How to Make Your iPhone or iPad’s Display Easier to Read
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This is a sentiment that I’ve heard coming from a surprising number of iPhone/iPad users over the years — “All the letters and buttons on this thing are so darn small, I can barely read them! Is there any way I can make them bigger?”
Indeed, most die-hard Apple fans will attest to the fact that it can get difficult, at times, to navigate around the smartphone. It can be especially difficult to type out an email or text message with such small fonts.
Fortunately, deciphering text or icons doesn’t have to be a burden. Believe it or not, Apple has long been known as a pioneer in creating innovative ways to enhance the usability of your beloved iDevices. The problem, from my experience, is that not many people know that they’re capable of doing so in the first place.
Well, friends, this post goes out to you, specifically. So if you’re looking to enhance the legibility of text or the size of buttons on your screen, then read on with confidence.
How do I change the Accessibility settings on my iDevice?
In order to bring up the Accessibility settings submenu, first navigate to the settings icon on your home screen. From there, select “General,” and then select “Accessibility.” This opens a new menu of options — from vision, to hearing, and even learning disability optimizations.
This post will focus on the many ways to increase the visual dynamics of your device, specifically.
So what are my options for making the text bigger?
To enlarge text or icons on the screen, you have two options. One would be to enable the Zoom feature, which will allow users to increase their focus on a particular item, area of the screen, or screen as a whole. To do this, select “Zoom,” switch the toggle to on, and select how you’d like to zoom in on the screen. There are a number of options, including full-screen zoom, and window zoom. In addition, you can also select the magnification level.
To zoom in, tap where you’d like to focus on the screen with 3 fingers, two-times; and to pan, move 3 fingers on the screen in whichever direction you’d like to shift the focus. To zoom out, tap again with 3 fingers, twice, and your device will revert to the standard home screen setting.
Another option you have is to increase the size of the font. This will provide larger text in applications — such as notes, iMessage, and Mail — that support dynamic text input. Simply go to Accessibility > Larger Text, and finally, switch the toggle to on. You can choose, on an 11-point scale, how large or small you want the text to be, and it will provide a sample as you either increase or decrease in your selection.
You can also make ALL text on the screen bold, however, keep in mind, doing so will require your device to restart.
So, as you can see, for those with visual limitations, and even for those who just prefer to read a larger font, Apple provides a wealth of options to enhance to readability of on-screen text.