iOS 17 Rumored to Feature 'Major' Changes to iPhone's Control Center

[Populus]

Maybe I’m the only one who’s happy with current control center?
I think it took Apple many years to finally refine the control center to reach a highly functional and aesthetically pleasing control panel, and I’m a bit worried about them starting to change it again

 

[Lakersfan74]

instead of using the volume up and power button to power off the phone an option in control center to power off or power off and restart

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Now this looks clean 🧼

 

[B_mark_R]

integrate notifications into the control center and swipe down from anywhere!

 

[CC77]

t to your iPhone through the Control Center? First press and hold the Bluetooth icon then press and hold another Bluetooth icon button again to slow a list of devices - but in the list showing devices you need to be careful not to lift your finger in the list because you then disconnect the device! So, slide your finger out of the list and then scroll to find the AirPods. Great fun!

THIS right here. Oh lord, this. So frustrating. Just add another touch area to open “Bluetooth Devices” and “WiFi Network” rather than long press. Please. Please!

 

[Paddle1]

We're getting mixed information. Is iOS 17 going to be an optimization release or a release that focuses on bringing many long awaited features? I'm not sure those two go together.

 

[riverfreak]

I think you are wrong. Have you tried getting your AirPods to connect to your iPhone through the Control Center? First press and hold the Bluetooth icon then press and hold another Bluetooth icon button again to slow a list of devices - but in the list showing devices you need to be careful not to lift your finger in the list because you then disconnect the device! So, slide your finger out of the list and then scroll to find the AirPods. Great fun!

This ridiculous UI gymnastic routine isn’t just for wifi and bluetooth connectivity.

Want to call someone but not on their default phone? Press and hold on call, then navigate the drop down that has appeared underneath your finger that often contains more drop downs. It’s a super annoying and delicate gesture that makes zero sense on a mobile device.

 

[riverfreak]

Curmudgeon mode: ON

I’ve given up on ever seeing any meaningful quality-of-life improvements for Calendar.app as they keep iterating over the same darn features year after year.

 

[StellarVixen]

How many times will they be overhauling the control center, and when are they gonna get it right?

 

[stars_fan]

Disable the stupid App Library would be nice.

 

[PauloSera]

I have several themes controlling things in my home that trigger automatically and a few that I use manually when I need to have specific lightning/accessories powered on. For example, I have a cooking scene that toggles on a few lights, starts some air vents, and adjusts the thermostat.

What would you suggest that I use to toggle several devices at once?

1. Automations do not need to use scenes. They can control accessories directly, and this is the right way to set them up.
2. Accessories can be grouped.
3. Scenes should be reserved for a handful of important, multi-room groupings that are triggered manually. Hence why the entire UI from the Home app to Control Center is designed around and optimized for having only a few scenes.

 

[PauloSera]

5 steps to replace a single toggle. Please give me back the simple toggle.

First provide a reason why you would EVER need quick access to permanently disabling WiFi, and then tell us why thats OK for every single user to have access to.

 

[Premium1]

The control center needs to return back to the original location from a swipe up from the bottom, these two different zones to swipe down from the top is a headache.

Agree. And with screens being larger it makes sense to have the option from the bottom instead of the split option they have now.

 

[CrysisDeu]

Given Apple’s track record for the past few years, I think the following will happen:
1. Allow users to customize the control center in control center. Select which controls to display and which to hide.
2. Allows rearranging the controls
3. Provide different sizes/versions for each control.
4. New APIs for developers to build control center widgets to toggle functionalities.
5. Surface controls hidden behind 3D touch gestures, such as toggling airdrop; toggling night mode; toggling transparency/nc mode, etc.

 

[chickeneaster]

Wouldnt mind a complete iOS design overhaul. Jony Ives iOS is about to become 10 years old, 10 years!

I agree! If they changed the design of the OS after 6, 7 years in iOS 7 and now it's been almost 10 years, then we're way overdue for another OS design change

 

[Mescagnus]

Give us a scenario where you need to completely disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth permanently from Control Centre. It's possible in Settings > Wi-Fi.

1. Open Control Center.
2. Press-and-Hold on Wi-Fi icon.
3. Press-and-Hold on the second Wi-Fi icon.
4. Tap "Wi-Fi Settings".
5. Disable Wi-Fi.

Or do the same by accessing the Settings app directly.

Or simply toggle Airplane Mode to immediately disable all wireless connections.


What is your concern about how it currently works?

Thanks for the tip, this is a handy feature!

These press-and-hold functions should be better documented and instructed, for example on an online iOS user guide or something.

 

[Sydnxt]

I still want control centre to be like an “app”, in app switcher, so it’s always on the far right for instance. Swiping from the top right on a Pro Max is laughable.

 

[Avenged110]

Your use case is very edge, and IMO paranoid to the point of absurd (not quite Richard Stallman absurd, but on that side of the spectrum), but it's certainly your prerogative. But I'm not surprised that your specific requirements are not being catered too, because I think they are viewed as an edge case and actively make the device more cumbersome to use for little to no tangible benefit....

That said, I agree it would be pretty trivial to have a preference to enable your desired behavior in the settings. Either Apple has simply not gotten enough requests to add it, or they've consciously decided that it implementing it is not worth the technical debt that such a feature might incur going forward.

Fair enough. I still think it's stupid and I'm going to complain until they fix it.

This could of course be fixed if Apple would give us the ability to manage network access period rather than cellular data only.

You must be lucky enough to have an unlimited data plan or have it paid for by work or just consider the expense worth it. I agree with you in principle but practically that wouldn’t work for most people.

I've been waiting for that feature since I started using iOS. I don't actually use very much cellular data per month, fwiw.

It's not an opinion. At all. They shouldn't be turned off. Period. There are niche rare circumstances for when turning them off would be necessary, and all of those are satisfied by turning them off for the rest of the day.

Features on personal devices should be enabled or disabled by the user as he chooses. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't think it's necessarily up to you whether or not I "should" have Wi-Fi enabled and vice versa. I can just imagine how much you're going to love knowing that I quit applications as soon as I'm finished with them, too.

I’ve given up on ever seeing any meaningful quality-of-life improvements for Calendar.app as they keep iterating over the same darn features year after year.

Don't even get me started on the absurdity of not being able to search >12 months in the past. I shouldn't have to use a third-party application for that of all things.

 

[Tagbert]

integrate notifications into the control center and swipe down from anywhere!

Things are already too cluttered and those things don't go together.
Simpler to keep them as separate panels and separate guestures.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Could I force press on say Bluetooth from within Control Center without it popping up a menu, but just present a immediate context menu? The two step process is kinda tiring.

 

[lanomds1]

I think the control centre is pretty good as it is. Don’t change it for the sake of change. Maybe we could place some widgets, but I think the minimalist design is pretty useful.

 

[practicein2021]

I wonder how much that be to our benefit, as the current iOS control center isn't bad?

I also don't really understand what could be improved there. I don't think anybody ever complained about the Control Center

 

[robertosh]

Finally. I think MacOS’ control center is much much better than the one we have on iOS right now. The rows and rows of icons look messy and unintuitive. Hopefully they give us something MacOS-Like.

Wait, is there a control center for mac?? 😁

 

[Surf Monkey]

So, they’re planning on breaking control center just as badly as they’ve broken the TV App, Apple Music and AirPlay? Yikes.

 

[eifelbube]

Thank goodness. Lets start with Airplay / Screen sharing. What on earth happened ever since i dont know when I can't figure out show to shut it off / turn it on sound/ only vs sound and video, and forget it when my Home Pods are playing from the apple TV and im near them its takes over my phone ill be in an app try to use my volume and all the sudden i'm controlling the TV, not my phone.... Ahhhh fix this mess

at least I am glad to find out via your post that I am not the only one experiencing this mess, especially Airplay related functions.