iPhone:
Accessibility settings
This short, animated course shows you some handy features that can make using your iPhone easier.
Watch our animation by pressing the Play button below, or click on the handy Chapters icon in the video playbar to go straight to the information you want to see, such as how to:
- make text appear larger on the screen
- use the phone's LED Flash for alerts
- set up and use the magnifier feature
- use the Dictation feature to convert voice to text
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Transcript
Welcome to the 'iPhone: Accessibility settings' course. You'll learn about some of the accessibility features on your iPhone, including how to make text easier to read, how the phone can convert what you say into text, and how the camera's flash can alert you to messages and phone calls. If your iPhone has a physical Home button, some of the steps might be slightly different, but you can still follow along.
Accessibility features are designed to help make your iPhone easier and more comfortable to use. This is especially useful if you experience low vision, are hard of hearing or find it difficult to use the touch screen. The accessibility options are controlled from the Settings app, which is found on the Home screen. Tap Settings. Once the Settings menu opens, scroll down and tap Accessibility. You'll find a long list of options here and it's worth exploring the list to see which accessibility options could make your life easier. For this demonstration, we'll just focus on a few of the main settings. First, We'll look at how to make text on your phone easier to read. The Display & Text Size option works on text in your phone's menus, emails and text messages. Tap on it. From the options that appear, tap on Larger Text. At the bottom of the page, you'll notice a slider. Using your finger, drag the slider to the right to increase the size of the text and to the left to decrease it. The text at the top is a preview of the text size and you'll see this text getting bigger as you drag the slider right, and smaller as you drag it left. This is a handy way to know when you found the right text size for you. If you need even larger text, tap the switch next to larger accessibility sizes at the top of the screen so that the switch turns green. The slider at the bottom will now let you make the text even bigger. Adjust the slider to find a size you are happy with. Tap the Back arrow at the top left of the screen to set the text size and return to the Display & Text Size menu. There are other options here for making text easier to read, including the Bold Text setting. Switching this feature on will make the text darker and thicker, but for this demonstration, we'll leave it switched off.
Now tap the Back arrow at the top left of the screen to return to the main Accessibility menu. To view other handy settings, scroll down. When you find Audio/Visual, tap on it. At the bottom of this screen, you'll see the LED Flash for Alerts setting. To turn this setting on, tap the switch so that it turns green. Now, when you receive calls, emails and text messages, the light from your phone camera will flash. This can be helpful as the sounds these types of notifications make are often short and easy to miss.
Next, tap the Accessibility arrow in the top left to return to the Accessibility menu. There are many other settings here and it's worth exploring the options to see which may suit you. Right now though, tap the arrow at the top left of the screen to head back to the Settings menu and learn how to use your phone as a magnifying glass.
From the settings menu, tap on Control Centre. This menu lets you customise your Control Centre so you can add handy shortcuts to the features you commonly use. We're going to add the magnifier feature to our Control Centre. Scroll down the list of options until you see Magnifier. The Magnifier feature uses the camera on the back of the phone to help you see things up close. It can be handy for reading fine print on bills or for getting a closer look at small objects. Tap the green plus symbol to add it to the Control Centre. You can open the Control Centre anytime, whether you are in an app, on a phone call or on a website. Let's do that now to see the Magnifier in action. Swipe down from the top right of the screen to display the Control Centre. Be careful to start with your finger in the bezel section of your phone, which is the area that surrounds the screen. You'll see a few icons here. Your iPhone might look a bit different to this demonstration, but you'll still be able to follow along. Here's the magnifying glass icon that we just added to our Control Centre, tap it to open the iPhone's camera app. The screen shows what's called a live view of what the camera sees. Drag your finger right along the slider to zoom in, and left to zoom out.
Next, we are going to look at Dictation, another really useful feature of the iPhone. By turning what you say into text, Dictation helps you create messages and notes without having to type on the keyboard. To start, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go to the Home screen. For this demonstration, we'll use the Dictation feature to send a text message. Tap the Messages app to open it. Then tap the new message icon at the top right. A new message and the keyboard will appear. Now, Dictation works in any app where you can see the microphone button on the keyboard. Tap on it to start your message. A pop up might appear asking if you want to Enable Dictation. Tap Enable Dictation. Another pop up might ask you to Improve Siri and Dictation. Tap Not Now. Instead of the keyboard, you'll see a grey area with a line that will flicker when you speak. Say the first name of the person you want to send a message to. For this demonstration, we'll send a text message to Margaret. Tap Margaret's name to confirm that she's the contact we want to send this message to. Next, tap the box where it says iMessage or Text Message. A vertical line or cursor will appear and start to blink which means you can start your message. Instead of typing, tap the microphone button on the keyboard. The grey area will appear again and you can dictate your message. "I have free tickets to the cinema this Thursday. Do you want to join me? Question mark." You can even dictate punctuation by saying question mark or full stop, for example. For the best results, you'll want to speak slowly and clearly. You can tap anywhere in the grey area at the bottom to return to your keyboard. Then just tap the Send arrow to send your message. For more ways to use Dictation, swipe up to return to the Home screen.
There are several apps that can convert what you say into text. You can use dictation to write emails or notes, create reminders or calendar appointments and even search the internet. Remember, it works wherever you see a microphone button on the keyboard. You've now reached the end of the course and should know how to use some of your iPhone's accessibility features. There are many others too, so it's worth exploring to find those which might help make your life easier. If you are unsure about any steps, you can rewind the video or click the chapter headings to jump to the start of a chapter. If you are ready to move on, there are many other courses to explore on Be Connected.