3 Easy Ways to Access The Control Center on iPhone.
IPhones are getting higher with each iteration. However, with such an additional screen, it is difficult to reach all corners with one hand. The most common problem I run into is accessing the Control Center as you have to swipe down from the top right corner. While looking for possible solutions to this problem, I found three solutions that make it easier to access the Control Center. Let’s check them out.
1. Use of accessibility
Accessibility is an extremely useful feature that few people know about. It is designed for people who cannot reach the top of the screen. This feature has been around since the iPhone 6 Plus and is only available on larger iPhones. It is usually turned on by default, but if it isn’t, you can manually turn it on by going to Settings Accessibility Touch Reachability.
There are different ways to initiate reachability. For iPhone with Face ID, simply swipe down from the bottom edge of the screen to lower the screen. Once the screen is turned off, it stays that way for five seconds and returns to normal size if you don’t touch the screen. Alternatively, swipe up on the bottom edge to reset Reachability to its original position.
For an iPhone with a Home button, you just need to press the Home button twice to lower the screen. Remember, this is a double tap, not a double tap.
2. Use Assistive Touch
You may have seen how some people use the overlay button (dark square with white circle) on their iPhone screen, that is, assistive touch. You can use Assistive Touch to perform certain actions by pressing a button, and as you might have guessed, we can also use it to access the control center.
To make the Control Center more accessible, we can assign a double tap action. Each time you double-tap the Assistive Touch button, the Control Center opens.
To enable Assistive Touch, open the Settings app and go to Accessibility Settings. Under Physical and Motor, select Touch and click AssistiveTouch.
Toggle the switch next to AssistiveTouch to turn it on. You can assign a custom action for single, double or long press of the button. I chose double tap.
That’s it, the AssistiveTouch button will be semi-transparent when not in use. As soon as you double-click the button, the Control Center will open for you.
3. Use Back Tap
Back Tap is a new feature added to iPhones running iOS 14. It detects a tap on the back of the iPhone and performs a custom command. There are many different actions that you can assign to double or triple tap. I recently shared how to set up Google Assistant on iPhone using Back Tap. However, I should point out that this is not the most reliable way to access the Control Center as it often tends to skip the backpress.
To set up Back Tap, open the Settings app and go to the Accessibility section. Under Physical and Motor, select Touch to open its settings. Scroll down to the bottom and you will find Back Tap.
Tap Double Tap and select Control Center from the list of options. That’s it, Control Center will now pop up every time you double-tap the back of your iPhone.
Last words
These were three different ways to access the Control Center without straining your fingers on large screens. While companies are looking to make smartphones more and more, it’s nice to see that Apple has provided many options for one-handed use of the iPhone. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.