Since forever, to get to your Apple Watch’s Control Center, you would swipe up from the bottom of your watch face or, when inside an app, press and hold the bottom of the screen, then swipe up.
But with watchOS 10+, all that changes, and you can thank Apple’s introduction of Apple Watch widgets for that!
Now, when you swipe up from the bottom of your watch face, you’ll see your list of widgets, not your watch’s control center! So, how do you get to control center? Just push the side button!
Contents
Related reading
- How to access the Apple Watch recent apps dock or close apps in watchOS 10+
- Here are the key features and changes coming to your Apple Watch via the new watchOS 10
- Widgets on Apple Watch, a new road to delight watch owners with watchOS 10
How to open Control Center using watchOS 10
The good news is that accessing Control Center is actually easier than it ever was–all you need to do is press the side button once. 
If you updated to watchOS 10 and above, swiping up on your watch face no longer gets you to Control Center–instead, you’ll see your smart stack widgets and list of other widgets. To get to Control Center, you need to press the side button.
- Pressing the side button once takes you to your Control Center. This always works–when you’re on the watch face, inside an app, or reviewing your widgets. Pressing the side button always takes you to Control Center.
- Pressing the side button twice opens your Wallet and Apple Pay (if you set that up.)
Close Control Center by pressing the side button again or pressing the Digital Crown.
Now, if you’re one of the many that pressed the side button to access your favorite or most recently used apps via the Apple Watch Dock, that function has moved to a double-press of the Digital Crown. 
Confused yet? There’s a learning curve
You’re not alone; we were too! It’ll take some time, but within a few hours or days, you’ll get used to the new button functionality in watchOS 10.
These button and user experience updates are just something that we’re all going to have to get used to!
Outside of how you launch Control Center, all the features of control center remain, including doing things like checking your battery and turning on low power mode, using AirPlay, silencing your watch, choosing a Focus and modes like AirPlane or theater, pinging your paired iPhone, using flashlight mode, increasing the text size, turning on water lock, etc.
Final thoughts
What do you think of all these UX updates and changed button functionalities? Are they working for you or against you? Let us know in the comments.
