How to improve accessibility on iPhone

You don’t have to consider yourself someone who needs “accessibility” features to benefit from them.

As we get older, the way we interact with technology can change. Maybe small text becomes harder to read, background noise makes conversations difficult to follow, or keeping track of appointments and reminders becomes more challenging.

Thankfully, Apple has several built-in tools can help adapt your devices to the way you use them. They’ve put together all of these resources on their accessibility webpage, but we’ve picked out a few of our favourites to put a spotlight on.

Make your screen easier to see

Apple has included several simple ways to make your screen more comfortable:

• Increase the size of text

• Make text bold

• Increase contrast

• Reduce transparency

• Invert colours

• Use colour filters

• Reduce screen motion and flickering

These settings can make a surprisingly big difference. If you find yourself squinting at your phone or holding it farther away to read a message, adjusting the display may be all you need.

Stay connected when hearing is difficult

Apple also offers features designed to help with hearing and communication.

For example, your devices can provide visual notifications for certain sounds and alerts. One particularly useful feature is Sound Recognition, which can listen for specific sounds and notify you when they are detected.

Your iPhone can recognize things such as doorbells, alarms, sirens and other environmental sounds. You can even customize Sound Recognition for certain sounds in your own environment.

This could be particularly helpful if you don’t always hear a doorbell, appliance alert or alarm.

Make your devices easier to control

Apple’s accessibility features aren’t just about vision and hearing.

There are also tools that can make it easier to navigate and control your devices, including ways to customize how you interact with the screen, use your voice, and adjust controls to suit your needs.

For someone who finds small buttons difficult to tap or prefers speaking rather than typing, these options can make technology feel much less frustrating.

Stay organized

Technology can also help with something many of us struggle with: remembering everything.

Apple includes features that can help you organize reminders, notifications, schedules and important information. Instead of relying entirely on memory, or a collection of sticky notes, you can use your devices to provide helpful prompts when you need them.

Be sure to check out all of the accessibility features available on your iPhone on Apple’s website.