Accessibility Features for iOS Devices
From www.support.apple.com 4/2024
iPhone/iPad comes with many accessibility features. You can also explore the Apple Store for accessibility apps.
Turn on accessibility features during setup
You can turn on many accessibility features right away when you first set up your device.
- Turn on VoiceOver: Triple-click the side button (on an iPhone with Face ID) or triple-click the Home button (on other iPhone models).
- Turn on Zoom: Double-tap the screen with three fingers.
- Turn on Switch Control, Larger Text, Smart Invert, and more: Choose a language and country, tap
, then choose the features you want.
If you’re moving from a previous iPhone, you can also transfer your accessibility settings. See Turn on and set up iPhone.
Change accessibility settings
After you set up device, you can adjust accessibility settings.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility.
- Choose any of the following features:
o Vision
- VoiceOver: all text and actions are narrated aloud.
- Zoom: magnify the full phone screen.
- Display and text size: adjust the size of display and text.
- Motion: customize iPhone for motion sensitivity.
- Spoken content: choose what content will be spoken.
- Audio descriptions: hear audio descriptions for video content that includes it.
o Physical and motor
- AssistiveTouch: provides alternatives when you have difficulty touching the screen or pressing buttons.
- Touch accommodations: provides alternatives when you have difficulty with fine motor hand control.
- Back tap: you can assign taps to specific actions.
- Reachability: for persons using only one hand, makes screen lower so items on screen are reachable with the thumb.
- Call audio routing: automatically route audio output to speaker or auto answer to speaker.
- Vibration: customize vibration sensitivity.
- Face ID and attention: adjust Face ID and attention settings if you have physical or vision limitations.
- Switch Control: add external switches to operate phone.
- Voice Control: speak commands to perform gestures, interact with screen elements, dictate and edit text, etc.
- Side or Home button: adjust the accessibility setting for the side/Home button.
- Apple TV remote: switch the Apple TV remote from swipes/gestures to buttons.
- Pointer control: adjust pointer size, color, etc.
- Keyboards: adjust on-screen keyboard display, or select to use an external keyboard.
- AirPods: adjust the accessibility settings on AirPods to suit motor and hearing needs.
o Hearing
- Hearing devices: pair your hearing aids or devices to iPhone.
- Live Listen: use the iPhone as a remote microphone for hearing devices or AirPods.
- Sound recognition: iPhone can recognize certain sounds such as crying baby, door bell, or siren, and alert you when it recognizes these sounds.
- RTT/TTY: iPhone provides built-in RTT/TTY software at no cost.
- Mono audio, balance, and phone noise cancellation: adjust audio options to suit your hearing needs.
- LED flash for alerts: iPhone can do LED flashes to alert you to incoming calls or other iPhone alerts.
- Headphone accommodations: amplify or adjust sound to suit your hearing needs.
- Background sounds: choose background sounds to mask unwanted environmental noise to minimize distractions for focus or rest.
- Subtitles and captions: display subtitles or captions of video on iPhone.
- Transcriptions for Intercom messages from HomePod: for HomePod users, can transcribe Intercom messages for you.
o General
- Guided Access: helps you stay focused on a task by temporarily restricting iPhone to a single app, and allowing you to control which app features are available.
- Siri: you can open apps, turn many settings on or off, or use Siri for what it does best—acting as your intelligent personal assistant.
- Accessibility Shortcut: assign the side/Home button an accessibility feature to quickly turn it on or off.