iOS 18.1 refines the iPhone’s redesigned Control Center with standalone toggles for Wi-Fi, VPN, AriDrop and Satellite providing faster access to these features.
iOS 18.0 brought a revamped Control Center with a custom layout, multiple pages, a bunch of new controls and more. Like before, toggles like Airplane Mode, Personal Hotspot, Cellular Data, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and VPN are bundled in a special group called Connectivity. Still, you could use Cellular Data and Bluetooth separately.
The iOS 18.1 update refines the Control Center further by introducing separate controls for Wi-Fi, VPN, AirDrop and Satellite. Now all of the controls in the Connectivity group are available separately.
Faster access to satellite connectivity will be especially helpful in emergencies instead of fumbling through the available toggles in the Connectivity group (importantly, add emergency contacts to iMessage before disaster strikes).
iOS 18.1 brings separate toggles for Wi-Fi, VPN, Satellite and AirDrop in the Control Center
Keep in mind that the Satellite toggle is only available on the iPhone 14 and newer in countries where Apple’s Satellite SOS features are supported. Folks living in countries with unsupported satellite features won’t see this control.
All of the toggles in the Connectivity group are now available separately:
- Airplane Mode
- Cellular Data
- Personal Hotspot
- AirDrop
- Bluetooth
- Satellite
- VPN
- Wi-Fi
Other changes in iOS 18.1
We’ve covered some of the changes in iOS 18.1, like a proper watchlist in the TV app, the ability to reset the Control Center to factor layout, drag and drop in iPhone Mirroring, hiding the option to disable AirPods noise cancellation, and switching to the selfie camera using the new Camera Control on the iPhone 16 lineup.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing to release iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia on Monday, October 28. The updates will bring the first batch of Apple Intelligence features and under-the-hood tweaks.