The Best IOS Accessibility Features Everyone Should Use
We’ve covered a ton of iPhone and iPad accessibility options in the past , but it’s easy to overlook these options if you’re not used to browsing this section of iPhone or iPad settings. And you should take some time to find out what is available, as there are many useful tools that anyone can use to improve their performance (or troubleshoot crashes).
Some of our favorite accessibility options are:
- Triple-tap iPhone brightness or decrease screen brightness even lower than you thought .
- Launch your device to read everything on the screen with a simple swipe of your finger across the screen .
- Create a virtual home button using Assistive Touch .
- Removing system animation and autoplay media files.
- The screen zooms in even closer than usual .
- Change the screen color or apply filters to help people with color blindness .
- Controlling iPad with a mouse .
- Setting Auto Brightness Adjustment is a feature worth knowing about, says Lifehacker Senior Technology Editor David Murphy, as it’s something you’ll need to turn on and off (under Display and Text Size) to calibrate the brightness sensor if your phone will crash and stop auto-configuring it on its own.
There are two more features that we want to describe in a little more detail: zoom and voice control. The first is a great way to get up close and personal with everything your phone’s camera sees, and the second is an incredibly useful way to control your iPhone or iPad with your voice.
Use your iPhone / iPad like a magnifying glass
The Loupe tool uses your device’s camera to magnify real-world objects.
- To use it, go to Settings> Accessibility> Magnifier.
- Tap the Magnifier switch.
- Press the Home button three times to open the zoom camera. You can zoom in and out using the slider and take pictures using the shutter button.
I was surprised at how close the camera allows you to zoom in, although the quality of the zoomed image will differ on different devices. If you find that the magnified image is too bright, try turning on the Auto Exposure option in the magnifier menu to reduce glare. (Note that Magnifier is different from the zoom feature listed above; it gives you a closer look at any apps or photos currently displayed on your screen.)
Use Siri to control your iPhone or iPad with Voice Control
- Go to Settings> Accessibility> Voice Control.
- Tap “Set up Voice Control”, then tap “Continue”. You will be shown a list of Siri commands that you can use to control your device.
- Click Finish to close the instructions.
- Tap Voice Control to enable this feature.
You can now use any of the commands listed in the manual to control your device (and you can find the list again by clicking “More …” under the “Voice control” toggle).
You can also customize your commands, screen feedback, and interface customization in Settings> Accessibility> Voice Control . Here’s what each option does:
- Language: Set your preferred language for Siri control (the default is according to your system settings).
- Customize Commands: Create and edit new voice commands.
- Vocabulary: Lets you teach Siri new words that you can use to create commands. This will help make your commands more natural.
- Show Confirmation: Enables visual feedback when Siri hears a command.
- Play Sound: Set an audible confirmation when Siri hears your commands.
- Show Hints: Provides real-time hints based on how you use Siri commands and suggests commands to use.
- Overlay: Enable this option to assign a numeric value to each screen element, which can then be used in voice commands to indicate the buttons or parts of the screen that you want to access.