On iOS 12, Notification and Control Center come down with Reachability as they should

iPhone reachability hero image

Apple plucked a lot of low-hanging fruit in iOS 12.

Specifically, Apple has included fixes for the reported Reachability quirks discovered in iOS 11 which prevented one-handed access to the Notification or Control Center.

TUTORIAL: Use this secret gesture for faster app switcher access on iPhone X

Reachability is an accessibility feature that makes it a lot easier to reach the furtherest edge of the display with your thumb. Entering Reachability pushes onscreen content halfway down so that you can reach the furtherest edge of the display way more easily.

Reachability on iOS 11 vs. iOS 12

Reachability on iOS 11 was not fully baked.

You have probably noticed that iOS 11 wouldn’t let you enter your Notification or Control Center by swiping down from the respective middle-center or middle-right corner of the display with Reachability active. This made it problematic and unwieldy to easily access either feature because notifications and Control Center toggles would still appear at the very top.

Apple told us they would eventually fix this bug.

Reachability on iOS 12: pulling down Notification Center from the middle of the screen

iOS 12 fixes Reachability quirks that prevented Notification Center pulldown

With iOS 12, Reachability works the way it’s supposed to work—you can enter Reachability on your iPhone, then swipe down from the middle-center of the screen to invoke your Notification Center or swipe down from the middle-right for Control Center.

Reachability on iOS 12: pulling down Control Center from the middle-right corner of the display

With Reachability, Control Center is finally within reach

If you don’t have iOS 12 installed on your iPhone, check out Sebastien’s step-by-step tutorial that explains how to leverage iOS’s under-appreciated AssistiveTouch accessibility features that help make using Control and Notification Center in Reachability mode a lot easier.

How to use Reachability

On older iPhones, Reachability is invoked by double-clicking the Home button.

On devices without a Home button such as your iPhone X, Reachability requires a new gesture—to bring the top of the screen into reach, simply swipe down on the bottom edge of the screen or swipe up and down quickly from the bottom edge of the display.

To exit Reachability, swipe up from the bottom of the display.

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Off by default, the Reachability feature must be manually enabled on your iPhone by venturing into Settings → General → Accessibility → Reachability.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Reachability is an awesome feature that makes using iPhone in one-handed mode a lot easier, especially for those who own a Plus-sized model.

All iPhone models from iPhone 6 onward include Reachability support.

Are you looking forward to Reachability fixes in iOS 12?

Let us know in the comment section down below.