iOS 18 will bring significant changes with many new features. Although artificial intelligence capabilities, which have been on the agenda for a while, are the main theme of this update, other improvements are also waiting for us. So much so that the Control Center will also be renewed with iOS 18. So what will change?
Control Center is being renewed with iOS 18!
Mark Gurman wrote in his Power On newsletter that Apple is preparing to overhaul the iPhone Control Center section with iOS 18. In the new design, currently playing It will include updates to the music widget and HomeKit smart home controls.
Gurman specifically used the following statements:
“In other iOS 18-related news, there are a few additional tidbits: The Settings app is being revamped with a cleaner interface, better organization, and a much improved search feature (this feature is also coming to macOS). Meanwhile, the Control Center will be upgraded with a new music widget and improvements to how smart home devices work.”
Apple is withdrawing support from another iPhone!
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The current version of Control Center hasn’t changed much since the launch of the iPhone X in 2017. Therefore it deserves some attention. Although Gurman does not specifically specify what exactly will be different, we can make predictions.
Currently, the volume controls are located in a small 2×2 square area in the upper-right corner of the screen. It’s a feature that has long been requested by users, as controlling the audio being played is a very common use case at the moment.Currently Playing‘ making the interface much larger. Even add album art and progress bar by default. In iOS 17, you have to long press and hold to reveal these additional items.
Regarding HomeKit, the iOS system currently intelligently selects up to six accessories to display in the Home section of the Control Center. You can also click the double-width Home tile to reveal a mini version of the Home app, where your favorite accessories are organized by the room they’re in.
What’s quite annoying is that the automatic layout is often not what the user wants. The layout is also able to move and change seemingly randomly. This makes it difficult to learn muscle memory for common controls like the living room lights or thermostat.
It would be much better if we could explicitly choose which accessories to add to the Control Center and have a fixed layout of the things you want to always appear there. Making these tiles larger, as in the Home app itself, will also increase ease of use.