Having Trouble Seeing Your iPhone or iPad Screen? These 5 Features Can Help

Do you ever have trouble viewing the text, images, or other elements on your iPhone or iPad? Do you run into difficulty reading or seeing objects in the real world? If so, your Apple device can help with both issues. Built into your smartphone and tablet are certain features designed to help people with limited vision or related challenges.

Both the iPhone and iPad let you change the text size and modify color settings to make screens more legible. Dark mode paints screens and apps with a darker tint to make them easier to read in low-light conditions. The Zoom tool is a customizable option through which you zoom in on areas of the screen to better see text, images, and navigation elements. The Magnifier tool lets you better see objects up close through your device's camera and can even identify people, objects, and scenes.

1. Switch to Dark Mode

Since 2019, your iPhone and iPad have offered you the ability to switch to a system-wide dark mode, which turns your device's menus and apps from bright white to a darker tone and changes text from black to white. This can often make the screen easier to see and read, especially at night or under low-light conditions. To manually enable Dark Mode, go to Settings > Display & Brightness and tap the icon for Dark.

Alternatively, you can enable and disable dark mode from Control Center. Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen (swipe up from the bottom of the screen on older phones) and tap the Dark Mode button. You can also press down on the Brightness control and turn it on from there. Now when you open certain apps, such as Mail, Music, Calendar, or certain third-party apps, you’ll see that the screen is black and the text is white.

You may like Dark Mode but prefer to use it only under certain conditions, such as during the night in a darker room. If so, just set it to automatically go on and off at specific times. Return to Settings > Display & Brightness and turn on Automatic. Tap Options to set the schedule to go from sunset to sunrise. 

For greater control, select Custom Schedule and choose the hours when you want Dark Mode to turn on and turn off. Go back to the previous screen to review and confirm the times you set for Dark Mode.

2. Change Text Size

If you’re having trouble seeing the text on the screen, you can make it bigger and easier to read. To do this, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size and move the slider to the right to increase the size. You can also enable Bold Text to make all text on your phone bold.

You’re able to see the difference made by your changes by viewing the sample text. But to get the full effect, move through different screens and open various apps. You’ll likely want to play around with the text size until it's just right for your eyes.

3. Tweak the Color Contrast

Another way to make the screen easier on your eyes is by tweaking the color contrast. To review the different options, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. This screen offers switches to change the text size and apply a bold appearance. But you should also check out the additional options available.

Turn on Increase Contrast to enhance the intensity of colors between the foreground and background. The switch for Differentiate Without Color offers alternatives to screen elements that rely only on color, which can help people with different types of color blindness. Options like Smart Invert and Classic Invert make screen items use inverted colors.

Tap the option for Color Filters for additional ways to distinguish various colors, which can help those of you with specific types of color blindness. Turn on the switch for Colors Filters and then choose a filter for the specific colors that you have trouble seeing. You can also increase or decrease the intensity of the filter.

Tone down the intensity of bright colors by using the Reduce White Point switch and slider. And Auto-Brightness changes the brightness of the screen based on your surroundings.

4. Use the Zoom Tool

Can't read the tiny print on the screen? Your device offers a built-in magnifying tool called Zoom. It allows you to get in close on your screen to better see text and images. To enable the feature, go to Settings > Accessibility > Zoom and turn on the switch next to Zoom.

A small window will pop up that zooms in on the portion of the screen on which the window is resting. You can move the Zoom window by dragging the small bar on the bottom of the window. You can also swipe up and down on the screen to change which section is zoomed in.

Turning on the Follow Focus button moves the Zoom window to the text you’re typing and will follow along as you type. Turning on Smart Typing moves the Zoom window when a keyboard pops up so that the text is zoomed in but the keyboard is not.

Tap Zoom Controller and enable Show Controller to display a round on-screen controller that you can use to move the Zoom window around the screen. Tap the controller to display a menu with various options to zoom out, choose the zoom region, resize the zoom lens, choose a filter, or hide the controller.

Select Zoom Out/In to zoom in and out. Tap Choose Region to choose among several zoom options:

• Pinned Zoom: Your zoom window pins to the top, left, right, or bottom of the screen.

• Full Screen Zoom: This makes the Zoom window disappear, while the entire screen is zoomed in instead.

• Window Zoom: You use the Zoom window to zoom in on a small section of the screen as you move it around.

Select Choose Filter to apply a specific color filter to the Zoom window in an attempt to make the text easier to read.

5. Try the Magnifier Tool

Your iPhone or iPad can serve as a magnifier to help you better view the world around you. The built-in Magnifier tool uses the camera to zoom in like a magnifying glass. You can use the Magnifier to better see faraway objects or enlarge items that are closer to you, like text in a book or on a computer screen.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Magnifier app from the Home screen. Alternatively, add it to Control Center if it’s not already there. To do this, go to Settings > Control Center. In the More Controls section, tap the green icon for Magnifier. Then swipe up or down to display Control Center and tap the icon for Magnifier.

Notice that the objects within the view of your camera are magnified in the viewfinder. Using the Magnifier panel, drag the slider or pinch your fingers in and out to zoom in and out of the object. Tap the icon for Brightness and then drag the slider to increase or decrease the brightness. Tap the icon again to turn off the Brightness slider.

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Tap the Filter icon to choose among different filters and find one that improves the clarity of the object. Tap the icon again to turn off the Filter gallery. Tap the Flashlight icon to turn on your device’s flashlight and throw more light onto the object.

To capture an image of the object you’re viewing, press the Shutter button. You can then view any images you capture by tapping the View button. Swipe through the thumbnails of your captured images and tap a specific picture to view it. From here, you can also tap the Share icon to share an image with someone else via an app. Tap End to return to the Magnifier screen.

You can even use the Magnifier to detect and describe people and objects via something called Detection Mode, though you’ll need an iPhone or iPad with the LiDAR Scanner. That means an iPhone 12 Pro or 12 Pro Max or later model, an 11-inch Pad Pro (2nd generation and later), or a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (4th generation and later).

To add Detection Mode to the Magnifier, open Magnifier, tap the Settings button in the lower left, and select Settings from the menu. In the Other Controls section, tap the plus sign for Detection Mode to add it to the secondary controls and then tap Done.

At the Magnifier screen, tap the square brackets icon all the way to the right. Using Detection Mode, the screen offers five different options, displayed as icons on the left:

• People Detection: Identify if there is a person in front of you.

• Door Detection: Determine if there is a door ahead of you.

• Image Description: Describe an object in front of you.

• Text Detection. Reads texts in front of you.

• Point and Speak: Describes what you’re pointing at with your finger.

To control the different detection modes, tap the Settings icon in the upper left. From the Detection Modes screen, tap each of the different modes and choose the options you want. To hear the people and items described, make sure you turn on the switch for Speech for each option. When finished, tap Done.

Back at the Magnifier screen, tap each option and then aim your phone at a person or object to see if the detection works. If so, your iPhone or iPad will display and speak the name or description of the person or object.

Finally, try the option for Point and Speak. Tap the last icon in the column on the Magnifier screen. Point your finger at the text or other item you’d like described, and you should see and hear the description.