As its name suggests, iPad mini’s Control Center is a single repository for the controls, apps, and settings you frequently call upon. Indeed, you will almost certainly spend a lot more time in Control Center than in Settings.
To access Control Center, swipe up from the bottom of the screen — any screen. The beauty of Control Center is that it's always available when you need it.
Now, take a gander to get an immediate handle on all the things that Control Center lets you get at right away.
The Control Center tour starts on the upper row and move from left to right. You see controls for any music you might be playing at the time with the artist and the title of the song displayed. The song can be playing on the iPad mini’s own Music app, or through a third-party app such as Spotify — which is, in fact, how Keys’s song is playing in this example.
Next, you see icons for Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, the screen’s orientation lock, the time (as part of the Clock app), and the camera. Drop down a row, and you’ve got volume and brightness controls.
You also see controls for AirDrop and AirPlay. The former is a way to share pictures, videos, and other files wirelessly with folks nearby who have iOS 7 devices of their own and Bluetooth turned on. AirDrop requires an iPhone 5 or later, a fourth-generation iPad or later, or an iPad mini.
By contrast, AirPlay is a way to stream music and movies wirelessly via Wi-Fi to Apple TVs and to compatible AirPlay-enabled speakers and receivers.
You can permit access to Control Center on the Lock screen — or deny that access — inside Settings. You can also allow or refuse access to Control Center from within apps.
Either way, Apple assumes that you’ll use Control Center all the time.