Swiping your finger up from the bottom on the iPhone screen (or down from the top right corner on iPhone X), a set of buttons appears which is called by Apple " Control Center ". This is one of the most important screens of an iPhone, which contains switches and options to activate and deactivate with a single touch.
In addition, for almost all buttons, when touched and held, you can expand the controls on that switch.
The control center can be customized on the iPhone by choosing which buttons to show and which to hide, by going to Settings> Control Center> Customize Controls .
In this guide we see the meaning of each button in the control center, what they are used for and what effects are obtained on the iPhone when the various switches are activated and deactivated and when they are held down .
The following are the fixed buttons of the control center, the ones that cannot be hidden.
1) Airplane mode (airplane symbol)
Airplane mode on smartphones is the one that interrupts any radio signal and connection: cellular signal, mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop and any running hotspot are therefore deactivated in one go.
In another article, we saw when to use airplane mode to keep the phone offline.
2) Mobile data (antenna symbol)
This button disables and activates the mobile internet connection and there are no particular tricks about it.
Keep in mind that using airplane mode, the cellular network is deactivated and cannot be reactivated without removing airplane mode.
3) Wi-Fi (symbol of Wifi)
With this option you can activate and deactivate the wifi connection and this switch works even if airplane mode is active (to connect to wifi keeping the cellular network deactivated).
Note that this switch disconnects the wifi internet connection, but does not completely disable the wifi, which is still used for location location and for Airdrop functions.
We saw in another article the guide to completely disable wifi and bluetooth on the iPhone.
4) Bluetooth (bluetooth symbol)
As with the Wifi button, the bluetooth button does not completely disconnect the connection.
Even with the switch, you can use Apple Watch, Apple Pencil and the Handoff function.
In the previous point, the guide to completely disable bluetooth.
5) Airdrop ((symbol of a circle antenna)
To see the Airdrop icon you need to open the control center and then touch and hold on the network command box (for example on the Wifi or Bluetooth button).
The mini menu that opens allows you to completely deactivate AirDrop, leave it open only for contacts or leave it open to everyone.
6) Personal hotspot
As with AirDrop, the Personal Hotspot activation switch is not displayed until you press and hold a long press or a deep 3D press on the box with the wifi and bluetooth switches, the one in the upper left corner.
When you activate the hotspot, Wi-Fi is disabled and AirDrop is turned off.
7) Check music
At the top right of the Control Center is the Music box, with the Play button plus, to start playing music and pause it.
Touching and holding on the Music box opens a new window with the volume control and the button to listen to music on an Airplay wifi device.
To open the app that plays music, you can touch the cover thumbnail.
8) Orientation lock (padlock icon with a spinning arrow)
One of the simplest settings of the control center is that which activates the orientation lock, to keep the device always in portrait mode, unless you use an app like YouTube.
9) Do not disturb (symbol of the Half Moon)
The Moon button activates or deactivates the Do not disturb function, in order not to make the phone ring and ring when you receive calls, warnings and notifications, which however continue to be received.
When you activate Do Not Disturb from the Control Center, the phone becomes silent, except for the exceptions configured in the Settings.
10) Duplicate screen : the button to duplicate the screen allows you to view the iPhone on another device compatible with AirPlay, in particular an Apple TV.
11) Brightness (sun icon)
The brightness of the screen is a vertical slider to move up and down depending on how bright the iPhone screen is.
By touching and holding the cursor, it opens larger and with the possibility to activate or deactivate the Night Shift, that is the night mode of the screen to protect the eyes from blue light.
12) Volume (speaker icon)
Volume is also a slider to move up and down to increase or decrease the overall volume of the iPhone.
This slider can also be touched by holding down to open it larger.
Buttons that can be hidden or displayed on the control center .
1) Flashlight : turn the flash light on and off to use as a flashlight.
By touching and holding it, you can open a slider to choose the intensity of the torch light.
2) Screen recording : to start recording what is happening on the screen in a video.
The movie is saved to the camera roll by default.
3) Timer : to open the Timer tool and set a countdown in the iPhone clock
By touching and holding it you can quickly set a fixed timer, choosing the duration from one minute to two hours.
4) Stopwatch : to open the stopwatch
5) Alarm clock : to activate or not the iPhone alarm clock.
There are no tricks in this button, but it is useful to deactivate all configured alarms in one fell swoop.
6) Calculator : to open the calculator.
If you long press the button you can copy the most recent result to the clipboard.
5) Camera : to quickly open the Camera app and take photos or videos.
With a long press you can choose whether to take a selfie, record a video, record a slow motion video or take a photo.
6) Energy saving (battery icon)
The battery button activates the energy saving of the iPhone, to save energy when there is little.
Background processes are then deactivated.
7) Do not disturb while driving (machine symbol)
This button is basically a manual switch to activate Do Not Disturb.
The difference with the other switch (number 9 in the list above) is that with "driving", calls are received anyway if the iPhone is connected to the Bluetooth of the machine and automatic answering can be activated.
8) Accessibility abbreviations (little man symbol)
The shortcut gives immediate access to the shortcuts that you activate in Settings> General> Accessibility> Accessibility Abbreviations .
You can then activate and deactivate multiple accessibility options together.
9) Apple TV Remote : to use the iPhone as a remote control for the Apple TV.
10) Guided access : activates a mode that blocks iPhone functions on a single app.
To use it, open the app to be blocked, then open the Control Center and touch the Access Wizard button.
To exit the guided access you will be asked to enter your PIN.
11) Magnifying glass : to use the phone's camera as a magnifying tool to take a closer look at small written text or other things.
This is a very useful shortcut since the magnifying glass is hidden in the Settings -> General> Accessibility.
12) Take note : to write something on the iPhone notebook on the fly.
With a long touch you can choose whether to write a new note or a list or a photo or a drawing.
13) Text size : to enlarge or reduce the writing on the iPhone screen.
14) Voice memos : to quickly record your voice or listen to the audio files already saved.
15) Wallet : to use Apple Pay options.
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