How to Use iOS 18 Control Center Controls Gallery

Apple’s iOS 18 brings a massive redesign to the Control Center, highlighted by the addition of the Controls Gallery. This feature acts as a centralized marketplace for toggles, shortcuts, and widgets, allowing users to deeply customize their iPhone’s quick-access menu. This guide explains how the Controls Gallery operates, how to access it, and how to organize your favorite controls across multiple pages.

To open the Controls Gallery, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open Control Center, then enter edit mode. You can enter edit mode by tapping the + (plus) button in the top-left corner or by pressing and holding any empty space on the screen.

Once in edit mode, a button labeled Add a Control appears at the bottom of the screen. Tapping this button launches the Controls Gallery overlay.

Browsing and Searching Controls

The Controls Gallery is organized as a scrollable sheet that lists all available system toggles and supported third-party app actions.

  • Search Bar: At the top of the gallery, a dedicated search bar lets you quickly type the name of a specific tool, setting, or application.
  • Categorized Sections: Below the search bar, controls are grouped into distinct categories for easy navigation. Standard categories include Accessibility, Capture, Connectivity, Display & Brightness, Hearing, Home, Remote, Shortcuts, and Utilities.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Thanks to the iOS 18 Controls API, third-party apps installed on your device can populate their own dedicated sections in the gallery, allowing you to add direct actions for non-Apple services.

Adding and Resizing Controls

When you find a control you want to use, tapping it instantly places it onto the active Control Center page.

  • Placement: The new grid system allows you to drag controls to any position on the grid. Unlike previous iOS versions, controls no longer need to automatically snap to the top; you can leave intentional empty spaces between buttons.
  • Resizing: While in edit mode, many controls feature a curved grab handle in the bottom-right corner. Dragging this handle allows you to expand a basic 1x1 circular icon into a larger 2x2 or 2x4 card, often revealing additional status details or secondary functions.

Multi-Page Organization

The Controls Gallery also supports the new multi-page architecture of iOS 18. Control Center now includes distinct, vertically scrollable pages by default (such as Favorites, Media Playback, Home, and Connectivity).

You can add controls from the gallery to any existing page or swipe down past the last page in edit mode to create an entirely new, blank screen. This allows you to tailor separate Control Center pages dedicated to specific workflows, such as work focus tools, smart home controls, or accessibility shortcuts.