Apple Accessibility

Make yours.

Built‑in features designed for you to make something wonderful.

Go big or go bold.

Magnifier

Read the fine print.

It works like a digital magnifying glass, using the camera on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to increase the size of anything you point it at — from a prescription bottle to a candlelit menu. People Detection uses technology that measures how long it takes light to reflect back from objects, helping you do things like better navigate a noisy area or find an empty seat with ease. The LiDAR Scanner in iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, 12.9‑inch iPad Pro (4th generation or later), and 11‑inch iPad Pro (2nd generation or later) can determine a person’s proximity to you, so you can stand or walk at a safe distance from other people around you.

Read the fine print.

Set up Magnifier on:

Go deeper:

Larger Text

Set the text just right.

A

A single setting lets you make text larger and easier to read across apps in iOS — including Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages, Music, Notes, Settings, and some third-party apps. In iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, you can even customize text size settings on an app-by-app basis.

Set the text juuust right.

Set up Larger Text on:

Zoom

Enlarge an area of your screen on the fly. And in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, you can get a picture-in-picture view, allowing you to see the zoomed area in a separate window while keeping the rest of the screen at its native size.

Larger and larger

Set up Zoom on:

Go deeper:

All vision features

Get it done in more ways than one.

AssistiveTouch + Apple Watch

Clench. Clench. Chat.

AssistiveTouch for watchOS enables people with upper-body limb differences to use Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls. Using built-in motion sensors and on-device learning, Apple Watch detects subtle differences in muscle movements and tendon activity, letting you control the display through hand gestures like a pinch or a clench. This feature also works with VoiceOver so you can navigate Apple Watch with one hand while using a cane or leading a service animal. Answer incoming calls, control an onscreen motion pointer, and access Notification Center, Control Center, and more.¹

AssistiveTouch for iOS and iPadOS helps you adapt standard gestures like pinch, rotate, or swipe to make them more comfortable for you. You can make other actions, like changing volume, accessible with just a touch from the AssistiveTouch menu.

Clench. Clench. Chat.

Set up AssistiveTouch on:

Back Tap

Tap-tap here.

Cue
magic
here.

A double or triple tap on the back of your iPhone can be set to trigger all kinds of actions, like opening Control Center, taking a screenshot, or cueing a favorite app. A great way to replace standard Home Screen gestures when they become tricky.²

Set up Back Tap on:

iPhone

Shortcuts

There’s a shortcut
for that.

Shortcuts can make everyday tasks easier and faster, and even help you perform multiple actions at once. Choose from a library of useful shortcuts or create your own custom, multiaction commands. A new Accessibility Assistant Shortcut helps you discover Apple’s built-in accessibility features and offers resources to help you customize them to your specific needs.

There’s a shortcut
for that.

Set up Shortcuts on:

Go deeper:

All mobility features

Hear. There. Everywhere.

Headphone Accommodations

Make a sound decision.

Customize your audio experience with AirPods Pro

Customize your audio experience to your individual hearing needs. With your iPhone or iPad, you can amplify soft sounds or adjust certain frequencies to make media and phone calls sound more crisp and clear through your headphones. Or quickly adjust audio settings with your latest hearing test results imported from a paper or PDF audiogram. Conversation Boost for AirPods Pro helps you stay more connected while talking to people in crowded or noisy environments. Computational audio and beamforming microphones focus AirPods Pro on the voice of the person directly in front of you, making it easier to hear face-to-face conversations.

Make a sound decision.

Set up Headphone Accommodations on:

Made for iPhone hearing aids

Match your levels to your location.

Adjust hearing levels with iPhone Hearing aids

Apple has worked with top manufacturers to create hearing aids and sound processors designed specifically for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Apply your audiologist’s presets without having to rely on additional remotes, or adjust your own levels as you move from quiet environments to louder ones. Support for new bidirectional hearing aids allows those who are deaf or hard of hearing to have hands-free phone and FaceTime conversations.

Match your levels to your location.

Set up Made for iPhone hearing aids on:

Go deeper:

Live Listen

Front‑row sound.

All the way
from the back.

Live Listen can help you hear conversations in loud settings, or amplify someone speaking across the room, by sending audio from iPhone or iPad to supported wireless headphones or Made for iPhone hearing aids.³

Set up Live Listen on:

All hearing features

Create your own
center of attention.

Safari Reader

Be captivated by content, not clutter.

Reduce the visual clutter and strip away ads, buttons, and navigation bars so you can just focus on the content you want. You can choose to use Safari Reader automatically on websites where it’s available.

Be captivated by content, not clutter.

Set up Safari Reader on:

Spoken Content

Turn assigned reading into easy listening.

If you learn or comprehend better when you can hear what you’re reading or writing, features like Speak Screen, Speak Selection, Typing Feedback, and Predictive Text can help by adding an auditory component to text.⁴

Turn assigned reading into easy listening.

Set up Spoken Content on:

Background Sounds

Make your own calm.

Background sounds can minimize everyday sounds that might be distracting, discomforting, or overwhelming. Balanced, bright, or dark noise and ocean, rain, or stream sounds continuously play in the background to help you focus, relax, or rest. Background sounds can also mix into or duck under other audio and system sounds as you use your device.

Make your own calm.

Set up Background Sounds on:

All cognitive features

Screens that speak volumes.

VoiceOver

Puts moments into words.

VoiceOver is an industry-leading screen reader that describes exactly what’s happening on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, or iPod touch, so you can navigate just by listening. You can now explore even more details about the people, text, table data, and other objects within images. Hear receipts or labels read like a table –– by row and column, complete with headers. VoiceOver can also describe a person’s position in relation to objects within images, so you can relive memories in greater detail. Switching between common actions is even easier with the new Quick Settings menu on iPhone and iPad. VoiceOver actions sync automatically across devices, and its volume adjusts when you speak. And in case you accidentally turn on Flashlight, a new alert lets you know it’s on.

Puts moments into words.

Set up VoiceOver on:

Go deeper:

Audio Descriptions

Descriptions that really make a scene.

Watch movies with detailed audio descriptions of everything happening in the scene — from a character’s expression to the mood of the shot. Audio Descriptions are available for all Apple TV+ original content.

Watch See on the Apple TV app

Descriptions that really make a scene.

Set up Audio Descriptions on:

Go deeper:

Speak Selection

This feature speaks for itself.

Choose a specific range of text that you want to hear, and have your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or iPod touch read it to you in over 40 languages and dialects.

This feature speaks for itself.

Set up Speak Selection on:

Go deeper:

Adjust voice and speed for VoiceOver and Speak Screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

All vision features

Works with every move you make.

Voice Control

Let your voice call the shots.

Simple vocal commands let you quickly open and interact with apps using iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. You can also navigate through numbered labels alongside clickable items or by superimposing a grid to precisely select, zoom, and drag. Voice Control is now available in more languages, including Chinese, French, and Japanese.⁵

Let your voice call the shots.

Set up Voice Control on:

Go deeper:

Voice Control white paper (PDF)

Eye-tracking support for iPadOS

Navigate your iPad with only your eyes. iPadOS now supports third‑party eye‑tracking devices.⁶ Compatible devices track where you’re looking onscreen, and the pointer moves to follow your gaze. Extended eye contact performs onscreen actions, like a tap to select.

Move up two lines.Select sentence.CAPITALIZE THAT.

Set up eye-tracking support on:

iPad

Switch Control

Switch it up to get around.

Use a variety of adaptive devices and item, point, and manual scanning to navigate sequentially through onscreen elements and perform specific actions. Switch Control works with accessories like a switch, a joystick, a keyboard space bar, or a trackpad. It now also works with simple mouth sounds like a click, pop, or “ee” sound.

Switch it up to get around.

Set up Switch Control on:

Go deeper:

All mobility features

Must-know is now can’t‑miss.

Sound Recognition

Look down for a heads‑up.

Sound Recognition alert for a Fire Alarm on iPhone.

Receive a visible and vibrating notification when your iPhone or iPad detects a particular type of sound or alert — such as doorbells or a crying baby.⁷

Look down for a heads‑up.

Set up Sound Recognition on:

iPhone
iPad

Sensory Alerts

Get an alert for incoming phone and FaceTime calls, new texts, email messages, and calendar events through vibration on iPhone or a quick LED light flash on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. If you’re on a Mac, it can flash the screen when an app needs your attention.

Notifications. In a flash. Or a vibe.

Set up Sensory Alerts on:

Go deeper:

Tell time with haptic feedback on Apple Watch

FaceTime + Sign Language Prominence

Your conversation, front and center.

Sign language detection in a Group FaceTime call.

If you use sign language, FaceTime is an ideal way to communicate. The high-quality video and fast frame rate help you catch every gesture or expression — and when you join a Group FaceTime call, it will detect your signing to automatically make you prominent.⁸

Your conversation, front and center.

Set up FaceTime on: