Latest news with #ControlCenter
CNET
a day ago
- General
- CNET
I Discovered 4 Ways to Open My iPhone's Control Center One-Handed
It used to be easy for my thumb to reach every corner of my phone. But small phones with screens under 6 inches have gone the way of the dodo, and the latest and greatest devices like the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra have unwieldy, nearly 7-inch screens. If you want to use these phones one-handed, it can be a pain to access certain features. For me, one of the most annoying quirks about upgrading from a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini to a 6.1-inch iPhone 16 is how difficult it is to access the Control Center. This is the iOS feature that lets me change my screen brightness, toggle Airplane Mode, use the Flashlight and lock my screen rotation, among countless other functions. If your iPhone still has the Home Button, you can open the Control Center simply by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. But on newer iPhones with a notch or Dynamic Island, you have to swipe down from the top right corner. In theory, it should be easy. In practice, it can require some elaborate finger gymnastics, especially on a screen that's pushing 7 inches. Apple If I move my finger too far to the left, I'll get the Notification Center instead of the Control Center. And if I only have one hand free to use my phone, it can be almost impossible to stretch out my thumb and reach for that corner (oh, how I wish Apple would bring back the iPhone Mini). Luckily, I've learned a few tricks that let me access the Control Center more easily. Use the Reachability feature The simplest way to reach the top of your iPhone's screen with one hand is by using the Reachability feature. It lets you pull down the entire top half of the screen. All you have to do to enable Reachability is swipe down on the bottom edge of your screen: This will bring the top right corner of your screen within thumb's reach, letting you open the Control Center without adjusting your grip on your phone. Once you've set up Reachability, you can use the feature by swiping down on the bottom edge of your screen. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET If you aren't able to use Reachability on your iPhone, here's how you can turn on the feature. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch. Then toggle on Reachability. While Reachability is helpful, it's not always the most intuitive to use. It can also limit your access to the lower half of your screen temporarily. If your goal is to just open the Control Center, you do have some other options. Turn on Back Tap Did you know that the back of your iPhone is technically a button? Back Tap is one of the device's most useful hidden features, allowing you to access a wide range of functions without touching the screen. It works even if you use your iPhone with a case. And it easily lets you open the Control Center while using your device with one hand. You can use Double Tap or Triple Tap to access the Control Center. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET To enable Back Tap to open Control Center, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. From there, select Double Tap or Triple Tap, then select Control Center. Once you've set up Back Tap, you can bring up the Control Center with one finger, simply by tapping two or three times on the back of your phone. You might have to practice doing it at the right speed, so that your phone correctly registers your taps. But once you've mastered Back Tap, you won't have to even think about reaching for the top right corner of your screen again. Create a Shortcut bookmark You can also access the Control Center on your iPhone by creating a custom Shortcut bookmark. The bookmark is essentially an app that you can move to any spot on your home screen (especially if you have iOS 18, which gives you more freedom to rearrange your apps). You can create a custom Shortcut bookmark to add to your Home Screen. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET To create the Control Center bookmark, open the Shortcuts app and hit the plus (+) sign in the top right corner. Then, in the Search Actions finder, type Control Center and select the option Show Control Center. In the following drop-down menu, select Add to Home Screen. You'll see options to customize the icon, or you can simply select Add to skip. You can move this bookmark around like you would with any app. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET Now you have another way to open the Control Center without doing thumb stretches. One drawback to this method is that you can only access the Shortcut if you're on your iPhone's Home Screen, or whichever app page you've placed the bookmark. If you're in the middle of watching a Netflix show, browsing on Safari or doing anything in another app, you'll need to exit the app to get to this bookmark. There's still one more way to open your Control Center, and this method works no matter which app you're using. Use the Action Button On the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series, you can customize the Action Button to perform just about any function you can imagine. You can use it to run any Shortcut -- including opening the Control Center. To set your Action Button to trigger the Control Center, follow the same steps for creating a Shortcut bookmark. Then make one modification: Go to your Shortcut for the Control Center and change the action from Show to Toggle. Change your Shortcut for the Control Center from "Show" to "Toggle", before setting it as your Action Button function. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET Next, go to Settings > Action Button and swipe to select the Shortcut option. In the menu, you'll see a list of your available Shortcuts. Choose Control Center. Now you'll be able to open and close your Control Center at any time with a quick press of the Action Button. By default, the Action Button is your Silent/Ring switch, and you might miss having that function by changing it to this Shortcut. However, the Control Center is a much more versatile option for the Action Button. And you'll still have easy access to the Silent/Ring switch by going to -- where else? -- the Control Center. For more iPhone tips, learn about the iOS settings that can drain your battery, and check out 10 hidden features in iOS 18.2.
Engadget
2 days ago
- Engadget
WWDC 2025: What we expect Apple to reveal including new iOS, macOS, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with its 2025 software. That includes — deep breath — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with a flat, minimalistic look. Minus some iterative changes, it's still the UI you see today. Along with the big visual refresh, Apple is also rumored to be changing how it names its operating systems. Instead of having random version numbers at the end, the company is apparently planning to unify the names by year — so iOS 19 would become iOS 26, as it'll be Apple's platform for the coming year. The same goes for all of Apple's other software, so we're looking at iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and so forth. Of course, it goes without saying that macOS should still get a California-themed name; hopefully Apple won't be throwing that tradition in the bin just yet. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations. (Especially when they switched to M-series chips.) But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized Siri at last year's conference? The one that many wished would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company told Daring Fireball , "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report from The Information last month hinted that the upgraded Siri was nowhere near ready. The 2024 demo, where Siri condensed minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in a seamless flow. It recorded a specific type of video in a third-party app. It shared a meeting summary via email with a teammate. And it found missing information the user remembered reading... somewhere . It even controlled system settings and explained them when needed. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg , the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone. It can then use that to make power-saving adjustments on the fly. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg 's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman is predicting that Apple will introduce a centralized, pre-installed app for gaming on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. It'll include some of the features in the long-neglected Game Center service like leaderboards and matchmaking and pair them with a dedicated game launcher and editorial content including recommendations —including a push towards the Apple Arcade service. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas to arrive after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall. While Apple's developer conference will be jam-packed if they serve up even a fraction of the expectations above, there are a few things we can pretty confidently take off the board, too. With the possible exception of the Mac Pro, nearly all of Apple's hardware lines have either just finished an upgrade cycle (consumer Macs, most iPads) or are going to get updated in the fall as usual (iPhone, Apple Watch). As such, we're not expecting any major hardware announcements. Apple has talked about the Mac Pro at past WWDC events, but that computer is updated so infrequently that it's hard to say with any confidence that we'll see any changes.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
WWDC 2025: What we expect Apple to reveal including new iOS, macOS, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with its 2025 software. That includes — deep breath — iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19 and visionOS 3. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with a flat, minimalistic look. Minus some iterative changes, it's still the UI you see today. Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations. (Especially when they switched to M-series chips.) But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized Siri at last year's conference? The one that many wished would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company toldDaring Fireball, "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report from The Information last month hinted that the upgraded Siri was nowhere near ready. The 2024 demo, where Siri condensed minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in a seamless flow. It recorded a specific type of video in a third-party app. It shared a meeting summary via email with a teammate. And it found missing information the user remembered reading... somewhere. It even controlled system settings and explained them when needed. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg, the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone. It can then use that to make power-saving adjustments on the fly. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is predicting that Apple will introduce a centralized, pre-installed app for gaming on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV. It'll include some of the features in the long-neglected Game Center service like leaderboards and matchmaking and pair them with a dedicated game launcher and editorial content including recommendations —including a push towards the Apple Arcade service. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas to arrive after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall. While Apple's developer conference will be jam-packed if they serve up even a fraction of the expectations above, there are a few things we can pretty confidently take off the board, too. With the possible exception of the Mac Pro, nearly all of Apple's hardware lines have either just finished an upgrade cycle (consumer Macs, most iPads) or are going to get updated in the fall as usual (iPhone, Apple Watch). As such, we're not expecting any major hardware announcements. Apple has talked about the Mac Pro at past WWDC events, but that computer is updated so infrequently that it's hard to say with any confidence that we'll see any changes.
Engadget
22-05-2025
- Engadget
What to expect at WWDC 2025: A new look, Apple Intelligence and more
Apple's big 2025 software reveal is nearly upon us. On June 9, the Worldwide Developers' Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with — deep breath — iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19 and visionOS 3. Leaks suggest this year will be a biggie. In addition to the requisite Craig Federighi gags, expect a significant visual overhaul — one of Apple's biggest ever — and (shocker) new Apple Intelligence features. The company is reportedly set to unveil a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple's mixed reality headset. According to Front Page Tech's Jon Prosser, that may even include (nearly) round icons on the home screen and in Control Center. He also noted subtler changes, like a redesigned tab view within apps and the search box in Messages being moved to the bottom of the screen. One of Apple's core goals with the new software is to unify the design language of its operating systems. The idea is to make it less visually jarring to hop between devices. If executed well, jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac (and so on) will feel like touring different flavors of the same OS. Apple's last big macOS makeover was with 2020's Big Sur. For the iPhone's software, you have to go all the way back to 2013. That's when iOS 7 kicked skeuomorphic design to the curb, replacing it with the flat, minimalistic look that (minus some iterative changes) the company's software still uses today. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Could 2025 be the year the iPad Pro starts to feel… Pro? The high-end versions of Apple's tablet have been more than capable on a hardware level for generations (especially when they switched to M-series chips). But the software has held it back. That's presumably because the company doesn't want to cannibalize Mac sales. After all, if the iPad Pro can truly replace a laptop, then fewer people would buy both. The bad news for those wanting a full-on Mac experience: The iPad won't switch to macOS. The good news: iPadOS may get much more Mac-like. This year's update will reportedly focus on productivity, featuring improved multitasking and app window management. It's not that Apple hasn't inched the iPad's software in that direction. It incrementally did so with Stage Manager in iPadOS 16. The year before, it added the multitasking menu at the top of app windows. But for many, those tweaks fell far short of the full-on productivity overhaul they craved. Will it be enough this time? Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman thinks it will "likely go far enough" for most power users. (Is that a "Hallelujah!" I hear?) Even if leaks hadn't already suggested as much, this one would be a no-brainer. After all, AI has been every tech company's obsession since ChatGPT took the world by storm over two years ago. Expect a healthy portion of the keynote to be devoted to Apple's AI advances. These will reportedly include improvements to existing features and a few new ones. Remember when Apple promised a more personalized, Apple Intelligence-infused Siri at last year's conference? The one that many of us wish would come ahead of the visual overhaul? Well, we're still waiting on that. The last official update we heard was in March, when the company told Daring Fireball , "It's going to take us longer than we thought." (Oops!) Apple expects the new Siri features to arrive "in the coming year," a clear-as-mud description if ever there was one. A report last month from The Information hinted that the upgraded Siri may not have been as far along internally as Apple's 2024 presentation suggested. The demo, where Siri used Apple Intelligence to condense minutes of multi-app planning into mere seconds, reportedly came as something of a surprise to team members working on Siri. (Never an encouraging sign.) Separate reporting this month from Bloomberg sheds a bit more light, adding that we probably won't hear much about those Siri upgrades at WWDC 2025. The publication described those updates as being months away from shipping. The company is also reportedly separating its Apple Intelligence and Siri marketing. The logic behind this is that users are so fed up with Apple's assistant that it's hurting Apple's AI push. The company's 2024 presentation was undoubtedly impressive. It showed a more context-sensitive Siri that better understands what you're doing and can take appropriate actions. It pulled info from various apps and spliced them together in striking, multi-step requests. It responded to requests like recording a specific video in a third-party app, sharing a meeting summary in an email draft to a teammate or locating missing information you remember reading somewhere. It could even control system settings or spit out support documents explaining how they work. The bottom line: If or when Apple pulls off what it promised last year, that's big news for Siri. But don't hold your breath for it to show up at WWDC 2025. According to Bloomberg , the Siri updates we do see will be much subtler. These would include adding the option to use Gemini instead of ChatGPT with the assistant. Another iOS 19 scoop points to an Apple Intelligence feature that's easy to get behind. A new AI-powered battery management mode will reportedly analyze how you use your phone and make power-saving adjustments on the fly. The feature would analyze your data to predict when to lower the power draw from apps or device features. If it works well, that could be pretty nifty. It may also be a key ingredient to a new device: the "iPhone Air." Whatever Apple calls it, the rumored ultra-slim handset is expected to join Apple's lineup this year. Without this feature, the phone's smaller battery might struggle to make it through a typical day. (According to Gurman, it would last several hours less than Apple's other iPhones.) But with the AI battery feature activated, the svelte iPhone could become more practical. Will we see this slim-jim iPhone at WWDC? Well, let's say you have as good a chance of Valve randomly showing up to announce Half Life 3 at Apple's conference. First, the svelte handset is expected to be part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which typically arrives around September. Second, Apple hasn't unveiled a new iPhone at WWDC since Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone 4 in 2010. So, in short, nope. Apple is reportedly working on a virtual health coach. Allegedly codenamed Project Mulberry, the AI feature would pair a refreshed Health app with an AI-powered coach. Bloomberg says the feature would, to some degree, give you advice you'd usually seek from a doctor. The virtual coach would collect data from your Apple devices and use AI to provide personalized health advice, chatbot-style. Apple is reportedly training the AI agent with data from company physicians. Meanwhile, outside experts would shoot educational videos. In March, Bloomberg 's Gurman said the virtual coach could arrive as early as iOS 19.4, which wouldn't likely come until early to mid-2026. But a quick aside in a report this month from Gurman and Drake Bennett mentioned that it could be a point of focus at WWDC. It wouldn't be an Apple keynote without some wacky Craig Federighi hijinks. Last year, Apple's software lead strapped on a hair-shaped helmet and skydived into Apple Park. At previous events, he showed off his parkour skills, summoned an iPad like he's a Jedi and jammed out on a three-necked guitar. Say what you will about "Hair Force One." Federighi knows how to sell a sight gag. (With maybe just a teensy bit of help from Apple's visual effects artists.) Following Apple's typical schedule, you can expect the first developer betas for the new software to become available after the conference ends. (Likely the same day!) Public betas would follow early this summer. And you can expect the final versions of iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16 and so on to arrive alongside new iPhones this fall.
CNET
21-05-2025
- CNET
I Hated Opening My iPhone's Control Center -- Until I Found 4 Better Ways to Do It
I miss the days when my thumb could easily reach every corner of my phone. Unfortunately, it seems like small phones with screens under 6 inches are gone for good, and behemoths like the iPhone 16 Pro Max are Galaxy S25 Ultra are taking over. As someone who likes to use their phone with one hand, I often have trouble accessing certain features at the top of my screen. For me, one of the most annoying quirks about upgrading from a 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini to a 6.1-inch iPhone 16 is how difficult it is to access the Control Center. This is the iOS feature that lets me change my screen brightness, toggle Airplane Mode, use the Flashlight and lock my screen rotation, among countless other functions. If your iPhone still has the Home Button, you can open the Control Center simply by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. But on newer iPhones with a notch or Dynamic Island, you have to swipe down from the top right corner. In theory, it should be easy. In practice, it can require some elaborate finger gymnastics, especially on a screen that's pushing 7 inches. Apple If I move my finger too far to the left, I'll get the Notification Center instead of the Control Center. And if I only have one hand free to use my phone, it can be almost impossible to stretch out my thumb and reach for that corner (oh, how I wish Apple would bring back the iPhone Mini). Luckily, I've learned a few tricks that let me access the Control Center more easily. Use the Reachability feature The simplest way to reach the top of your iPhone's screen with one hand is by using the Reachability feature. It lets you pull down the entire top half of the screen. All you have to do to enable Reachability is swipe down on the bottom edge of your screen: This will bring the top right corner of your screen within thumb's reach, letting you open the Control Center without adjusting your grip on your phone. Once you've set up Reachability, you can use the feature by swiping down on the bottom edge of your screen. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET If you aren't able to use Reachability on your iPhone, here's how you can turn on the feature. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch. Then toggle on Reachability. While Reachability is helpful, it's not always the most intuitive to use. It can also limit your access to the lower half of your screen temporarily. If your goal is to just open the Control Center, you do have some other options. Turn on Back Tap Did you know that the back of your iPhone is technically a button? Back Tap is one of the device's most useful hidden features, allowing you to access a wide range of functions without touching the screen. It works even if you use your iPhone with a case. And it easily lets you open the Control Center while using your device with one hand. You can use Double Tap or Triple Tap to access the Control Center. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET To enable Back Tap to open Control Center, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. From there, select Double Tap or Triple Tap, then select Control Center. Once you've set up Back Tap, you can bring up the Control Center with one finger, simply by tapping two or three times on the back of your phone. You might have to practice doing it at the right speed, so that your phone correctly registers your taps. But once you've mastered Back Tap, you won't have to even think about reaching for the top right corner of your screen again. Create a Shortcut bookmark You can also access the Control Center on your iPhone by creating a custom Shortcut bookmark. The bookmark is essentially an app that you can move to any spot on your home screen (especially if you have iOS 18, which gives you more freedom to rearrange your apps). You can create a custom Shortcut bookmark to add to your Home Screen. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET To create the Control Center bookmark, open the Shortcuts app and hit the plus (+) sign in the top right corner. Then, in the Search Actions finder, type Control Center and select the option Show Control Center. In the following drop-down menu, select Add to Home Screen. You'll see options to customize the icon, or you can simply select Add to skip. You can move this bookmark around like you would with any app. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET Now you have another way to open the Control Center without doing thumb stretches. One drawback to this method is that you can only access the Shortcut if you're on your iPhone's Home Screen, or whichever app page you've placed the bookmark. If you're in the middle of watching a Netflix show, browsing on Safari or doing anything in another app, you'll need to exit the app to get to this bookmark. There's still one more way to open your Control Center, and this method works no matter which app you're using. Use the Action Button On the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series, you can customize the Action Button to perform just about any function you can imagine. You can use it to run any Shortcut -- including opening the Control Center. To set your Action Button to trigger the Control Center, follow the same steps for creating a Shortcut bookmark. Then make one modification: Go to your Shortcut for the Control Center and change the action from Show to Toggle. Change your Shortcut for the Control Center from "Show" to "Toggle", before setting it as your Action Button function. Screenshots by Jason Chun/CNET Next, go to Settings > Action Button and swipe to select the Shortcut option. In the menu, you'll see a list of your available Shortcuts. Choose Control Center. Now you'll be able to open and close your Control Center at any time with a quick press of the Action Button. By default, the Action Button is your Silent/Ring switch, and you might miss having that function by changing it to this Shortcut. However, the Control Center is a much more versatile option for the Action Button. And you'll still have easy access to the Silent/Ring switch by going to -- where else? -- the Control Center. For more iPhone tips, learn about the iOS settings that can drain your battery, and check out 10 hidden features in iOS 18.2.
