Connecting your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network use to entail a trip to the Settings app and tapping the Wi-Fi section to see a list of available networks. You can still do that in iOS 13, but Apple added a second way to hop on Wi-Fi. And it could simplify your life considerably.
Now you can select Wi-Fi networks from within the Control Center in iOS 13. In previous versions of Apple's mobile OS, that panel of shortcuts only let you turn Wi-Fi on and off, but iOS 13 expands the functionality in a way that's going to please a lot of users who've long wondered why they couldn't select specific Wi-Fi networks from within Control Center.
Here's how to connect to Wi-Fi using iOS 13's Control Center.
1. Access Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of your screen on older iPhones. For the iPhone X or later — including this year's iPhone 11 models — you summon Control Center by swiping down from the upper right corner of the screen.
2. The Wi-Fi control is easy to spot — it's the standard Wi-Fi icon in that box alongside icons for controlling Airplane Mode, Bluetooth and cellular data. Long-press on the box to expand it.
3. Long press on the Wi-Fi icon to see a list of available networks. (Make sure it's a long press — just tapping the Wi-Fi icon will turn off your Wi-Fi connectivity.)
From the list that appears, you can select your Wi-Fi network of choice.
You still may want to access Wi-Fi networks from within the Settings app if the network you're logging into requires you to sign in or agree to terms of service. A couple of times since iOS 13 arrived, I've used Control Center to connect to a Wi-Fi network, only to find that the sign-on screen would only appear once I went to Settings. That limits the usefulness of what should be a time-saving feature, and I hope it's something Apple corrects in subsequent iOS 13 updates.
