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watchOS 5 Beta Adds 'Edit' Button to Control Center for Adjusting Icon Layout

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Testers of the new watchOS 5 Beta that Apple released yesterday have discovered a new function that allows Apple Watch users to change the arrangement of icons in the Control Center menu, which is accessed by swiping up on a watch face.

As shown in this image shared by Reddit user brooksdbrewer, the option appears as an Edit button when you scroll down to the bottom of the Control Center menu. Tapping the button then allows you to drag the icons around into a new arrangement - placing the icons you most often use up to the top of the menu, for instance.

So for example, if you use Theater Mode frequently, you could locate the associated icon next to the battery percentage icon at the top, and move the Ping iPhone icon to the bottom of the menu to prevent accidental taps. Likewise, you could drop the Expel Water icon right to the bottom of the screen if you never use it.

Whether or not the Control Center's new Edit function makes it to the final public release of watchOS 5, due in the fall, remains to be seen. However, there are plenty of other features to look forward to, including Activity Competitions so you can compete on workouts with friends, Automatic Workout Detection and new Workout types, a new Walkie-Talkie app, and more.

Article Link: watchOS 5 Beta Adds 'Edit' Button to Control Center for Adjusting Icon Layout
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/06/05/watchos-5-adds-edit-mode-control-center/
That would be great. I always hated that (once theatre mode pushed it down) when you were putting your watch into water mode, sometimes your hands were already wet and adding the need to scroll through the control center with wet hands was frustrating.
 
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macduke said:
Why wouldn't it? I'm pretty sure they mentioned this on stage as well either in passing or on one of those screens that lists a bunch of new features.
Click to expand...

C'mon, you're not new here, but such a post implies some naivety with respect to betas and features going missing later down the line....
 
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This was actually mentioned at the keynote. Definitely an intended, here-to-stay new feature.
 
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MrGimper said:
C'mon, you're not new here, but such a post implies some naivety with respect to betas and features going missing later down the line....
Click to expand...
But the iPhone and iPad already have this and it's simple functionality. It's not something complex or prone to being buggy. There's no reason to remove it.
 
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And this ONLY in the year 2018, what will Apple be able to do in 2019? put the iPhone and iPad icons wherever we want on the screen? or the technology of 2019 won't allow it yet?
 
macduke said:
But the iPhone and iPad already have this and it's simple functionality. It's not something complex or prone to being buggy. There's no reason to remove it.
Click to expand...

Those are some big assumptions there. I get that it doesn't seem like a lot on face value, but there's millions of lines of code involved
 
Quite happy about this. I remember a thread last year with watchOS4 and some of us being unhappy about not being able to customize the new control centre. So many items in it now, hate having to scroll for things I'm using frequently.

Now, how long until they move control centre to the top?
 
This is actually the biggest improvement I’ve seen in watchOS 5. That silent mode I use every day at work is buried at the bottom of a scrolling list, but that theater mode that one likely uses once a month at most — and I’ve never used — is stuck near the top never made sense to me.
 
xpxp2002 said:
This is actually the biggest improvement I’ve seen in watchOS 5. That silent mode I use every day at work is buried at the bottom of a scrolling list, but that theater mode that one likely uses once a month at most — and I’ve never used — is stuck near the top never made sense to me.
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Exactly my thoughts. Though theatre mode is actually at the bottom, lol.

But airplane mode, battery and iPhone alert are all up high.

Heck, even wifi and cellular toggles at the top - how often do those need to be even used?
 
macduke said:
But the iPhone and iPad already have this and it's simple functionality. It's not something complex or prone to being buggy. There's no reason to remove it.
Click to expand...

I agree, it doesn't seem like something that would cause issues and need to be removed. However, one would also think that just storing messages on a server and syncing them to your phone/macbook would be relatively easy for them and, well, we saw what happened with that :rolleyes:

MrGimper said:
Those are some big assumptions there. I get that it doesn't seem like a lot on face value, but there's millions of lines of code involved
Click to expand...

This is true, as innocuous as it seems, it still has the potential to affect other things that could lead to instability. Hopefully not though
 
itsGrant said:
I agree, it doesn't seem like something that would cause issues and need to be removed. However, one would also think that just storing messages on a server and syncing them to your phone/macbook would be relatively easy for them and, well, we saw what happened with that :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Are you referring to the Messages app? Apple actually doesn't retain copies of messages on their servers once it goes to your device. So it then has to do ad-hoc syncing of messages between devices. They did this so various government agencies couldn't come in and force them to decrypt everything. The problem is that this doesn't work very well, but it's better for consumer privacy and they're working on improving it. It's anything but "simple" and I wouldn't have it any other way because Apple cares about privacy and security way more than other companies—even at the risk of putting out a product that occasionally has sync glitches and errors. For me, their priorities are in the right place and that's why I continue to support them.
 
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profets said:
Exactly my thoughts. Though theatre mode is actually at the bottom, lol.

But airplane mode, battery and iPhone alert are all up high.

Heck, even wifi and cellular toggles at the top - how often do those need to be even used?
Click to expand...
Weird, mine has theater mode above and to the right of silent mode. I have to scroll to get to silent, but not theater. That will be the first thing I fix when I get my new watch this fall (S0 won't get watchOS 5).
 
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