Apple released the first public beta of iOS 18 on Monday, just over a month after the tech giant announced the software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple said the update will bring a host of new features to your iPhone, including more ways to customize your Home screen and upgrades to Messages. You’ll also be able to turn your Control Center into a single page for all your favorite apps and widgets.
Control Center was introduced over a decade ago, in 2013, with iOS 7. Back then, Control Center let you control some iPhone features, like screen brightness, and a few apps, like your calculator. Since then, you can add some features and apps to the page, like Low Power Mode and Notes. With iOS 18, you can add any apps and features you want to your Control Center.
Learn more: Everything you need to know about the iOS 18 public beta
Since iOS 18 is still in beta, we recommend downloading a beta only on a device other than your primary phone or tablet. Since this isn’t the final version of iOS 18, the update may have bugs and battery life may be short, so it’s best to keep these issues on a secondary device.
Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 18, so more features may come to your iPhone when iOS 18 is released. Apple has said that iOS 18 will be available to the public this fall, but there is no firm date yet.
Here’s how you can make your iPhone’s Control Center live up to its name.
How to add apps and features to your Control Center
1. Unlock your iPhone and swipe down from the top right corner of your screen.
2. Press the plus sign (+) in the upper left corner of your screen.
3. Faucet Add a control near the bottom of your screen.
There are many accessibility controls you can add to your Control Center.
You can search for commands in the search bar at the top of the new menu, or scroll through the different commands. Some of the commands include old favorites, like screen recording, as well as new commands for things like Tap to Cash or Ping My Watch.
There’s also a shortcut called Open App, which turns any other app on your iPhone into a command. You can only open the app with this command, but you can use it to clean up your home screen or keep all your favorite apps in one place for quick access.
You can add as many commands as you want to your Control Center, even after you fill the page. Once you’ve filled the first page of Control Center, the next command you add will appear on a new page, much like adding new apps to your Home screen continues to add new Home screens. To access other pages of Control Center, swipe up or down on your Control Center, or tap the appropriate page symbol on the far right of your Control Center screen.
How to resize and move apps and features in your Control Center
You can also make controls bigger to make them easier to reach. Some controls can turn into tiles, while others, like Music, can become their own Control Center page. Here’s how to resize your apps and features.
1. Unlock your iPhone and swipe down from the top right corner of your screen.
2. Press the plus sign (+) in the upper left corner of your screen.
You can resize many controls in Control Center.
In this new view, the border around each control will now be thicker in its lower-right corner. Tap and drag this thicker section to make the control larger.
You can rearrange the commands in this new view. After pressing the plus sign (+) in the upper left corner of your Control Center, tap and drag your controls to their new location just like you would on your Home screen.
How to remove commands from your Control Center
Here’s how you can easily remove controls from your Control Center if you don’t use them much anymore and want to make room for new ones.
1. Unlock your iPhone and swipe down from the top right corner of your screen.
2. Press the plus sign (+) in the upper left corner of your screen.
3. Press the minus sign (–) in the upper left corner of the control you want to remove.
For more on iOS 18, here’s my hands-on experience with the first public beta, how to customize your Home screen, and how schedule a message to send later.
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