Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • Cameras
  • More
    • Home
    • News
    • Best
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • iPhone 15 Pro Max review
  • iPhone 15 review
  • TechRadar Choice Awards
  • Apple Watch 9 hands on
  • iPhone 15 Pro hands on
  • Wordle hints
  • Best VPN

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Tech

How to turn your iPhone and iPad into capable assistive technology

News
By Cameron Faulkner
published 2 June 2015

These hidden features allow almost anyone to use an iOS device

Introduction

Introduction

Think you understand everything about today's technology? It's time for a reality check. Mine was just a few years ago. It didn't involve getting schooled on the internals of computers or learning the differences between operating systems. No, all it took was the humbling experience of witnessing a person with a vision impairment navigate an iPad, a device that I naively assumed could only be used by those with the ability to see.

She was able to use this technology thanks to accessibility options, which enable some awesome tricks to help those in need of assistance. Your iOS device packs some incredibly smart features that help people of nearly all circumstances revel in the joys of some of today's coolest tech – you just haven't found them yet.

Here's a full breakdown of the built-in features that offer clever ways for those with hearing, vision and physical impairments to enjoy the iPhone and iPad.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Siri, the intelligent personal assistant

Siri, the intelligent personal assistant

The intelligent personal assistant inside of iOS devices has a simple goal: to help you find your content easily, send messages and discover new information using nothing more than your voice. Siri is a well-known feature, but it doesn't get enough credit for its potential as an aid for those with physical and vision impairments.

-To activate Siri, press and hold the home button on an iOS device for a few seconds. Once you hear the double-chime, Siri's ready to assist.

-Saying "Hey Siri" can also grab Siri's attention. To enable this feature, open up the Settings menu. From there, navigate to "General", then tap into "Siri" and finally, select "Allow 'Hey Siri'".

-Apple included a swath of different languages and regional dialects in case you want to change Siri's spoken language. From the same menu where you enabled "Hey Siri", scroll down just a bit to find the language settings.

Siri customization doesn't stop there. You can even change its voice from female to male or vice versa. Go on, ask it something!

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
VoiceOver

VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the key feature that makes using iOS devices more intuitive for vision-impaired individuals. This feature switches the default navigation that previously relied on precise finger presses in favor of one where broad strokes and gestures can complete just about any task.

-To activate it, press and hold the home button to get Siri's attention and then say "Turn on VoiceOver." Alternatively, scroll down through the Settings menu until you find "Accessibility". Click "VoiceOver" and slide the switch over to turn on the feature.

-Once activated, swipe left or right anywhere on the screen to move the selector, which will cue VoiceOver to read the selection out loud. If you come to an area of interest that you would like to click further into, tap the screen twice.

-Turning on the VoiceOver feature also activates sound effects that will trigger to give the user audible feedback on their gestures and touches. These can be turned off from the same menu.

-VoiceOver can also aid in reading notifications, such as incoming e-mails, text messages, out loud as they arrive on your iOS device.

Similar to Siri, VoiceOver's spoken language or regional dialect can be changed. However, in addition to Siri's more limited settings, users can download higher-quality voices that sound more realistic when using VoiceOver.

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Zoom

Zoom

It's time to throw away that magnifying glass. Your iOS device contains a built-in feature that does more than take its place. It offers a ton of extra functionality that the physical tool just can't match up to.

-The Zoom feature allows you to magnify a section of the screen to increase readability. To activate the feature, navigate to "Accessibility" inside the Settings menu. Then, tap into "Zoom" and tap the switch.

-Double-tapping the screen with three fingers will bring up the Zoom window, which zooms in on a body of text or photo.

-From there, you can drag the window around the screen as you please by pressing and holding a finger on the Zoom anchor on the bottom of the magnified window.

-Zoom is set at a default magnification level, but the intensity can be increased up to 15 times the default font size. This can be done at the bottom of the Zoom menu.

-Users can adjust the size of the magnifying window itself and the lighting filter which you can view text and pictures through (Grayscale, Low light, Grayscale Inverted, Inverted.)

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Features to increase screen readability

Features to increase screen readability

iOS devices offer a few features to make words more legible and pictures easier to see on the screen.

-In the Accessibility menu, select "Larger Text" to enable the feature, then customize your preferred font size to improve readability while using an iOS device. If that doesn't do the trick, the font can also be bolded by flipping the switch next to "Bold Text".

-For individuals that are sensitive to certain colors, the options to increase color contrast, invert or set the screen's color palette to grayscale are each readily available in the Accessibility options.

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
How iOS devices assist hearing-impaired individuals

How iOS devices assist hearing-impaired individuals

iOS offers a few neat options in the Accessibility menu to assist users with hearing impairments.

-In the Accessibility menu, users can pair a Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid to their iOS device through the "Hearing Aids" option. Once tethered, all audio (music, podcasts, movies) will stream to the hearing apparatus similar to how streaming audio works with wireless headphones.

-If hearing your phone when it rings is an issue, the LED on the back of iPhones (versions 4 and newer) can be activated to flash whenever you receive a text or call. It's a subtle alert, but very noticeable. Activate this feature by toggling the switch next to "LED Flash for Alerts".

-iOS devices across the board offer robust support for subtitles and closed captioning. Located inside the Accessibility menu, "Subtitles and Captioning" allows users to activate and customize how the overlaying text will look. The feature supports over 50 different font styles, four font sizes ranging from small to extra large and eight font colors to choose from.

-Users can adjust the audio balance from left to right in order to receive the full audio delivery in the ear that serves you the best. The slider is located in the Accessibility menu.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
How iOS devices assist physically-impaired individuals

How iOS devices assist physically-impaired individuals

iOS is full of cool features that can be accessed with gestures like swiping and pinching the screen. And thankfully, Apple has also made these unique functions easily accessible for those with physical disabilities.

-AssistiveTouch condenses every gesture-activated feature into one virtual button placed front and center on the screen for easy access. To activate this feature, scroll to the bottom of the Accessibility menu and click through to find the toggle switch.

-Once activated, a virtual button in the shape of a square appears on screen. Interacting with a simple tap blossoms the button into a full-fledged menu where you can fly through settings and dive into features that are usually multiple layers of navigation deep, like Siri and Safari.

Custom gestures

-Also in the Accessibility menu, users can create custom gestures for their iOS device. These can be used to perform a variety of tasks, such as unlocking the device or typing a quick text message. If you're a gamer, you could even program gestures to control a game's menu with ease.

iOS devices also support the use of external switches in place of using the touchscreen to perform functions. The support for switches ranges from external physical buttons to cameras that can track head movement to navigate around the phone or tablet.

Know of any other neat tricks that iOS devices can do? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Cameron Faulkner
Cameron Faulkner
Social Links Navigation

Cameron is a writer at The Verge, focused on reviews, deals coverage, and news. He wrote for magazines and websites such as The Verge, TechRadar, Practical Photoshop, Polygon, Eater and Al Bawaba.

TOPICS
Apple
More about tech
A Microsoft Surface laptop, iPhone, Echo Dot, Echo Show and Fire Stick on a blue background

ICYMI: the 9 biggest tech stories of the week, from iPhone reviews to new Amazon Alexa AI

Samsung OLED, Amazon Fire TV, iPhone 15 and Jabra earbuds on a blue background

The payday wishlist – what we'd spend our money on this week (September 22)

Latest
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand

Quordle today - hints and answers for Sunday, September 24 (game #608)

See more latest ►
Most Popular
Sliced and diced - thousands of Pizza Hut customers hacked and password stolen

By Sead FadilpašićSeptember 23, 2023

Quordle today - hints and answers for Saturday, September 23 (game #607)

By Marc McLarenSeptember 22, 2023

Apple HomePod finally gets hands-free Spotify thanks to this iOS 17 workaround

By Cesar CadenasSeptember 22, 2023

This malicious fake YouTube app could hijack your phone and record all your secrets

By Sead FadilpašićSeptember 22, 2023

Switching to an iPhone 15 from an older iPhone? Do this first and thank us later

By Philip BerneSeptember 22, 2023

Google's iPager ad again blames Apple for green bubbles and other messaging woes

By Alex Walker-ToddSeptember 22, 2023

Android 14 beta gives Pixel phones a taste of Apple's handy webcam feature

By Cesar CadenasSeptember 22, 2023

Unity is making some changes to its controversial Runtime Fee, thanks community for its “hard feedback”

By Catherine LewisSeptember 22, 2023

Honkai Impact 3rd Part 2 launches in 2024 with a reworked combat system, protagonist, and more

By Demi WilliamsSeptember 22, 2023

Steam Deck 2 could arrive as late as 2026, Valve doesn't see it launching "in the next couple of years"

By Demi WilliamsSeptember 22, 2023

NATO and EU pledge to unite in further cyberdefense commitments

By Benedict CollinsSeptember 22, 2023

  1. An imagined RTX 4090 against a black background
    1
    The Nvidia RTX 5090 is rumored to be nearly twice as fast as RTX 4090, so we should just call it the Titan RTX at this point
  2. 2
    TransUnion's data stolen in major data breach
  3. 3
    This hidden iOS 17 feature will make your iPhone feel twice as fast
  4. 4
    Motorola's three new phones make the Pixel 7a look overpriced
  5. 5
    Netflix's next big movie is a crime thriller with 98% on Rotten Tomatoes
  1. A man sitting beneath a tree by a river, using a laptop.
    1
    How to level up your next creative project with a portable SSD
  2. 2
    Netflix's next big movie is a crime thriller with 98% on Rotten Tomatoes
  3. 3
    This hidden iOS 17 feature will make your iPhone feel twice as fast
  4. 4
    Apple's iOS 17 is more exciting than the iPhone 15 and Android fans should pay attention
  5. 5
    The Samsung Galaxy S24 could be even more powerful than the iPhone 15 Pro Max

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.