A Complete Guide to Using the Zoom Feature on an iPhone or iPad

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A Complete Guide to Using the Zoom Feature on an iPhone or iPad

If you have difficulty reading text or tapping small buttons on your iPhone or iPad, you might want to start using Apple's Zoom Accessibility feature. If you have difficulty seeing the contents of your iPhone, you can zoom the entire display or selected parts of it. This will enlarge the text, icons, and other elements on the screen, making them easier to see. So, if you have poor eyesight due to medical conditions, old age, or any other reason, using the Zoom accessibility feature on your iPhone and iPad should help. Here's a comprehensive guide on how to use it.

How to Enable Zoom on Your iPhone or iPad Screen

Here are the steps to magnify the contents of your iPhone or iPad screen: Open Settings and tap Accessibility. Tap Zoom and turn on the switch for Zoom. The device screen will zoom in immediately. 3 Images

How to Use Zoom and Move Around or Scroll While Zoomed In

After enabling Zoom, you can double-tap with three fingers to switch it off and on again. Doing this will zoom in and zoom out the screen. Additionally, you can set the Accessibility Shortcut to triple-press the Side or Home button to zoom in and zoom out-we'll show you how to set that below. When the iPhone or iPad screen is zoomed in, you can scroll with one finger like you usually do. However, to move around the zoomed section of the screen, use three fingers to drag in any direction. Or, you can use the on-screen Zoom Controller.

How to Use the Zoom Controller on iPhone and iPad

Dragging with three fingers can be inconvenient for some. To address this, you can use the Zoom Controller feature, which adds a virtual button to the iPhone or iPad screen to navigate around the zoomed display. It also lets you easily turn off Zoom and offers quick access to additional settings. Here's how to access it: Go to Settings and tap Accessibility. Tap Zoom > Zoom Controller. Enable Show Controller. 2 Images You'll see a virtual joystick-like gray button appear on the screen. Drag it to move around. Additionally, you can also customize Single-Tap, Double-Tap, and Triple-Tap controls as desired. Or change the look of the controller using the Color and Idle Opacity options.

Follow Focus and Smart Typing With Zoom

Follow Focus lets you track what you are selecting or typing. When you type with Follow Focus enabled, the screen will jump to the text area every time you enter text. You'll have to move to the on-screen keyboard again to type the next letter. To ease this, you can enable Smart Typing. Then, whenever the keyboard appears on the screen to type, it'll switch to Window Zoom. As a result, text and other elements are zoomed in, but the keyboard remains normal size, making it easier to type and see what you type at the same time. 2 Images

Other Zoom Settings for the iPhone and iPad

Apple includes various other controls and tweaks you might want to look at when using the Zoom feature with your iPhone or iPad: Keyboard Shortcuts: If you have an external keyboard attached to your iPad or iPhone, you can control Zoom using shortcuts. Zoom Filter: As the name implies, this changes the appearance of the screen when zoomed in. You can try Inverted, Grayscale, Grayscale Inverted, or Low Light and use the one that feels most comfortable. Choose None to have no filters. Maximum Zoom Level: Drag the slider to set the zoom level between 1.2x (minimum) up to 15x (maximum). Zoom Region: When you select Full Screen Zoom, the entire screen is zoomed in. However, with Window Zoom, only the selected part of the screen inside the window zooms in. You can drag this window around by placing one finger on its edges and moving it. You can even resize this window by tapping Resize Lens in the Zoom Menu. If you don't see it, tap Choose Region and select Window Zoom.

How to Quickly See and Use the Zoom Menu

After you enable Zoom from the Settings, triple-tap the screen with three fingers to see the Zoom Menu. It shows up irrespective of whether the screen is already zoomed. The Zoom Menu gives you the options to Zoom In or Zoom Out, Choose Region, Resize Lens, Choose Filter, Show Controller, and it also offers a slider for zoom level.

How to Quickly Adjust the Zoom Magnification on iPhone and iPad

This is one of the best gestures to magnify and normalize the contents of your iPhone screen instantly. To do this, double-tap the iPhone or iPad screen with three fingers and immediately, without lifting your fingers, slide up or down to zoom in or out. It takes a few tries to get used to but makes zooming in or out convenient and fast. Additionally, you can triple-tap with three fingers and use the slider from the Zoom Menu as mentioned in above.

How to Add Zoom to the Accessibility Shortcut

If you often use Zoom or other accessibility features a lot, you can add them to Accessibility Shortcut for convenient access to them. Here's how: Open Settings and tap Accessibility. From the bottom, tap Accessibility Shortcut. Enable Zoom if not already. You can also use the lines icon to rearrange the position of the checked shortcuts. To use, triple-click the Side button on iPhone with Face ID. And on other models, triple-click the Home button. Now, tap Zoom to enable or disable it. 3 Images Please note that if you set only one feature in the steps above, triple-clicking the Side or Home button won't show any menu, but instead it will instantly enable or disable that feature. If you have difficulty quickly pressing the Side or Home button, you can slow down the speed required. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Side Button or Home Button and choose Slow or Slowest.

How to Turn Off Zoom on an iPhone or iPad

If you no longer need this feature, or somehow enabled it accidentally and now wish to turn it off, here's how to do that: Go to iPhone Settings > Accessibility. Tap Zoom and turn off the switch for Zoom. Now, if your screen is already zoomed in, it'll be tough to move around the screen. So, remember to drag around with three fingers. In rare cases, if the device is stuck or frozen, and you cannot move around, try . You can also use your Mac or PC to turn off Zoom. Here's how: Connect your iPhone or iPad to a computer using an appropriate cable. On Macs running macOS Catalina or later, open Finder. On Mac running macOS Mojave or earlier, or on a Windows PC, open iTunes. Locate your device inside Finder or iTunes. From the General tab, click Configure Accessibility, uncheck Zoom, and click OK. Instantly, the iPhone or iPad screen will go back to normal.

Use Your iPhone or iPad Comfortably With Zoom

By now, you know almost everything that's there to know about this handy feature. You can use Zoom to see and interact with your iPhone or iPad screen comfortably, no matter how small the text is or how fiddly the buttons are. In addition to Zoom, iPhone and iPad devices have several other handy accessibility options that can help you use the device to the fullest.