Control Center is an incredibly useful feature on iPhone. Wherever you are, it’s just one swipe away and you’ll be fine with networking, music playback, display settings, etc. It allows you to easily manage features such as And starting with macOS Big Sur, Apple hasn’t introduced it in any other than the Mac itself.
After upgrading your Mac to Big Sur, you may have noticed the Control Center icon (which looks like two sliders stacked on top of each other) in the right corner of the menu bar. You can choose to launch the Control Center at any time.
Options related to features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop are listed at the top and complete with sliders for adjusting screen brightness and volume.
Because the Control Center is a space you’ll use often, here are a few ways to configure it.
1. Show Additional Options
Every item in Control Center comes with an additional layer of options. For example, the Wi-Fi control isn’t just there to enable or disable the internet. Clicking just outside a listed item expands to reveal additional settings and options.
In the case of Wi-Fi, you will see a list of other Wi-Fi networks you can easily connect to. Screen control, on the other hand, spawns nifty shortcuts to enable or disable Dark Mode and Night Shift, just like on iPhone and iPad.
2. You Can Go Back
There is no visual indicator to go back to after expanding an item within the Control Center. You can still click any empty space at the top to switch to the normal Control Center view. Alternatively, you can click the Control Center icon to do so.
3. Drag Controls to Menu Bar
Hate using Control Center all the time? Why not add your most used controls to your Mac’s menu bar? Start by clicking and holding a control. Then drag and drop it to the menu bar. This option will stick to the menu bar.
Select the control in the menu bar and you will automatically see all the options related to it; this includes what you get when you expand it inside the Control Center.
Note: Dragging an item to the menu bar does not remove it from the Control Center.
If you later want to remove a control from the menu bar, simply drag it to the desktop while holding down the Command key.
4. Add More Items to Control Center
Unlike its iPhone and iPad counterpart, the Control Center’s customization capabilities on the Mac are quite limited, at least at the time of writing. But you can still add a few additional controls to the menu bar.
Open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences. Follow by selecting the Dock and Menu Bar icon. Next, slide the side tab to the Other Modules section. You can select Battery, Accessibility, and Fast User Switching and check the box next to Show in Control Center. They will appear all the way to the very bottom of the Control Center.
If you want to remove them later, go back to the Dock and Menu Bar screen and deselect the Show in Control Center boxes.
5. Show In Menu Bar Only When Active
You can make certain controls appear in the menu bar, but only when they are active. This is ideal for items like Do Not Disturb that will not display and complicate the menu bar unless it is active.
Go to System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar and select a control. If you haven’t dragged it to the menu bar yet, start by checking the box next to Show in Menu Bar. Follow by selecting the option labeled When active.
6. Use a Different Accent Color
You can steer clear of the default blue colored icons in Control Center and spice things up by changing the Mac’s accent color. Open System Preferences, choose General and choose a color from the Highlight Color section.
Of course, this will also change the color of buttons, menu items, and the like everywhere inside the Mac.
Stay in Control
The Control Center in macOS Big Sur isn’t quite as polished as on the iPhone and iPad, but it’s fairly new, so you should expect a few rough edges. Shortcut support, more control and the ability to move items will make it more exciting to use. Hopefully, Apple will continue to improve it in future updates. By the way, have you checked out the new widgets in macOS Big Sur?
Next: Is your Mac running slow after installing macOS Big Sur? Check out these seven great optimization apps.
Support our work ❤️
If you enjoyed this article, consider leaving a tip to help us keep publishing great content.
