Ten iPhone accessibility features that everyone can use — Apple World Today

Zoom in
By using three fingers on the screen, you can zoom in to any image or text. Hold the fingers down and you can move around the zoomed-in picture or text. This feature is incredibly useful if you don’t want to permanently change your display settings.

Unlike some of these features, it’s automatic, so you don’t need to go into a menu to turn it on.

Font size

You can make the font on the iPhone much larger. There are two ways to do this. First, you can go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size. If you want the text even bigger, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. 

All text will then appear at your chosen size. It’s ideal for anyone who finds it hard to see text, and easier than constantly zooming in!

Sound Recognition

Sound recognition is one of the most advanced Apple accessibility features, brand new to iOS 14. This accessibility feature is designed around interacting with the world, not just your phone. Designed to help people with hearing impairments, sound recognition can pick up background noises, such as alarms, doorbells, crying babies, and even pets. 

After picking up these noises, sound recognition gives you an alert on your phone. Considering more than 25% of seniors have serious hearing problems, this is one of the most relevant accessibility features out there. It could even be life-saving.

Find it in Accessibility > Sound Recognition.

FaceTime Sign Language

Communication technology is constantly improving. The FaceTime Sign Language feature is a great example. Facetime now detects when a person is using sign language, and makes their video feed the largest in the call. This makes Facetime a great substitute for a traditional dial in conference call for sign language users. 

Recommend accessibility to people you know

Do you know someone who could use accessibility features? 

As awareness of accessibility grows, so too does the response. Hopefully, as mobile phone technology progresses, we’ll see more and more accessibility features – making everyone’s lives that bit easier.