I am generally liking the ability to make many modifications to the iOS Control Center on my iPhone 13 mini.
Alas one oddity that seems a step backwards is requirement to unlock to simply set a Clock App Alarm, as well as:
using a Shortcut to turn on wifi or VPN;
Turning Mobile Data on/off;
Turning WiFi or Bluetooth on/off (and perhaps others I haven’t recalled or found).
And another: I’ve set up back-taps for WiFi on/off. Now in iOS18 only the tapping to turn on WiFi works when it is locked.
Kind of defeats the purpose of quick access to controls.
Used to be CC/back-tapping were handy ways to do that without unlocking.
Maybe there is a setting I need to change for this to work while locked, I could be ‘doing it wrong’?
There is a setting. Settings / Face ID & Passcode. Under “allow access when locked” turn on control center. This is turned on by default IIRC.
I turn this off myself. First, I don’t use control center all that often. Second, usually just looking at the phone unlocks it for control center when I do need it. Third, it prevents someone else from picking up my phone and changing any of my settings. But, if you need it, turn that on.
Thanks for the reply Mr. Miller!
I do now about this setting, forgot to mention it earlier. I have set, for quite a long time, access to the following when locked:
Today View & Search
Notification Center
Control Center
Lock Screen Widgets.
Which afaik should cover use of the listed controls while locked. At least, on iOS 17 and earlier it did.
And PS, I have and will always used a passcode to unlock, so it takes some seconds and tapping now just to set an alarm, etc. so it’s a tiny bit of bother that didn’t used to be there…
While this is certainly up to you, note that relying solely on a passcode can be dangerous, which is why Apple added the Stolen Device Protection feature. It’s best never to enter passcodes in public where someone could be watching. Details in these articles:
Thanks Mr. Engst!
Well it’s good that Apple still allows multiple unlock methods for different user preferences/needs.
Do you have any idea if this apparently new requirement in iOS 18 to unlock for something as simple as what I’ve listed is actually a new requirement, or a bug, or perhaps a flaw with my device?
(I treat iPhone nicely, always in a case an not yet dropped or got wet. Mostly it’s indoors or a secure pocket.)
Thanks!
It’s vanishingly unlikely that it’s a flaw with your device. Apple sells millions of iPhones—there’s almost no conceivable way that yours could act differently from all the others in a functional way. Though it could fail uniquely.
If I understand what you want to do, you don’t use Face ID, but you want to set an alarm in the Clock app from a Control Center widget, and that’s asking for your passcode when previous versions of iOS didn’t.
To test, I turned off Face ID for iPhone Unlock. If I then open Control Center from the Lock Screen, I can tap an Alarm widget, but because that opens the Clock app, I’m prompted for my passcode. That’s entirely reasonable—it would be a huge security lapse if you could open apps from Control Center without authenticating, especially now that you can put Shortcuts in Control Center. Perhaps that’s new—I’ve never tried using Control Center in a previous version of iOS without Face ID.
When I re-enable Face ID, it all just works without any prompts because Face ID authenticates instantly when I look at the iPhone.
As I understand the conversation, my experience matches that of @TBTdn. I have an iPhone SE 2nd generation (so no Face ID) running iOS 17.5.1. (I plan to update today or tomorrow, so I stumbled on this thread just in time.) I swiped up from the Lock Screen and accessed the Control Center. I then tapped the Alarm widget (which I had never done before, so this was new to me) and I was taken to what certainly appeared to be the Clock app with no authentication.
After reading this, I looked for and found this setting (minus Face ID because of the hardware). I was shocked to see that access to Wallet could be enabled from the Lock Screen. (It wasn’t. I don’t know if I had changed that or if that toggle is disabled by default.)
You can tell I’m not a power-user, and I was surprised when I saw the Clock app without authenticating. But why is access to the Clock app a “huge security lapse”?
This could be useful (especially for people like you with Touch ID phones) who want quick access to passes in the wallet app - airplane boarding passes, concert tickets, etc. You still cannot make a payment with the wallet unlocked - you need to authenticate with biometrics or your passphrase if you want to make a payment, and credit card details are not fully visible. But I also keep that setting turned off.
Well, it may not be, but in the past allowing apps open without unlocking first led to some ways to access other apps (I can’t recall exact examples) , so I think Apple likes to keep those things locked down.
Just as a “for example” with the Clock app, setting an alarm allows you to change the alarm sound, and brings you to the iTunes Store app if you tap “tone store”, and from there you could tap “TV Shows” or “Movie” and then tap a button that can bring you to the TV app to watch something you’ve already purchased. So just opening the Clock app does allow you to get to two or three other apps.
The more general issue is that Control Center used to be rather limited, so providing unauthenticated access was significantly less problematic. In iOS 18, however, you can add app widgets and Shortcuts to Control Center. Clock may not be a big deal, but there are lots of apps with Control Center widgets that shouldn’t be available without authentication, so Apple probably decided that it was better to require it for all apps than to handle it on a case-by-case basis.
If you’re using biometric authentication, it’s almost hard to use the iPhone without authenticating, since you have to touch the Home button with Touch ID and look at the phone with Face ID. When I test unauthenticated access on my iPhone 16 Pro, I have to put a finger over the Face ID camera to ensure that I’m asked for the passcode.
Everyone’s welcome to do what they want, of course, but I see very few good reasons to avoid biometric authentication. The main one is when it doesn’t work reliably, which mostly affects Touch ID.
First off, Thank You Kindly! for responding on the holiday weekend, I would have also been happy with a later response so you could relax and enjoy time off!
Understanding is correct, I’d like to use iPhone on OS 18 and beyond as I have for several versions previously, in regards the Control Center features listed above.
Thanks too for testing this and it does seem you’re seeing the same, a new requirement to unlock before doing something as simple as setting an alarm.
Lately I’ve taken to just entering the password for every interaction with the phone, and skipping the Control Center. Might have to remove the nice customizations I did and only leave in Control Center the few things that are allowed to be controlled from there while locked.
(just for the record, not wanting to generate any more discussion)
As someone more knowledgable and experienced in Apple tech than I, I respect your opinion and also business need.
I see enough good reasons not to use biometrics that I avoid their use in any context. As a mostly at home defacto retired person this is relatively easy thing to do. And I do tend to be a bit on the tin hat side of the spectrum.
I’ve also been an Apple product user since the 80s and was briefly an Apple retail store employee and volunteer in independent Apple user groups ‘back in the day’.