Five simply steps to adjust the text size on your iPhone or iPad

By Douglas Walker

Did you know that iPhones (and iPads) have a built-in magnifier? It’s a feature that everyone will find helpful when print is tiny. It is especially useful for those of us with visual impairments. 

I use it all the time for everything from checking the temperature on my thermostat to reading medicine labels and even reviewing menus in a restaurant. Enabling the feature is really easy, too. Here’s how:

• Open the Settings App.
• Select General and then Accessibility options.
• Select Magnifier and switch the toggle on (green).
• Turn on Auto-Brightness, switching the toggle on (green).

This creates a shortcut for you to use whenever you’d like. Simply tapping the home button three times will now turn your back facing camera into a Magnifier. 

Douglas Walker is the Assistive Technology Specialist, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Program Lead. Check out Hadley’s iFocus Instructional Video Series.