iOS 18.1 beta 5 gives Control Center new connectivity tools

Apple just released iOS 18.1 beta 5, bringing the latest version of Apple Intelligence to the iPhone. Alongside the AI features, iOS 18.1 brings several other enhancements, including some new connectivity tools just added to Control Center.

Missing Control Center buttons added in beta 5

One of the recurring critiques we’ve seen about iOS 18’s new Control Center is that its Connectivity options are too limited.

Inside the new Control Center, if you want to add a new control, you’ll find a Connectivity section. This includes the standard panel featuring Airplane Mode, AirDrop, and Wi-Fi, plus a fourth button that expands the panel to reveal more options.

Outside of this four-button panel, there are currently only limited options for adding connectivity controls.

Apple offers dedicated controls for four tools currently:

• Airplane Mode
• Cellular Data
• Personal Hotspot
• Bluetooth

So if the four-button control doesn’t quite work for you, you can piece much of its functionality together with these standalone options.

In iOS 18.1 beta 5, Apple has added two more connectivity tools to choose from:

• Wi-Fi
• VPN

With these two additions, nearly every connectivity option is now available in standalone form.

This change means you’ll have greater flexibility when building out your own custom Control Center pages in iOS 18.1.

The one missing connectivity option is a dedicated AirDrop control, but perhaps that will arrive in a future beta. It would also be great if you could customize the four-button panel to your liking.

What are your most used connectivity controls in Control Center? Are you glad to see these changes? Let us know in the comments.