With OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 (here’s an amazing article going over iOS 8), just around the corner, we will soon have two operating systems that work seemingly well together. One major setback on OS X is the lack of the Control Center. In OS X Mountain Lion we saw the Notification Center ported over to the Mac. So why no Control Center? The folks over at Cindori asked the same question.
The app Control Center for Mac allows just that. While the app isn’t new, it’s a pretty handy utility. Just like Control Center on iOS, this app allows you to have quick access to things you need most. Obviously the mobile and desktop operating systems are different.
When initially installing the app it greeted me with a somewhat intuitive popup. Just like powering on your iPhone for the first time, it tells you how to enable/disable the Control Center, as well as the ins and outs of the app. After going through the initial setup, it prompted me to purchase the app. Though the app does have a 7 day free trial, which is always great.
Design
The default theme on Control Center is designed with Yosemite in mind. With the heavy use of thin fonts and translucency it fit right in with my Yosemite installation. The app also includes a dark theme which I was not impressed by at all. With that in mind, the app does allow you to customize the look and feel of the Control Center. So, I went ahead and fiddled with the settings until I got what I wanted. It’s worth noting you can also import themes (which can be found on their forums). The theme I’m currently using can be found here. Customization goes anywhere from text color, highlight color, and the depth of the blur effect, and more.
For an app that’s so simple, there’s a lot of room for customization and really making the Control Center akin to your style. This reminds me of the tweak Uniformity by pNre.
Widgets
With OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 Apple is adding widgets to the Notification Center. With Control Center by Cindori, they use widgets as well. With several widgets such as music, boot disk, display, battery, and more. One major disappointment is the lack of third-party support. At the time of this post, there is no way — as I know of — to add your own third-party widgets.
With that being said, the stock widgets are a pleasure to use, especially the music widget. A major flaw with iTunes’s Mini Player is the lack of multi-desktop support. You pull it up, and it’ll stay in that current desktop, which is great, until you swap desktops, then it’s gone. With Control Center — by default — you can tap on it’s menubar icon. What’s great is that the app works on a per-desktop basis. You can have an empty desktop and have Control Center running there the whole time. Not to mention that the widget expands outside of iTunes. The best part of the music widget is that it resembles the music portion of the Control Center on iOS, so it looks very familiar.
Another really handy widget is the battery widget. It shows the original capacity, current capacity, max capacity, condition, power cycles, temperature and the current power usage. It’s always a good idea to keep in check with the health of your battery. To see wether or not a specific application is actually draining your battery, or if your battery is in a bad condition.
Preferences
What’s a good app without a preferences app? While the app doesn’t have a dock icon (it does, but it doesn’t launch in the dock), it runs in the menu bar. As a Mac user, this is perfectly normal for an app of it’s nature. The first option front in center is the position of the Control Center. Wether you want it to pull from the left or right (left preferably, as the Notification Center lives on the right).
The app also offers the option to use a touchpad gesture. Swiping with 3/4 fingers horizontally or vertically. On top of that you can also set a keyboard gesture. Which makes this app very accessible, especially when you’re in a gesture heavy app. Or even a keyboard shortcut heavy app. Wether you choose to swipe, use a keyboard gesture or simply tap on the menu bar icon, you can get to this app. You can also choose whether or not the app will stay on top.
You obviously have options to disable/enable certain widgets as well.
Conclusion
Control Center by Cindori is an amazing app. It has a beautiful design, a ton of widgets, and a good set of preferences. Wether you want to use it for the music widget, or the battery widget, overall it has everything I want as a consumer. The lack of third-party widgets is a slight downfall, but in no way is a limitation.
When my trial of the app expires, I will definitely pay for the app. Considering the app is only $7, I’m surprised they don’t charge more for it.
Some may think that this app is a complete rip off. Only because it mimics a stock iOS feature. That is certainly not true. The Mac and iOS are two different operating systems. Which means they have specific needs. On iOS, a quick toggle for airplane mode, Wi-Fi, or even Do Not Disturb is needed. As you have to dig through the settings app to get to those. While on OS X, at least in this example, Wi-Fi is quickly accessible in the menu bar, and Do Not Disturb is accessible in the Notification Center. If the app blatantly copied it’s iOS counterpart, yes, this would be a rip off. But it’s not.
As long as Apple doesn’t implement a Control Center for the Mac, this app will always stay on top. It’s definitely a bang for your buck.
Let me know what you think of Control Center in the comments section below.
You can download Control Center from Cindori’s site here.
Leave a Reply