Apple released iOS 18 to the general public on September 16, a week after announcing the new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, and more at its September event. This update brings many new features to your iPhone, including the ability to lock and hide certain apps on your iPhone and ways to customize the Lock screen and Control Center. One of the features that allows you to create custom controls is called Open App.
Open App is available on the lock screen or in Control Center. iOS 18 has many new controls that let you tailor your iPhone to your needs.
Read more: Everything you need to know about iOS 18
Here’s what you need to know about Open App and how to access it.
What is an open app?
“Open App” is a pre-built shortcut that lets you open any app from Control Center or the lock screen after you unlock your iPhone. You can create new controls for Control Center and Lock Screen that are not included in the control library. This means you can create controls to launch your favorite games, social media platforms, and other apps from your lock screen or Control Center.
How to use Open App for lock screen
You can also remove lock screen controls and put your favorite games there, like Hello Kitty Island Adventure.
Screenshot by Apple/CNET
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap “Wallpaper”.
3. Tap the screen you want to customize. The lock screen is always displayed on the left side.
4. At the bottom of the screen, tap the minus (-) sign next to the control you want to remove. These two controls can only be replaced; no more can be added.
5. Tap the plus (+) sign in the newly opened space.
6. Tap Open app.
7. Tap (Select) on the shortcut menu.
8. Tap the app you want to create a shortcut for.
9. Tap the space around the shortcut menu.
10. Tap Done in the top right corner of the screen.
Enter your FaceID or passcode to access your favorite apps from the lock screen. So, even if your phone is flooded with emails for work, you can access your email app directly from your lock screen without getting distracted by other apps.
How to use Open App in Control Center
1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone to open Control Center.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign in the top left corner of the screen.
3. Tap Add Control at the bottom of the screen.
4. Tap Open app. (Shortcut) or search using the search bar at the top of the screen.
5. Tap (Select) on the shortcut menu.
6. Tap the app for which you want to create a control.
7. Tap the space around the shortcut menu.
8. Hold the new control and move it to the desired location.
9. Tap a blank space in Control Center or lock the screen to exit.
Instead of having to swipe and search for apps and games like NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition on your phone, you can now find them right in Control Center.
For more information about iOS 18, check out my iOS 18 review, What you need to know about hidden features in the Phone app, and my iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also see what iOS 18.1 brings to your iPhone.
See here: 11 hidden features of iOS 18
06:44
Source link
