How to Make the most of iOS accessibility

Adjust display zoom

Want content bigger on your iPhone Plus? In Display & Brightness, scroll down to View and tap Standard. In the Display Zoom page, you can preview Standard and Zoomed modes. Select Zoomed, tap Set and confirm to restart.

Increase text size

You can alternatively adjust text alone. In Text Size (or Settings > General > Accessibility > Larger Text), drag the slider. In apps that support dynamic type, such as Mail and Facebook, text size will grow accordingly (or shrink, if you wish).

Make text bolder

The option below Text Size (or Larger Text in Accessibility) is Bold Text. This emboldens text throughout iOS, including app names and interface buttons. Unlike Text Size, it requires you restart your iPhone to apply the changes.

Use Smart Invert

In General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations, you could always invert colors; but Smart Invert now reverses interface colors but not media. Alas, while it works for Photos, it doesn’t work for images in Safari.

Read out a selection

Use the Speaking Rate slider to preview how fast the OS will talk. Then switch to another app, select some text, and tap Speak. Note how the current sentence is underlined, and words are highlighted as they are spoken.

Type to Siri

If you want to use Siri somewhere you have to be quiet, turn on General > Accessibility > Siri > Type to Siri. When Siri is activated, you now type in your query. Note, however, that this entirely overrides voice input functionality.

Auto-brightness

The iOS auto-brightness toggle used to be in Display & Brightness. Apple now thinks you should leave it on, so has hidden it. If you “think different,” you can now find it in General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations.

Increase contrast

If you have trouble dealing with the semi-transparent interface elements peppered throughout iOS 11, you can make them look more solid. In General > Accessibility, tap Increase Contrast, and then Reduce Transparency.

Fine-tune 3D Touch

On an iPhone with 3D Touch, go to General > Accessibility > 3D Touch. In this pane, you can disable the feature entirely if you regularly trigger it accidentally, or you can adjust its sensitivity so that it requires a firmer press before activation.

Turn on speech

Few people use speech on macOS, but it’s great for proofing your written documents. We suspect even fewer realize iOS is capable of the same. Go to General > Accessibility > Speech, and turn on Speak Selection to get started.

Reduce motion

Had your fill of iOS 11’s dizzying animations, such as folder zooms, and the app switcher? Most of them can be stilled by turning on Reduce Motion in General > Accessibility. Auto-playing Messages effects are toggled separately.

Turn on mono audio

Listening out for someone? Want to use just one earbud, keeping the other ear free, without missing half your stereo track? Use General > Accessibility > Mono Audio to mix the left and right channels into a mono signal sent to both channels.