A few days ago, I wrote a post showing how to bring Twitter and Facebook share widgets back to the Notification Center using an app called Share Widgets for iOS 7. In this post, I noted that Apple probably didn’t add these share widgets in the iOS 7 Notification Center because that’s not the right place for them. When you think about it, sharing something on Twitter or Facebook has nothing to do with notifications.
A more natural fit for Twitter and Facebook share widgets is Control Center. With an array of tweaks now being developed for Control Center, one in particular grabbed my attention as it allowed me to do what I really wanted from the beginning: add Twitter and Facebook share widgets to Control Center.
This tweak, some of you may have already guessed, it CCToggles…
Created by Korean developer deVbug, and somewhat similar to FlipControlCenter, CCQuick, and CCControls, CCToggles allows you to add or edit the toggles and app launchers you find in Control Center.
Admittedly, of the tweaks mentioned above, I only tried FlipControlCenter, which actually seemed to conflict with Activator. So I decided to give a try to CCToggles as a FlipControlCenter replacement, and so far, it’s gone beyond my expectations. Not only CCToggles allows me to do everything FlipControlCenter does, but it also allows me to add share buttons for Twitter and Facebook in Notification Center.
I know some of you will be quick to point out that you can already share to Twitter or Facebook with an Activator gesture. I am well aware of that, and it is not really the point of this post. The point is to help people who want to have Twitter and Facebook share widgets in Control Center get what they want. This being said, it’s worth noting that CCToggles works hand in hand with Activator.
To get the Twitter and Facebook share widgets in Control Center, do the following:
Step 1: Download CCToggles from Cydia.
Step 2: Go to Settings > CCToggles > QuickLaunches > Add Activator. This will create an “Undefined Activator” option.
Step 3: Tap “Undefined Activator” and scroll to Compose Facebook Post.
Step 4: Create another “Undefined Activator,” tap on it and select Compose Tweet.
By default, these two new sharing options will be on the second page of the app shortcuts in Control Center. You can change their position by tapping the Edit button in Settings > CCToggles > QuickLaunches.
You don’t have to have these share actions in the app shortcuts. You can have them next to the toggles at the top of Control Center instead.
Now you can quickly share to Facebook and Twitter directly from Control Center. To do so, simply pull up Control Center and tap on either Twitter or Facebook. The stock share sheet will then appear, letting you share your message to the selected social network.
Note that I was not able to get this to work on the Lock screen, which is a small annoyance that I believe is a limitation of Activator.
CCToggles is a great tweak that is definitely not limited to what I described in this post. I encourage you to give it a try, especially since it is available for free in the BigBoss repo.
