watchOS 5: How to Rearrange Apple Watch Control Center

With the newest iteration of Apple’s operating system for the Apple Watch, the company gave us a small but very useful feature—the ability to change the order of the icons in Control Center.

Like its implementation in other Apple products, the watchOS Control Center gives you quick access to useful functions such as enabling or disabling Airplane Mode, the flashlight, Do Not Disturb, and so on. If you’re new to Apple Watch, you can access Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the watch screen.

In previous versions of watchOS, the options in Control Center were static; you couldn’t customize them like you can in iOS. Now in watchOS 5, you get to decide how Control Center is arranged. Here’s how to rearrange Control Center on your Apple Watch running watchOS 5.

Rearrange Control Center in watchOS 5

1. Launch Control Center on your Apple Watch by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Scroll down to the bottom (either by swiping up with your finger or by turning your Watch’s Digital Crown) and tap the Edit button.



3. The Control Center icons will start to wiggle (similar to the process for rearranging apps in iOS). Tap and hold on one of the icons and drag it into your preferred location. The other icons will rearrange themselves around your new icon position.
4. When you’re finished rearranging, either press the Digital Crown, swipe down from the top of your screen to dismiss the Control Center, or scroll back to the bottom and tap Done.

The next time you launch Control Center, you’ll see your new icon arrangement.Enjoy your customized Control Center! In my case, I put the icon for pinging my iPhone at the top-left, as that’s the feature I use most often. Yeah, I’m forgetful.

Control Center on the Apple Watch is not only useful, it’s critical for using certain functions of your device; for example, you can’t get to the Water Lock toggle to eject moisture from your Watch any other way. And now that I can rearrange Control Center, too, I can save myself some time in searching for the icon to ping my iPhone when I lose it! I mean, I could make a greater effort to stop misplacing my stuff, but I think we all know that isn’t going to happen.

Want news and tips from TekRevue delivered directly to your inbox? Sign up for the TekRevue Weekly Digest using the box below. Get tips, reviews, news, and giveaways reserved exclusively for subscribers.