iPhone accessibility settings: Tips for easier phone use 

Today’s phones are chock full of different features that can make life easier, but sometimes certain ones can feel a little tricky to use. Luckily, tweaking your accessibility settings can be a total game-changer for iPhone users. Below, we’ll go into everything you need to know about iPhone accessibility settings—and how to change them to get the most out of your phone.

What are accessibility settings on iPhone? 

iPhones have a bunch of useful built-in accessibility settings designed to make features more usable based on people’s various needs. These features are available for everyone with an iPhone, but many who would benefit from using them don’t even realize they exist. Luckily, we’re about to do a deep dive into all of them. 

How do you turn on accessibility features on iPhone?

Turning on accessibility features for your iPhone is easy. All accessibility features can be found under Settings > Accessibility. Under Accessibility, you’ll find accessibility features related to vision, physical and motor, hearing, speech, accessories and general features.

What are iPhone’s accessibility features?

iPhone vision accessibility features

Here are some options that iPhone provides for vision-related accessibility features. These can come in handy whether you’re busy cooking and need your phone to read a recipe off the screen, need to zoom in on that tiny menu text or have other vision-related needs:

• VoiceOver: This allows the built-in screen reader to speak what’s on screen. You can also use gestures to navigate your iPhone, or a connected keyboard or braille display.
• Zoom: This lets you enlarge what you’re viewing (either the entire screen or just a small part of it). 
• Display & Text Size: You can change up your font size and make letters bigger across all of the system features and apps in your iPhone. 
• Motion: You can pause or slow down any animation utilized in your phone’s user interface, or dim your display if the media you’re watching uses strobe or flashing lights.
• Spoken Content: Even if you don’t have VoiceOver enabled, you can still have your iPhone read all of the text on screen. 
• Audio Descriptions: You can get spoken descriptions of visual content in media like movies or TV.

iPhone physical and motor accessibility features

Here are some options that iPhone provides for physical and motor-related accessibility features. A lot of these are perfect for those on-the-go moments where you don’t have time to type out the perfect reply, as well as for other physical or motor needs:

• Hands-free: Use your iPhone without using your hands via features like Eye Tracking, Voice Control, Siri or gesture-controlled features.
• Dictation: Let your iPhone do the typing by dictating your texts or emails.
• AssistiveTouch: With AssistiveTouch, you can change the way you use your touchscreen by replacing gestures with other gestures or using simple sounds to control your phone.
• Back taps: You can double- or triple-tap the back of your iPhone to perform certain actions or shortcuts.

iPhone audio and sound accessibility features

Here are some options that iPhone provides for hearing-related accessibility features. Never miss a joke in a group conversation again (or do—it’s up to you).

• Hearing Devices: You can pair hearing aids or other sound processors to your iphone.
• Sound Recognition: Your iPhone can listen for sounds, like a doorbell or alarm, and alert you when it hears them.
• Real-Time Text: This lets you type to communicate on a phone call. The person you’re talking to sees the message as you type it. You can also type to Siri.
• Subtitles & Captioning: Get real-time captions of spoken audio with Live Captions. You can also customize how subtitles look or use closed captioning.
• Music Haptics: Literally feel the music. Haptics allow you to experience music as taps, textures and vibrations.

iPhone speech accessibility features

Turn your phone into your own personal assistant with these speech-related accessibility features:

• Live Speech: If you can’t speak or have a speech disability, you can type what you want to say and your iPhone will speak it.
• Personal Voice: This lets you create a synthesized voice that sounds just like you.
• Vocal Shortcuts: Your iPhone can perform certain actions when you speak a word or sound.

Connecting iPhone accessibility features with accessories

Here are some options that iPhone provides for making iPhone-related accessories more accessible. If you rely on external devices to use your iPhone, these features can help you seamlessly connect:

• Keyboards & Typing: Designed for users who have difficulty with typing, you can choose to show only uppercase letters. Or for those using a physical keyboard, you can adjust settings to help with accidental key presses.
• Apple TV Remote: You have the option to use your iPhone instead of an Apple TV remote. You can also switch from swiping gestures to simple, on-screen directional buttons for easier control.
• AirPods: AirPods Pro and AirPods Max also have accessibility features. Adjust audio frequencies to amplify soft sounds, customize “press and hold” actions, and use noise cancellation with just one AirPod. You can also play calming Background Sounds to assist with focus or other sensory needs.

General iPhone accessibility features

Here are some options that iPhone provides for more generalized accessibility. Whether you need to simplify your iPhone’s interface, focus on a single app, or reduce distractions to get stuff done, these general tools can help make your phone work better for you:

• Guided Access: This locks your iPhone to a single app and is useful for staying focused on a task or when a child uses your phone. You can also disable certain buttons or parts of the screen.
• Assistive Access: This creates a simplified iPhone interface with larger icons and a clear, high-contrast design, making it easier to use apps like Calls and Messages.
• Siri: Adjust how long Siri listens for your voice, change its speaking rate, or enable Type to Siri to communicate with it using a keyboard instead of your voice.
• Accessibility Shortcut: Triple-click the Side or Home button to quickly turn on or off your favorite accessibility features. 
• Per-App Settings: Customize accessibility settings for a single app or the Home Screen. For example, you can set a larger text size or reduce motion for a specific app without affecting the rest of your iPhone.

How to turn off accessibility features on iPhone

Sometimes, you may want to no longer use an accessibility feature, whether it’s to preserve battery life or because you no longer have a use for them. Here’s how to turn accessibility features off.

Use accessibility shortcuts

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut and select the features you want
   • If you only choose one, it’ll be turned off immediately
2. Triple-click either the side button or the Home button
3. Tap the feature you want to turn off

Use Siri

You can also ask Siri to turn off certain accessibility features when you no longer need them. Just make sure you enable Siri by going to Settings > Siri (or Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk to Siri.

Make your iPhone your own with accessibility features

As you’ve read, accessibility features are an amazing benefit feature in every iPhone—and now you’re an expert on what they do and how to enable them. So why not learn how to turn your iPhone into a dumb phone, how to free up space on iPhone, or more about phone security? Or, tap the button below to learn why you should switch to Mint Mobile and get fast, reliable coverage on the largest 5G network in the United States.