As an iPhone lover and founder of a mobile startup, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make apps better, and to some extent how to make phones better (though that's a higher hurdle). If you're like me, you use the iOS7 Control Center a lot - for AirPlay, to easily access the stopwatch and torch, toggle music, and Airplane mode.
But if you've ever experienced the rapid battery life drain that comes with using a map, or other apps that require location services, you'll appreciate that something is missing. The gaping hole in Control Center, by far, is Location Services. In my experience (iOS7, iPhone 4S), the single biggest predictor of how long my phone is going to last on a particular day, is whether or not I have location services turned on. I keep it off by default simply for this reason, and it doesn't bother me so much because outside of maps, I'm not a heavy user of apps that require Location Services. That being said, when I do need to use location services, it takes a while.
Today, to turn WiFi on or off, you
1. swipe (up), opening Control Center, from anywhere inside an app or out a lock screen or homescreen and
2. tap it on or off.
Two gestures. From anywhere.
By contrast, to turn Location Services on or off, you
1. Unlock your phone. If you don't have Touch ID, this might mean entering a passcode.
2. tap (into Settings)>
3. scroll (down to Privacy) >
4. tap (into Privacy) >
5. tap (into Location Services) >
6. toggle Location services (on or off).
It takes 3X as many steps to toggle location services, as it takes to turn Wifi on or off. The ability to rapidly toggle location services would be far more beneficial to iPhone users than either Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, or Orientation Lock. The use cases around Location Services are far more frequent than pretty much any of the options in Control Center, perhaps other than WiFi. At least everyday we need to go somewhere, find a place nearby, or get driving directions. But unless you fly everyday, you don't need to put your phone in airplane mode.
So why is it this way?
