macintosh.

Well many if not all apps written for iOS have lost that thinking and each app required a steep learning curve of where a button is located or where to look on the screen because Apple has not required that all apps operate in the same way. And it seems that Apple too has abandoned this thinking with newer iOS versions with the constant changing of the gestures and their locations needed to operate the device.
Just pick up a device running iOS 6 and try to change the volume level or turn wifi on and you'll be frustrated and confused how to do it.

Five years from now iOS 12 gestures will be completely moved, reset or eliminated and you'll have trouble operating an old iPhone X laying around in an box having spent hours learning iOS 17 interface.

I fear eventually when macOS is abandoned to make it feel like iOS that this commonality of menus and interfaces will be lost forever that was so meticulously engineered and well thought out by previous Apple's leadership.

 

[Neepman]

Those of you who were around when it was Mac vs Microsoft remember how the interfaces, menus and keyboard shortcuts on dos and windows programs were completely different for each application and you didn't know where to look on the screen to find a feature and how nearly all Macintosh programs had exactly the same interface, menus and keyboard commands and your eye knew exactly where to look when you wanted to click or access a feature and learning any new program just took a few minutes and this was touted as one of the many reasons to buy a Macintosh.

Well many if not all apps written for iOS have lost that thinking and each app required a steep learning curve of where a button is located or where to look on the screen because Apple has not required that all apps operate in the same way. And it seems that Apple too has abandoned this thinking with newer iOS versions with the constant changing of the gestures and their locations needed to operate the device.
Just pick up a device running iOS 6 and try to change the volume level or turn wifi on and you'll be frustrated and confused how to do it.

Five years from now iOS 12 gestures will be completely moved, reset or eliminated and you'll have trouble operating an old iPhone X laying around in an box having spent hours learning iOS 17 interface.

I fear eventually when macOS is abandoned to make it feel like iOS that this commonality of menus and interfaces will be lost forever that was so meticulously engineered and well thought out by previous Apple's leadership.

I am convinced somewhere in that glass donut in Cupertino there is a special team devoted to nothing but to cause the befuddlement of legacy users, especially seniors for whom an iPad should (and used to be..) be a godsend window to the world.