5 iPhone Accessibility Features Everyone Should Use

Apple is emphasizing the accessibility features on iPhones, iPads, and Macs in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The company’s homepage states, “Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone,” and links to a page that lists various features across different Apple devices.

Apple developed a slew of features to help differently-abled people use their iPhones. Five of the features will be helpful for almost every iPhone user.

Zoom Filters Will Dim Your Screen In Low Light

When looking at your phone at night, even setting the screen’s brightness as low as possible can still create a bright light. The iPhone and iPad have zoom settings that are useful for those with eyesight issues. The zoom setting also includes filters like grayscale, inverted colors, inverted and grayscale, and low light. The low-light filter will set the screen’s brightness and can make it go lower than using the general brightness setting.

If you don’t need the increased zoom, it’s possible to use the setting on the entire screen and eliminate the zoom aspect using just the filters. Like many of Apple’s accessibility features, this can be set to a shortcut. This either works by pressing the home button three times or the side button, if your model doesn’t have a home button.

AirPods Can Give You Super Hearing

Some of Apple’s features work across devices. With Live Listen, you can use AirPods not just as headphones with an iPhone, but also as a hearing hearing device. AirPods aren’t a replacement for hearing aids, but they can pick up nearby sounds using the microphone to amplify conversations over any music or television playing.

There can be a slight delay in sounds coming through the AirPods, but the feature can serve as a useful addition to the AirPods’ use. The setting can be accessed by adding the hearing button to the control center.

Guided Access Stops Others Snooping

If you’ve ever watched in agony as someone begins swiping through your phone after you’ve handed it over to them to show just one image, this feature is for you. Guided access can lock certain parts of the phone so you can determine how much control someone else gets. The side and volume buttons can be locked, along with the keyboard and motion control. You can also lock parts of the screen, like a button for settings or other features, while the rest of the screen remains usable.

Reachability Makes It Easy to Use a Large Screen

As iPhones and iPads have grown over the years, it’s gotten more challenging for many people to easily reach all parts of the touch screen. Reachability can lower the top half of the screen to remedy this. Lightly tapping the home button without pressing will lower the top half of the screen, while swiping down on the bottom edge of the screen does the same for phones without a home button.

AssistiveTouch Makes Touch Screen Controls Easier to Access

There are many controls that can be accessed using just the touch screen, including pinch to zoom, 3D touch, and navigation between screens. However, it might not always be the easiest to access from all angles or with one hand. That’s where AssistiveTouch comes in. The feature makes it possible to change the location of a menu that provides access to the control center, notifications, and settings. The menu will help you rotate the screen, change the volume, mute, and unmute. AssistiveTouch also lets you simulate using two, three, or five fingers on the screen at once while only using one.

In addition to the wide array of settings it already offers, you can make your own custom gestures to fit your needs.