The iPhone X is the first Apple handset without the iconic Home button. While that allows for a gorgeous edge-to-edge display design, it also a demanded a complete overhaul of how users interact with their iPhones.
Luckily, the new gesture-based controls on the iPhone X are incredibly simple and intuitive.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new controls on Apple’s latest and greatest.
How to Use the Home Bar on iPhone X
In place of the Home button is a new rectangular bar at the bottom of the iPhone X’s display.
This new Home indicator mimics the functionality of the analog Home button, but with a rather clean and unobtrusive form.
It’s also incredibly simple to get the hang of.
- To get to the Home screen from a locked iPhone, simply wait for Face ID to authenticate.
- Then swipe-up from the bottom of the screen (from the Home bar).
This same motion takes you to the Home screen no matter where you are on your phone. Simply swipe-up from within an app to head home.
How to Switch Apps on iPhone X
Rather than “double-clicking” an analog button, you now switch between apps by using gestures on the Home bar. There are actually two ways to do this.
- A simple swipe-up and pause from the bottom of the screen will activate the multitasking pane, where you can view and scrub between open apps.
- You can also swipe left or right on the Home bar itself to quickly switch between open apps without opening up multitasking.
How to Access Spotlight Search on iPhone X
One gesture control that’s remained relatively unchanged between the iPhone X and older devices is accessing Spotlight search and the Widget pane.
- To get to Spotlight search, just tap and swipe down from anywhere on the Home screen.
How to Access Notification Center on iPhone X
Similar to Spotlight search, the Notification Center is accessed with basically the same gesture across Apple’s stable of devices.
- To access the Notification Center, swipe down from the top of the iPhone X’s screen.
If you have trouble swiping down from the top of the iPhone X, you might want to enable Reachability (which is off by default). Just go to Settings General > Accessibility and toggle Reachability on.
With it turned on, you can easily access the Notification Center without too much stretching.
- To use Reachability, swipe down from the bottom edge of the screen. The “top” of the screen should then move down.
- This allows you to swipe down from the middle of the screen to access the Notification Center.
How to Access Control Center on iPhone X
Since swiping up from the bottom of the screen now takes you home, the old Control Center location had to be moved.
- To open Control Center, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the iPhone X’s screen (to the right of the sensor housing, or “notch.”)
Pro tip: You can access Control Center using Reachability just like the Notification Center. Just make sure to swipe down from the right side of the app icons, otherwise you’ll open up the Notification Center.