Since iOS 5 in 2011, the iPhone and iPad have included Notification Center, a central place to find alerts from various apps in chronological order.
However, sixth developer betas so far show this change will ship this fall — even if I’d change it . One of the many ways of invoking Siri AI, once enabled, is by swiping down from the center of the top edge of your iPhone or iPad display. Now it’s Notification Center’s turn to be put in the corner. The area for opening Notification Center actually shrank if you disable displaying AM/PM or the date. It’s roughly the size of two app columns with Notification Center on the left and Control Center on the right. The rest is for invoking Siri. In the meantime, early feedback sounds overwhelmingly positive around Apple’s new Siri AI system. Hearing that Siri is good now will also take some getting used to, I’m sure. After months of using the new behavior, I’m certain I’d toggle it off if there were a setting to do so. The official release is expected next month.
iOS 27 is currently in beta, and the behavior has changed slightly between the first two releases. On iPadOS 27 beta 1 in particular, the area above Home screen app icons was pretty much devoted to invoking Siri AI. Apple improved this with iPadOS 27 beta 2, creating a more uniform region on either side. After 15 years of muscle memory, it’ll take some time to determine if this change is worth it or something that should be reconsidered. Since there’s no option to disable invoking Siri from the top middle swipe down, the only thing to do is build new muscle memory around avoiding the center. iOS 27 is currently available as a developer and public beta.
This previously opened Notification Center.
