Inside iOS 10: Control Center expands to three panes, offering quick access to Music & Home

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2016
Apple's quick-access Control Center has seen a number of significant improvements in iOS 10, most notably the ability to swipe over for new menus dedicated specifically to music controls and smart home accessories.



Upon updating to iOS 10, users will find that Control Center's main view looks largely the same, with a few tweaks. Music controls are removed entirely, and can now be found by swiping toward the left once. This change allows the main Control Center menu a little more room to breathe.

Up top there remain five buttons for airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and orientation lock. A brightness slider also remains.

The AirPlay button on the main Control Center view has been renamed to "AirPlay Screen." Tapping it provides the option to mirror the iPhone or iPad display onto an Apple TV. Audio AirPlay controls have been separated completely, moved to the new music Control Center view.

The elimination of music controls from the main view has allowed Apple's Night Shift mode, which aims to help you get a better night's sleep, to have a larger presence.



Finally, there is a bottom row of controls for flashlight, timer, calculator and camera. All of these are 3D Touch enabled for more advanced control options exclusive to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

It should be noted that if you uninstall Apple's default Calculator --?one of the uninstallable native apps from the upcoming update --?the calculator quick link in Control Center disappears. This leaves just three options, which cannot be changed: flashlight, timer and camera.

Swiping toward the left once brings up the new music controls view in Control Center. Things work about as expected here, with album art, song title, artists, and album title displayed up top, scrubbable timer below, and skip and pause controls below that. At the bottom, Control Center features volume controls, plus an expandable menu for AirPlay. It is here that users can choose to have music played over an external device, whether an Apple TV, AirPlay or Bluetooth speakers, or a connected pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Finally, swipe toward the left one more time to access the new HomeKit Control Center. By default, all HomeKit accessories connected and registered through a user's iCloud account will be displayed here.



There are two HomeKit views in Control Center -- the default is "Favorite Accessories," but Apple has also included a "Scenes" option accessible from the upper right corner of the swipe-up menu.

Here again, Apple also offers 3D Touch controls for HomeKit accessories. For example, pressing more firmly on a smart lightbulb brings up brightness controls, as well as a link for adjusting color (when applicable).

iOS 10 will also remember where you left off in Control Center. For example, if the last time you used the feature, you swiped over to HomeKit controls, swiping up again will return you to that menu. And if you prefer the "Scenes" menu over "Favorite Accessories," that will remain selected.

Editor's note: This article was originally published in June following Apple's announcement of iOS 10 at WWDC 2016. It is being republished to coincide with the mobile operating system's public release. For more on iOS 10, see AppleInsider's ongoing Inside iOS 10 series.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    A significant improvement. Control Center needed room to breath. It's design was not great and sort of claustrophobic before.

    http://i.imgur.com/wzu4Izp.jpg
    edited June 2016 creek05121983
  • Reply 2 of 39
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    Switching to low battery mode from Control Center would be nice. It's a little tedious now.
    jackansiirelandjcs2305doozydozenlolliverargonautjasonfj
  • Reply 3 of 39
    supadav03supadav03 Posts: 503member
    Can't believe they removed the calculator from the control center! Steve Jobs never would have done this! 
    crowley
  • Reply 4 of 39
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    How about starting an iCloud backup?  I use a clock on my phone overnight so miss the auto backup for weeks at a time.
  • Reply 5 of 39
    Low Battery Mode would be great from Control Center, I currently use Siri to activate but not always in a place where I can talk.  

    Biggest concern from usability standpoint is how Night Shift gets so much real estate on the first menu, for me that is a set it and forget it setting. Moving music to another swipe or "page" entirely when I would think that is a more commonly accessed control seems very odd. Be curious what others think about that change.. Be nice if you could customize what is loaded on the first menu in Control Center. 
    doozydozenlollivermobiusbaconstangdacloo
  • Reply 6 of 39
    TurboPGTTurboPGT Posts: 355member
    Adding HomeKit controls was key. I've been using it a ton.
    patchythepiratedoozydozenlolliver
  • Reply 7 of 39
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member
    Seems like there's now to much stuff. Why can't we add or remove what we want and don't want as to clean up all the clutter?
    jackansiicoco3doozydozenlollivermobiusdacloo
  • Reply 8 of 39
    creek0512creek0512 Posts: 111member
    I would make Night Shift a round button like those at the top and then add 4 more round buttons to the same row: Dark Mode, Low Power Mode, Cellular Data, Hotspot or VPN.
    edited June 2016 jackansidoozydozenlolliverjasonfjwillcropoint
  • Reply 9 of 39
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    supadav03 said:
    Can't believe they removed the calculator from the control center! Steve Jobs never would have done this! 
    Almost posted the same thing when I saw the first image. Thankfully I kept reading :wink: 
    edited June 2016 irelandsupadav03lolliver
  • Reply 10 of 39
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    Low Battery Mode would be great from Control Center, I currently use Siri to activate but not always in a place where I can talk.  

    Biggest concern from usability standpoint is how Night Shift gets so much real estate on the first menu, for me that is a set it and forget it setting. Moving music to another swipe or "page" entirely when I would think that is a more commonly accessed control seems very odd. Be curious what others think about that change.. Be nice if you could customize what is loaded on the first menu in Control Center. 
    I probably access CC for music controls more than anything else, so it'll be a bit annoying. Would be cool if you could invoke the different panes depending on what part of the screen bottom you swipe up from - i.e. bottom left corner area is Music, bottom centre is the main control centre, and bottom right area is Home. 
    jackansimike1mobiusbaconstangpatchythepiratedoozydozenlolliver
  • Reply 11 of 39
    jackansijackansi Posts: 116member
    creek0512 said:
    I would make Night Shift a round button like those at the top and then add 4 more round buttons to the same row: Dark Mode, Low Power Mode, Cellular Data, Hotspot or VPN.
    Yes.

    It needs to be customizable really.  We should be able to just drag/3D touch and drag a row from the settings app to the bottom of the screen to place that option on the control center.  If the dragged item was a switch, it makes a toggle.  If the dragged item was a group of options, it either takes you right to that point in the settings app, or if you have 3D touch you can 3D touch into the sub menu and get to the switches or you could just have it pull in the menu for direct interaction from settings app if need be.

    Or you know... let us have widgets like android instead of all this unnecessary swiping...
    edited June 2016
  • Reply 12 of 39
    creek0512creek0512 Posts: 111member
    jackansi said:
    Or you know... let us have widgets like android instead of all this unnecessary swiping...
    There are widgets.
    doozydozenwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 39
    creek0512creek0512 Posts: 111member
    crowley said:
    I probably access CC for music controls more than anything else, so it'll be a bit annoying. Would be cool if you could invoke the different panes depending on what part of the screen bottom you swipe up from - i.e. bottom left corner area is Music, bottom centre is the main control centre, and bottom right area is Home. 
    It does stay where you left it, so if you are on the music panel and dismiss Control Center, when you swipe back up it is still on music.
    mobiusdoozydozen
  • Reply 14 of 39
    damonfdamonf Posts: 229member
    supadav03 said:
    Can't believe they removed the calculator from the control center! Steve Jobs never would have done this! 

    Only if you uninstall the native Calculator app.
    lolliverperkedel
  • Reply 15 of 39
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    creek0512 said:
    crowley said:
    I probably access CC for music controls more than anything else, so it'll be a bit annoying. Would be cool if you could invoke the different panes depending on what part of the screen bottom you swipe up from - i.e. bottom left corner area is Music, bottom centre is the main control centre, and bottom right area is Home. 
    It does stay where you left it, so if you are on the music panel and dismiss Control Center, when you swipe back up it is still on music.
    Thanks for this info. It's good to hear as this is a major way I access music playback on my phone. 
    doozydozen
  • Reply 16 of 39
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Don't worry, it remembers which pane was up when you exit Control Center solving that for you.

    crowley said:
    I probably access CC for music controls more than anything else, so it'll be a bit annoying.

    edited June 2016 doozydozen
  • Reply 17 of 39
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    damonf said:
    supadav03 said:
    Can't believe they removed the calculator from the control center! Steve Jobs never would have done this! 

    Only if you uninstall the native Calculator app.
    If he can't be bothering reading an article a few paragraphs long before complaining he probably doesn't deserve to know.
    lolliverwatto_cobrachia
  • Reply 18 of 39
    firelockfirelock Posts: 238member
    I have two problems with Nightshift taking up so much real estate in the control center: 1) I never use it and thus don't need it in my face all the time; and 2) The science behind it is dubious at best.
    baconstang
  • Reply 19 of 39
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    ireland said:
    Don't worry, it remembers which pane was up when you exit Control Center solving that for you.

    crowley said:
    I probably access CC for music controls more than anything else, so it'll be a bit annoying.

    Cool, ta.

    Do you know if that is perpetual, or does it revert to the centre screen after a timeout?

    I still think it'd be useful to have a bit of control using a hot corner-like concept.
    doozydozen
  • Reply 20 of 39
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    firelock said:
    I have two problems with Nightshift taking up so much real estate in the control center: 1) I never use it and thus don't need it in my face all the time; and 2) The science behind it is dubious at best.
    "Science behind it". We don't need a study to see how it works. Blue night at night tears the brain out of ya. I know for a fact it works for me.
    edited June 2016 mobiusdoozydozenlolliverurahara
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