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2 tricks to make iOS Control Center less annoying

If you get annoyed by Control Center popping up on your iPhone, here are two easy things you can do.

Patrick Holland Managing Editor
Patrick Holland has been a phone reviewer for CNET since 2016. He is a former theater director who occasionally makes short films. Patrick has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing, fast-paced world of phones, especially the iPhone and iOS. He used to co-host CNET's I'm So Obsessed podcast and interviewed guests like Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard, Stephen Merchant, Sam Jay, Edgar Wright and Roy Wood Jr.
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  • Patrick's play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.
Patrick Holland
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The iPhone's Control Center is nearly perfect once you use settings to manage it.

Josh Miller/CNET

Apple released Control Center in 2013 as part of iOS 7. It gives iPhone and iPad users quick access to settings for airplane mode, wifi, bluetooth, screen brightness among other things. But sometimes errant swipes inside apps and games can launch Control Center accidentally -- which can be annoying. If you leave your iPhone lying around pretty much anyone including kids can access Control Center from your lock screen -- which can be even more annoying.

But these annoyances are easily remedied with some quick adjustments. Go to Settings > Control Center. There you have two options: "Access on Lock Screen" and "Access Within Apps".

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These two settings can make Control Center feel a bit less unruly.

Screenshot by Patrick Holland/CNET

Lock screen

If you like accessing Control Center from your lock screen, leave "Access on Lock Screen" turned on. But if you want to prevent someone from accessing it from your iPhone/iPad's lock screen turn this off.

For example, turning off lock screen access will prevent kids from knowingly or unknowingly turning on the orientation lock or putting your iPhone/iPad into airplane mode or setting a random alarm.

Within apps

If you hate having Control Center accidentally pop up while playing a video game or using an apps, you can turn off "Access Within Apps". The upside to this is that you won't see that black arrow poking up from the bottom of the screen. The downside is that this setting applies to all apps meaning that you'll only have access to Control Center from your home screen or lock screen (unless you disabled it).