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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”.
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).
