Phones are becoming too large to be used with one hand, and this is unlikely to change any time soon. Even smallest phones These days there are screens larger than 6 inches. If you have a grocery bag or dog leash in one hand and need to send a text message with the other, you may run into some problems, especially if you use iPhone 17 pro max or Galaxy S25 Ultra.
For me, one of the most unpleasant features of the transition from the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini to the 6.1-inch iPhone 16 how difficult is it to access Control Center. It's an iOS feature that allows me to change screen brightness, toggle airplane mode, use a flashlight, and lock screen rotation, among countless other features.
If your iPhone There's still a Home button, you can open Control Center by simply swiping up from the bottom of the screen. But on new iPhones with a notch or Dynamic Islandyou need to swipe down from the top right corner.
In theory this should be easy. In practice, this may require some advanced finger gymnastics, especially on a 7-inch screen.
If I slide my finger too far to the left, I get Notification Center instead of Control Center. And if I only have one hand free to use the phone, it will be almost impossible to extend my thumb and reach that corner (oh, how I wish Apple would bring back iPhone mini).
However, I have learned a few tricks that allow me to access Control Center more easily.
Use the accessibility feature
The easiest way to reach the top of your iPhone screen with one hand is to use Availability peculiarity. It allows you to lower the entire top half of the screen.
All you have to do to turn on the Reachable feature is swipe down from the bottom edge of the screen: this will make the top-right corner of the screen accessible to your thumb, allowing you to open Control Center without changing your grip on the phone.
After setting accessibility, you can use this feature by swiping down from the bottom edge of the screen.
If you can't use Reachability on your iPhone, here's how you can enable the feature. Go to Settings > Availability > Touch. Then turn on Reachability.
While Reachability is useful, it is not always the most intuitive to use. It may also temporarily limit your access to the bottom half of the screen. If your goal is to simply open Control Center, you have other options.
Turn on “Back”
Did you know that the back of your iPhone is technically a button? Back Click is one of the most useful hidden features of the device, allowing you to access a wide range of functions without touching the screen. This works even if you are using your iPhone with a case. And it makes it easy to open Control Center using the device with one hand.
You can use double or triple tap to access Control Center.
To enable Back Tap to open Control Center, go to Settings > Availability > Touch > Back Click. From there select Double tap or Triple tapthen select Control Center.
Once you've set up Back Tap, you can bring up the One-Finger Control Center by simply tapping two or three times on the back of your phone. You may need to practice doing this at the right speed to ensure your phone registers your taps correctly. But once you master Back Tap, you won't even have to think about getting to the top right corner of the screen again.
Create a shortcut bookmark
You can also access Control Center on your iPhone by creating a custom Shortcut bookmark. A bookmark is essentially an app that you can move anywhere on your home screen (which became even easier to do after iOS 18 added more options for rearrange your applications).
You can create your own Shortcut bookmark and add it to your Home screen.
To create a Control Center bookmark, open Shortcuts application and press plus (+) sign in the upper right corner. Then in the Search Actions search tool, type Control Center and select the option Show Control Center. From the next drop-down menu, select Add to Home Screen. You'll see options to customize the icon, or you can simply select Add skip.
You can move this bookmark, just like in any application.
Now you have another way to open Control Center without stretching your thumb. One of the disadvantages of this method is that you can only access the shortcut if you are on the home screen of your iPhone or on the page of any application where you have bookmarked it. If you are watching now Netflix show, while browsing Safari or doing anything in another application, you will have to exit the application to get to this bookmark.
There is another way to open Control Center, and this method works no matter what app you are using.
Use the action button
On iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series, you can customize the action button to do almost anything. any function you can imagine. You can use it to launch any shortcut, including opening Control Center.
To set up an action button to launch Control Center, follow the same steps as to create a Shortcut bookmark. Then make one change: go to the Control Center shortcut and change the action from Show To Switch.
Change the Control Center shortcut from “Show” to “Toggle” before setting it as an action button function.
Next go to Settings > Action button and swipe the screen to select the Shortcut option. In the menu you will see a list of available shortcuts. Select Control Center. Now you can open and close the Control Center at any time with a quick press of the action button.
By default, the Action button is a Silent/Ringer toggle, and you can miss out on that feature by changing it to this shortcut. However, Control Center is a much more versatile option for an action button. And you'll still have easy access to the Mute/Ring switch by going to – where else? — Control center.
For more iPhone tips, check out this article iOS settings that can drain your batteryand check 10 hidden features of iOS 18.2.
