Daily Tips

How to use Hover Text in iPadOS 16

The just released iPadOS 16.4 adds Hover Text title and azimuth so you can preview your mark at any angle before you make it in Notes and supported apps on iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation)

With Hover Text, you can move the pointer over something on the screen—for example, text, a menu item, or a button—to see a larger version in a separate window.

To use Hover Text, you need a pointing device such as a mouse or trackpad. On iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) and iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation), you can also use Apple Pencil (2nd generation) as the pointing device. To use Hover Text with the activation modifier, you also need a connected keyboard.

To set up Hover Text:

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hover Text.
  2. Customize any of the following:
    • Display mode: Choose where to show the Hover Text window—inline (near the cursor), at top of the screen, or at the bottom of the screen.
    • Scrolling speed: Choose a slower or faster scrolling speed for long text descriptions.
    • Appearance: Choose the font, size, text color, insertion point color, background color, and border color of the Hover Text window.
    • Activation modifier and lock: (connected keyboard required) Choose the Control key (the default), Option key, or Command key as the activation modifier, which you press to activate Hover Text. To keep Hover Text activated when you triple-press the activation modifier key, turn on Activation Lock.

To turn Hover Text on or off:

Do any of the following:

  • Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hover Text.
  • If you’ve set up Accessibility Shortcut, triple-click the Home button or top button (depending on your iPad model).

To use Hover Text

  1. Move the pointer over something you want to see more clearly.
    To see a larger version of text as you’re typing, move the pointer over the text entry field.
  2. If you have a connected keyboard, press and hold the activation modifier key to activate Hover Text. (It’s automatically activated if you don’t have a connected keyboard.)

(This how-to is based on my experiences and info on Apple’s support pages.)

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.