BUILT-IN iOS ACCESSIBILITY

OVERVIEW

Apple iOS has numerous built-in accessibility features. Below is an overview of those features.

All built-in accessibility features are already available on Apple mobile devices and can be activated and controlled in device Settings.

Note that this information assumes that the device is running iOS 10 or higher. Apple devices sold by RAZ Mobility have this latest operating system.

This section provides information about built-in features within iOS. To see more info about third-party accessibility applications, click the button below.

BLIND OR LOW VISION

VoiceOver: VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader that lets you enjoy an iPhone or iPad even if you don’t see the screen. Hear a description of everything happening on your screen, from battery level to who’s calling to which app your finger is on. You can also adjust the speaking rate and pitch to suit you.

GET STARTED ON iOS WITH VoiceOver

VoiceOver is the Google screen reader included on iOS devices. VoiceOver gives you spoken feedback so that you can use your device without looking at the screen.

TURN ON voiceover

You can turn on VoiceOver at any time.  Once you turn on VoiceOver, spoken feedback starts immediately.

Option 1: Turn on VoiceOver with Siri

Using Siri is probably the easiest way to turn VoiceOver on or off.  To turn VoiceOver on, simply say, “Siri turn on VoiceOver.”  To turn VoiceOver off, say “Siri turn off VoiceOver.”

Option 2: Turn on VoiceOver later, after initial setup

The steps below require sighted assistance.
To turn on TalkBack, follow these steps:
Settings app>General>Tap on Accessibility>Tap on VoiceOver under the Vision category>Tap the VoiceOver switch to enable it.

Option 3: Triple-click the side button

On iPhone X and later, you can turn VoiceOver on or off by triple-clicking the side button.

  • Set up Accessibility Shortcut: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut, then select the features you use the most.
  • VoiceOver: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Side Button.
  • Use Accessibility Shortcut: Triple-click the side button.

On models with the Home button, you can turn accessibility features on or off by triple-clicking the Home button.

  • Set up Accessibility Shortcut: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut, then select the features you use the most.
  • VoiceOver: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Home Button.
  • Use Accessibility Shortcut: Triple-click the Home button.

Basic navigation

Basic touch exploration
The most direct method of navigation is to lightly drag a finger around on the screen and listen to what it touches. VoiceOver will speak everything you touch.  Also, you may Single-tap anywhere on the screen and your iPhone or iPad will speak aloud the item that you’re tapping on.

Linear navigation

To explore your screen one item at a time, swipe left or right to move through the items in sequence.

USE YOUR HOME SCREEN WITH VOICEOVER

Your Home screen is the screen that’s displayed when you first turn on or unlock your device. You can get to the Home screen at any time by pressing the physical Home Button.  With an iPhone X or above, slide one finger from the bottom of the screen up until the second click. Lift your finger from the screen.  “Clicks” refer to haptic vibrations. 

Here are some tips for navigating your Home screen with VoiceOver:

  • To move between items on the Home screen, swipe left or right. VoiceOver announces where your focus is, then you can double-tap to select.
  • If your device has more than one Home screen, you can move between Home screens with a three-finger swipe left or right. VoiceOver announces what screen you’re on, such as “Page 1 of 3.”

The home screen typically has the following elements:

  • Status bar: Here you can find basic status information, such as notifications, the status of your battery, and connections to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or your mobile network.
  • Apps: Apps are small programs that perform specific tasks, such as check the weather, listen to music, send email, or read books. Apps are opened via icons on your screen. For example, the Weather icon on your home screen opens the Weather app. To discover what apps are on your Home screen, simply move your finger over the screen. To open an app once it has focus, double-tap the screen.  You’re likely to have more than one screenful of apps, and you can move between screens with a three-finger left or right swipe. VoiceOver will announce what page you’re on, such as “Page 1 of 3.” To add an app to your

USE VOICEOVER GESTURES

VoiceOver gestures let you navigate quickly on your iPad or iPhone.
There are two types of gestures in VoiceOver: Flicks and Taps.

Taps

Action

Gesture

Select an item without activating

1 finger; single tap

Pause VoiceOver Speech

2 fingers; single tap

Speak page numbers, rows being displayed, or image description

3 fingers; single tap

Move to first element on the screen 4 Fingers Near Top; single tap
Move to last element on the screen 4 Fingers Near Bottom; single tap
Activate the selected item 1 finger; double tap
Stop or start the current activity
(e.g., hang-up phone call)
2 fingers; double tap
Toggles speech on and off 3 fingers; double tap
Toggles VoiceOver help on or off 4 fingers; double tap
Activate the selected item 1 finger; triple tap
Activate Item Chooser 2 fingers; triple tap
Toggles Screen Curtain on and off 3 fingers; triple tap

Flicks

Action

Flick

Move focus to next or previous item

1 finger; right or left

Move to related content

2 fingers; right

Scroll left or right one page

3 fingers; right or left

Switch to next or previous running app

4 fingers; right or left

Move focus to next or previous item using Rotor setting

1 finger; up or down

Read page starting at selected item 2 finger; down
Scroll up or down one page 3 fingers; up or down
Loads Notification Center 3 Fingers Down when VoiceOver Focus is in the Status Bar
Loads Control Center 3 Fingers Up when VoiceOver Focus is in the Status Bar

Voiceover rotor

The VoiceOver Rotor can best be described as a context-dependent wheel of commands, with only one command in force at any one time. As you spin the wheel, a new command name is spoken and made active.

To use the rotor:

  • With VoiceOver turned on, place two fingers on the screen, separated by an inch or so.
  • Pretend that you are lightly gripping a radio dial, and turn that dial a few degrees by moving your fingers either clockwise or counterclockwise.
  • With each bit of rotation, a new option will appear and be voiced, until you have spun the rotor completely and you are back at the option where you began.

Here are a few of the more popular rotor commands, along with a brief description of how each works.

  • Characters: Review text as you type.  If “Characters” is the active VoiceOver Rotor command, every one-finger swipe up or down will move the focus and speak the very next character in the text.
  • Words: Review text as you type.  If “Words” is selected, swiping up or down will move focus one word forward or backward.
  • Lines: Review lines as you type.  If “Lines” is selected, swiping up or down will move focus and the speak the next or previous line in the text.

Speed: This option allows you to adjust the text-to-speech voice speed quickly and whenever you like.

  • Zoom: You can use VoiceOver and Zoom simultaneously. When you use them together, the Zoom rotor control allows you to more easily enlarge and shrink the screen as needed.
  • Punctuation: Sometimes you want to hear every period, question mark, and quotation mark. Other times you only want to hear the text. Use this control to quickly adjust the amount of punctuation VoiceOver speaks.
  • Keyboard: This option lets you quickly change your keyboard mode from Standard (double tap to enter a character) to Touch (lift your finger to enter a character).

OPEN AND CLOSE APPS WITH VOICEOVER

You can open apps, switch between apps, and show two apps at once with split screen.
Open apps on your device

  • To go to the Home screen, press the physical Home Button.  With an iPhone X or above, slide one finger from the bottom of the screen up until the second click. Lift your finger from the screen. 
  • Navigate to the app that you want to open, then double-tap to open it.

Exit an app

  • To get out of an app, go to the Home screen by pressing the physical Home Button.  With an iPhone X or above, slide one finger from the bottom of the screen up until the second click. Lift your finger from the screen. 

ANSWER AND HANG UP CALLS WITH VOICEOVER

When you receive an incoming call on your iPhone, VoiceOver automatically announces the caller, unless you’ve turned off this option in VoiceOver settings. You can answer or reject the call as follows:

  • Answering or dismissing a call with VoiceOver is easy:  simply double tap the screen with two fingers. 
  • If you have difficulty answering calls with a two-finger double tap, you can get you iPhone to do so automatically.  You can even set the time your iOS device waits before automatically answering the call.  To configure this setting, go to: Settings> General> Accessibility> Call Audio Routing> Auto Answer Calls. This feature also appears to function with third party apps such as Skype, WhatsApp and Facebook.

USE VOICEOVER TO BROWSE THE WEB WITH SAFARI

You can get spoken feedback using VoiceOver in the Safari browser
Search the web
Select the search field, double-tap to invoke the keyboard and enter your search. Then double-tap the screen to search the web using the selected phrase.
Skip to the next page element of a particular type
Set the rotor to the element type—such as headings, links, and form controls—then swipe up or down.
Set the rotor options for web browsing
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor. Tap to select or deselect options, or drag up or down to reposition an item.
Skip images while navigating.
Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Navigate Images. You can choose to skip all images or only those without descriptions.
Reduce page clutter for easier reading and navigation
Select the Reader item in the Safari address field (not available for all pages).

USING THE ONSCREEN KEYBOARD

Enter text with the onscreen keyboard

  • Select a text field, then double-tap. The insertion point and the onscreen keyboard appear.

Enter text using one of the following methods:

    • Standard typing (default): Select a key on the keyboard by swiping left or right, then double-tap to enter the character. Or move your finger around the keyboard to select a key and, while continuing to touch the key with one finger, tap the screen with another finger. VoiceOver speaks the key when it’s selected, and again when the character is entered.
    • Touch typing: Touch a key on the keyboard to select it, then lift your finger to enter the character. If you touch the wrong key, slide your finger to the key you want. VoiceOver speaks the character for each key as you touch it, but doesn’t enter a character until you lift your finger.
    • Direct Touch typing: VoiceOver is disabled for the keyboard only, so you can type just as you do when VoiceOver is off.
    • Dictation: Use a two-finger double-tap on the keyboard to start and stop dictation.

Edit text with the onscreen keyboard

  • Move the insertion point: Swipe up or down to move the insertion point forward or backward in the text. Use the rotor to choose whether you want to move the insertion point by character, by word, or by line. To jump to the beginning or end, double-tap the text.

VoiceOver makes a sound when the insertion point moves, and speaks the character, word, or line that the insertion point moves across. When moving forward by words, the insertion point is placed at the end of each word, before the space or punctuation that follows. When moving backward, the insertion point is placed at the end of the preceding word, before the space or punctuation that follows it.

  • Move the insertion point past the punctuation at the end of a word or sentence: Use the rotor to switch back to character mode.

When moving the insertion point by line, VoiceOver speaks each line as you move across it. When moving forward, the insertion point is placed at the beginning of the next line (except when you reach the last line of a paragraph, when the insertion point is moved to the end of the line just spoken). When moving backward, the insertion point is placed at the beginning of the line that’s spoken.

  • Delete a character: Use the Delete key.
  • Select text: Use one of the following methods.
    • Set the rotor to Text Selection, swipe up or down to choose Character, Word, Line, or Sentence, then swipe left or right to move backward or forward.
    • Set the rotor to Edit, swipe up or down to choose Select or Select All, then double-tap. If you choose Select, the word closest to the insertion point is selected when you double-tap. To increase or decrease the selection, do a two-finger scrub to dismiss the pop-up menu, then pinch.
  • Cut, copy, or paste: Set the rotor to Edit, select the text, swipe up or down to choose Cut, Copy, or Paste, then double-tap.
  • Fix misspelled words: Set the rotor to Misspelled Words, then swipe up or down to jump to the previous or next misspelled word. Swipe left or right to choose a suggested replacement, then double-tap to use the replacement.
  • Undo: Shake iPhone, swipe left or right to choose the action to undo, then double-tap.

Change the keyboard settings

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver.
  • Tap any of the following:
    • Typing Style: You can choose a new style. Or, set the rotor to Typing Mode, then swipe up or down.
    • Phonetic Feedback: Speak text character by character. VoiceOver first speaks the character, then its phonetic equivalent—for example, “f” and then “foxtrot.
    • Typing Feedback: Choose to speak characters, words, both, or nothing.
    • Rotor: Select the settings you want to include in the rotor.
    • Speech: Tap Add New Language (below Rotor Languages), then choose a language.
    • Verbosity: Tap Deleting Text. To have VoiceOver speak deleted characters in a lower pitch, tap Change Pitch.

You can adjust the look, feel, and functionality of your device so that it suits your needs and preferences. This page describes several settings that can improve your experience using VoiceOver.

write with your finger using VoiceOver

With Handwriting mode, you can enter text by writing characters on the screen with your finger. In addition to normal text entry, use handwriting mode to enter your iPhone passcode silently or to open apps from the Home screen.

Use handwriting mode

  • Set the rotor to Handwriting.
  • If Handwriting isn’t in the rotor, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Rotor, then add it.
  • To choose a character type (lowercase, numbers, uppercase, or punctuation), swipe up or down with three fingers.
  • To hear the selected character type, tap with three fingers.
  • Trace a character on the screen with your finger.
  • You can also do any of the following:
  • Enter an alternate character (a character with an accent, for example): Write the character, then swipe up or down with two fingers until you hear the type of character you want.
  • Enter a space: Swipe right with two fingers.
  • Go to a new line: Swipe right with three fingers.
  • Delete the previous character: Swipe left with two fingers.
  • To exit handwriting mode, do a two-finger scrub, or set the rotor to a different setting.

Enter your passcode silently with handwriting mode

    • On the passcode screen, set the rotor to Handwriting.
    • Write the characters of your passcode with your finger.

Select an item on the Home screen

    • On the Home screen, set the rotor to Handwriting.
    • Start writing the name of the item with your finger.
    • If there are multiple matches, continue to spell the name until it’s unique, or swipe up or down with two fingers to choose from the current matches.

Quickly navigate a long list

  • Select the index to the right of the list (for example, next to your Contacts list or in the VoiceOver Item Chooser).
  • Set the rotor to Handwriting, then use your finger to write the letter you want to navigate to.

change your VoiceOver settings

You can customize the settings for VoiceOver, such as the audio options, language, voice, speaking rate, and verbosity.

Adjust the VoiceOver volume and other audio options

  • To increase or decrease the volume, press the volume buttons on iPhone.
  • To set other audio options, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Audio, then do any of the following:
    • Turn on Mute Sound Effects.
    • Turn on Audio Ducking to temporarily reduce playback volume when VoiceOver speaks.
    • Adjust audio routing options when you connect additional devices, such as an instrument amplifier or a DJ mixer.

Set the VoiceOver language

VoiceOver uses the same language you choose for your iPhone or iPad.

  • Go to Settings > General > Language & Region.
  • Tap iPhone Language, then choose a language.

Adjust the speaking voice

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then do any of the following:
  • Adjust the speaking rate: Drag the Speaking Rate slider.
  • Choose a voice: Tap Speech, then choose a voice. To download an enhanced voice, tap the download button.
  • Adjust the pitch: Tap Speech, then drag the slider. You can also turn on Use Pitch Change to have VoiceOver use a higher pitch when speaking the first item of a group (such as a list or table) and a lower pitch when speaking the last item of a group.
  • Specify the pronunciation of certain words: Tap Speech, tap Pronunciations, tap the Add button” width=”43″ height=”40″ border=”0″ />, enter a phrase, then dictate or spell out how you want the phrase to be pronounced.

Note: You can dictate only if you’ve turned on Enable Dictation in Settings > General > Keyboards.

Set how much VoiceOver tells you

Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver, then do any of the following:

  • Adjust the level of detail: Tap Verbosity, then choose options to have VoiceOver speak hints, punctuation, uppercase letters, embedded links, and more. VoiceOver can even confirm rotor actions.
  • Enable spoken notifications: Turn on Always Speak Notifications to have VoiceOver read notifications, including incoming text messages as they occur, even if iPhone is locked. Unacknowledged notifications are repeated when you unlock iPhone.

Display a larger VoiceOver cursor

The VoiceOver cursor is the black outline around the selected item. If you have trouble seeing the cursor, you can enlarge and thicken the outline.

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver.
  • Turn on Large Cursor.

Speak Screen: If you have a hard time reading the text on your iPad or iPhone, use Speak Screen to read your email, iMessages, web pages, and books. Turn on Speak Screen and swipe down from the top of the screen with two fingers, or just tell Siri to Speak Screen and have all the content on the page read back to you.

Speak Screen will read everything on the display of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, including menu items, contacts, articles, web pages, notifications, messages, and much more.

Enabling Speak Screen

Before you can use the Speak Screen ability, you will need to enable it. This feature requires a modern version of iOS for iPhone or iPad:

  • Open the ‘Settings’ app > General > “Accessibility”.
  • Go to the “Speech” section and flip the switch for “Speak Screen” to the ON position.
  • Optionally, adjust the speaking rate
  • Exit out of Settings now that the feature is enabled

Using Speak Screen

There are a few ways to activate Speak Screen once it has been enabled.

  • You can swipe down from the very top of the screen with two fingersThis immediately triggers the speech function which will read aloud whatever is on the display, and it also brings about the speech controls which allow you to skip, rewind, speed up, slow down, and pause the speech.
  • Use the on-screen activation button, which will remain on the display as long as Speak Screen is enabled, and as long as the button controls have not been closed.  Simply tap the little Speak Screen activation button to open the speech control buttons, then tap on the Play arrow button to begin speaking the screen aloud.
  • Ask Siri to “Speak Screen.”

Large Dynamic Type: When you activate Larger Dynamic Type, the text inside a wide range of apps, including Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Messages, Music, Notes, and Settings, and even some third-party apps, is converted to a larger, easier-to-read size. Apps adapt to accommodate larger font sizes so text remains legible and clear as it grows. And you can choose bold text to make the text heavier across a range of built-in applications.

Learn More About Large Dynamic Type

Increase Text Size

  • Open the Settings app on your iOS device > Tap General > Tap Accessibility > Tap Larger Text.
  • Toggle the switch Larger Accessibility Sizes to reveal bigger font options.
  • Now drag the slider to select the font size you want.

Increase Screen Contrast

  • Open the Settings app on your iOS device > Tap General > Tap Accessibility > Tap Increase Contrast from under the VISION category.

This opens the Increase Contrast window. From here you can manage the contrast related settings.

  • Tap the Reduce Transparency toggle button. This reduces the transparency level of the objects’ background of your device to the optimal level, thus making them more clearly visible to the viewers. Optionally you can also enable the Darken Colors toggle button to further improve the visibility.

Zoom: Zoom is a built-in screen magnifier that works wherever you are in iOS. And it works with all apps from the App Store. Turn Zoom on for full-screen or 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. You can adjust the magnification between 100 and 1500 percent and access multiple filter options in either view.

Learn More About Zoom

Zoom is a built-in screen magnifier that works wherever you are in iOS.  Here is how to use it:

  • Launch the Settings app from your Home screen > Tap on General > Tap on Accessibility > Tap Zoom under the Vision section > Tap the switch to turn on Zoom.

Once you’ve got Zoom enabled, you can use it on the fly. Here’s how to use it:

  • Double tap with three fingers anywhere on the screen to enable and disable zoom. You can do this from pretty much anywhere.
  • Drag three fingers around the screen to pan around and move to another area of the screen.
  • Use one or two fingers to scroll in the particular section that is on the screen.
  • Tap and hold the anchor to drag the magnifying glass up and down the screen.

Magnifier: Magnifier works like a digital magnifying glass. It uses the camera on your iPad or iPhone to increase the size of anything you point it at, so you can see the details more clearly. Use the flash to light the object, adjust filters to help you differentiate colors, or snap a photo to get a static close-up.

Learn More About Magnifier

The Magnifier is a visual accessibility feature that essentially turns your iPhone or iPad into a magnifying glass.

  • Launch the Settings app from your Home screen > Tap on General > Tap on Accessibility > Choose Magnifier > Toggle the option for Magnifier to “on.”

Once you’ve got Magnifyer enabled, this is how to use it:

  • If you’re on using iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Plus or iPhone XR, just triple tap the button on the right side of the phone. If you have an older iPhone, tap the home button three times to bring up the magnifying app.  Use the slider to zoom in or out of text. Tap on the screen to focus, much like you would with the camera app.  Tap the lock button to lock the focus in place, or use the filter button (the one on the bottom right) to apply various filters that might make it easier for you to read. Finally, tap the center button to capture a picture.

Display Accommodations: iOS lets you invert colors, reduce white point, enable grayscale, or choose from a range of color filters to support different forms of color blindness or other vision challenges. You can select a common preset or fine-tune the color tint and hue to customize a display setting that works for you. With the Smart Invert Colors setting, iOS automatically recognizes when a piece of media is using a dark color style, so you can reverse the colors of the display without affecting the look of images, videos, and certain apps. And once you set your filters, the settings apply to everything that appears on your iPad or iPhone.

Learn More About Display Accommodations

Turn on Invert Colors

If you benefit from viewing items against a dark background, you can use Invert Colors to change how content is displayed on your screen. Smart Invert reverses the colors on the display, except for images, media, and some apps that use dark color styles. Classic Invert reverses all colors on the display.

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Invert Colors.

Turn on Color Filters
If you have color blindness or other vision challenges, you can use Color Filters to help you differentiate between colors. Color Filters can change the look of things, like pictures and movies, so you may want to use it only when needed.
You can turn on Color Filters from the Settings app.

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Select Color Filters.

When you turn on Color Filters, there are four preset filters to choose from:

  • Grayscale
  • Red/Green for Protanopia
  • Green/Red for Deuteranopia
  • Blue/Yellow for Tritanopia
  • To assist you, you’ll see three examples of color spaces to help you select an option that fits your needs. Swipe left or right on these examples to find a filter that works best for you.

Adjust color intensity

You can adjust the intensity of any of the Color Filters to fit your needs.

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations and adjust the Intensity slider to customize a filter that’s more intense or less intense.

Adjust Color Tint

If you have color or light sensitivity, you can change the Color Tint of your display. This will allow you to change the hue of the entire display on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

  • Launch Settings from your Home screen > Tap General > Tap Accessibility > Tap Display Accommodations > Tap Color Filters > Tap the switch next to Color Filters to turn them on > Tap Color Tint > Tap and drag the Hue slider at the bottom until the tint is what you need > Tap and drag the Intensity slider until the intensity is where you need it to be.

Siri: Siri helps you with the things you do every day. Siri can send messages, place phone calls, schedule meetings, and even turn on and off VoiceOver, Guided Access, and Invert Colors. And because Siri is integrated with VoiceOver, you can ask where the nearest sushi restaurant is and hear the answer read out loud. With Siri Shortcuts, you can now cue custom, multi-action commands by voicing a preferred phrase. If you’re commuting home, for example, say “Heading Home” to get directions, bring up a favorite podcast, and adjust your thermostat — without having to go into each individual app.

Learn More About Siri

Allows the user to perform many tasks by voice. Tasks include making phone calls, reading, composing and sending emails and text messages, controlling smart home appliances, opening applications, getting basic information such as time, date and weather, performing Google searches, having the news read, playing music, creating shopping lists, viewing and creating reminders, adding items to your calendar, setting alarms, doing math, looking at photos setting a kitchen timer, translating language, converting measurements and currencies and more.

Communication

Through simple voice commands, people can send text messages or emails, speak incoming messages or emails, place phone calls or obtain contact information.

Organize Day

Create a schedule, reminders or to do list, set an alarm and ask Assistant to remind you of various items.

Control Smart Home Applications

Control your lights, temperature, music and appliances in your home.

Obtain Information

Use Siri to obtain an almost limitless amount of information, such as health information, the weather, traffic conditions, local entertainment and more.

MOBILITY

Switch Control: Built directly into iOS, Switch Control is a powerful accessibility technology for anyone with extensive physical motor limitations. Switch Control allows you to navigate sequentially through onscreen items and perform specific actions using a variety of Bluetooth-enabled switch hardware. It also has features like expanded word prediction and a media playback menu to make it easier to use. And Switch Control is customizable for both beginners and advanced users — you can simplify existing actions or create your own.

Learn More About Switch Control

Before you add an external switch, you need to connect it to your device before it will show in the list of switches. You can use any of these options as a> switch:

  • External: Choose a Bluetooth> switch or Made for iPhone switch.
  • Screen: Tap the screen to use a> switch or press and hold.
  • Camera: Move your head to use> the iPhone front-facing> camera as a switch. You can use the camera as two switches: One when you move your head to the left, and the other when you move your head to the> right.

Add a switch and choose its action:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch> Control > Switches > Tap Add New Switch and choose a> source.>
  • Follow the onscreen steps to choose how you want the switch to> work.
  • Remember to turn on Switch Control, so you can use your new> switch.>

Turn Switch Control on or off

Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch> Control and turn the setting on or off.> You can also triple-click the Home> button or the Side button on certain models at any time to exit Switch> Control.

Use Switch Control

  • There are three ways to select items on the screen: Item scanning, point scanning, and manual selection. Item scanning is the default when you turn on Switch Control.
  • After you select an item, a menu appears that lets you choose an> action.>

Use item scanning

Item scanning highlights items or groups on the screen one at a time. Here’s how to use item scanning:

  • To select an item or a group, watch (or listen) as items are highlighted. While an item is highlighted, choose it with the switch that you set up as your Select Item switch. When you select a group, highlighting continues with the items in the group.>
  • To exit a group, use> your switch when the dashed highlight around the group or item appears.

Use point scanning

Point scanning lets you select an item on the screen by pinpointing it with scanning crosshairs. To turn on point> scanning:

  • Use item scanning to select an item.>
  • Wait for the menu to appear.
  • Select Point Mode. The wide vertical crosshairs appear when you close the menu.

To select an item with point scanning:>

  • Use your select switch to stop the wide vertical crosshairs. The fine vertical crosshair appears.
  • Use your select switch again to stop the fine vertical crosshair. The fine scanning line will appear next.
  • Repeat to stop and refine the vertical> crosshairs.>

To turn off point scanning:>

  • Use point scanning to select an item.>
  • Wait for the menu to appear.>
  • Select Item Mode.

Use manual scanning

If you use multiple switches, you can set up each switch to perform a specific action and customize how you select items. For example, instead of automatically scanning items, you can set up switches to move to the next or previous item on demand. If you just have one switch, keep using Auto> Scanning.>
To use manual scanning:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control.
  • Tap Scanning Style, then select Manual> Scanning.

Choose an action after you select an item

After you select an item with your switch, the possible actions for that item appear in a new menu. Select the dots at the bottom of the menu> to see more> options.>
You can tap an item three different ways:

  • Choose Tap from the menu that appears when you select the item.
  • Turn on Auto Tap at Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control > Tap Behavior > Auto Tap. After you turn on Auto Tap, you can select an item and wait for the Auto Tap interval to finish.>
  • Set up a switch to perform the tap gesture at Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control > Switches.

To select a gesture, select the gesture or action from the menu that appears when you select the item. If you turned on Auto Tap, use your switch within the Auto Tap interval, then select the gesture. If more than one page of actions is available, select the dots at the bottom of the menu to go to another page.

To scroll, Select any item on the screen, then choose Scroll from the menu.

Press a button or flip a switch

Select any item, select the dots at the bottom of the menu, then select Device from the menu that appears. You can use the menu to mimic these actions:

  • Click the Home button.
  • Double-click the Home button for multitasking.
  • Open Notification Center or Control Center.
  • Press the Sleep/Wake button to lock the device.
  • Rotate the device.
  • Flip the Mute switch.
  • Press the volume buttons.
  • Hold down the Home button to open Siri.
  • Triple-click the Home button.
  • Shake the device.
  • Press Home and Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously to take a screenshot.

Change your settings and adjust how each switch works

To change your settings,> go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control. Then make your changes:

  • Add switches and specify their function.
  • Choose, create, and edit recipes.
  • Choose a scanning style.
  • Adjust how rapidly items are scanned.
  • Turn off auto scanning (only if you’ve added a Move to Next Item switch).
  • Set scanning to pause on the first item in a group.
  • Choose how many times to cycle through the screen before hiding Switch Control.
  • Choose a tap behavior and set the interval for performing a second switch action to show the control menu.
  • Choose whether Switch Control resumes scanning at an item you tap or from the beginning.
  • Set whether a movement action is repeated when you press and hold a switch, and how long to wait before repeating.
  • Add another action to a switch by pressing and holding the switch for a long duration.
  • Choose which items appear in menus and the order in which they appear.
  • Set whether and how long you need to hold a switch down before it’s accepted as a switch action.
  • Have Switch Control ignore accidental repeated switch triggers.
  • Adjust the point scanning speed.
  • Turn on sound effects or have items read aloud as they are scanned.
  • Choose what to include in the Switch Control menu.
  • Set whether items should be grouped while item scanning.
  • Make the selection cursor larger or a different color.
  • Save custom gestures to the control menu (in Gestures > Saved).

Fine tune Switch Control

Choose Settings from the control menu to:

  • Adjust scanning speed
  • Change the location of the control menu
  • Turn sound or speech accompaniment on or off
  • Turn off groups to scan items one at a time

AssistiveTouch: The iPad and iPhone are remarkably intuitive and easy to use. AssistiveTouch lets you adapt the Multi-Touch screen to your physical needs. So if you need to change some gestures, like pinch, you can make them accessible with just a tap of a finger. You can create your own gestures and even customize the layout of the AssistiveTouch menu. And if you want an alternative to pressing the Home button, you can activate it with an onscreen tap. Gestures like rotate and shake are available even when your iPad is mounted on a wheelchair. And iOS devices support a number of third-party assistive devices that help you interact with your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Learn More About AssistiveTouch

With AssistiveTouch enabled, you’ll be able to perform actions like pinching to zoom or 3D Touch with just a tap instead.
How to enable AssistiveTouch
Launch> Settings> from your Home screen > Tap> General > Tap> Accessibility > Tap> AssistiveTouch > Tap the> switch> next to> AssistiveTouch> to enable it.

How to use AssistiveTouch

Tap the> AssistiveTouch> shortcut on any screen.
Tap an> option:

  • Notification Center: Brings up Notification Center so you don’t have to swipe down from the top.
  • Device: Allows you to perform various functions, like locking the screen, changing the volume, rotating the screen, and more.
  • Control Center: Brings up Control Center instead of having to swipe up from the bottom.
  • Home: Brings you to the Home screen without having to press the Home button.
  • Siri: Activates Siri
  • Custom: Allows you to perform and add custom gestures, like zooming.

How to add custom gestures to AssistiveTouch

  • Launch> Settings> from your Home screen > Tap> General > Tap> Accessibility > Tap> AssistiveTouch > Tap> Create New Gesture… >Tap or swipe to create a new gesture. A series of taps or swipe will be combined into one multi-touch gesture > Tap> Stop> in the bottom right corner when you’ve finished your gesture > Tap> Play> to preview your gesture,> Record> to re-record it, or> Save> in the top right corner to save it > Type in a> name> for your gesture > Tap> Save.
  • Your custom gesture will now be available to you under> Custom> in the AssistiveTouch menu. You can also add custom gestures by tapping> Custom> in the AssistiveTouch menu and tapping one of the> add buttons.

How to customize the Top Level menu for AssistiveTouch

Launch> Settings> from your Home screen > Tap> General > Tap> Accessibility > Tap> AssistiveTouch > Tap> Customize Top Level Menu… > Tap one of the> add buttons> or tap an> existing icon > Tap a> function> or> action > Tap> Done> in the top right corner > Tap the> plus and minus buttons> on the bottom right to add or subtract buttons > You can have as many as eight icons and as few as one.

Touch Accommodations  With Touch Accommodations you can adjust how the screen responds to your touch. Control how long you touch before it’s recognized or whether repeat touches are ignored. You can put your finger down anywhere on the screen and move to the item you want without mistakenly performing an action.

Learn More About Touch Accommodations

Touch Accommodations includes three features. To use them:

  • First go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations and turn on Touch Accommodations.

If you want your device to respond only to touches of a certain duration
You can set your device to respond to touches only after holding your finger on the screen for a certain period of time, called the hold duration.
Here’s how to start using Hold Duration:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations. 
  • Turn on Hold Duration.
  • Tap the – and + buttons to change the time.

If you want your device to ignore multiple touches

This feature could be helpful if you have tremors.  If you have trouble touching the screen once—you touch the screen several times quickly—turn on Ignore Repeat. Then, if you touch the screen several times quickly, your device will treat them as one. You can change the amount of time that your device will treat several touches as one.
Here’s how to start using Ignore Repeat:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations. 
  • Turn on Ignore Repeat.
  • Tap the – and + buttons to change the time.

If you want your device to respond to the first or the last place you touch

If you touch the screen at the place you want, but your finger drags to a different place before you can make a selection, turn on Tap Assistance with Use Initial Touch Location. 
If you have trouble touching the screen at the place you want, but you can move to it by dragging from another place, turn on Tap Assistance with Use Final Touch Location.
Here’s how to start using Tap Assistance:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Touch Accommodations. 
  • Tap Use Initial Touch Location or Use Final Touch Location. 

With Tap Assistance, your device responds to a tap when you lift your finger within a certain period of time, called the gesture delay. Your device can respond to other gestures, like drags, if you wait longer than the gesture delay.
Tap the – and + buttons to change the gesture delay.

Siri: Siri helps you with the things you do every day. All you have to do is ask. Say something like “Tell Lucy I’m running late” or “Remind me to make reservations for Saturday.” And now with Siri Shortcuts, you can cue custom, multi-action commands by voicing a preferred phrase. If you’re leaving work, you could say “Heading Home” to simultaneously alert a family member, get directions in Maps, and adjust your thermostat. Siri is also integrated with Switch Control, so you can use it even when “Hey Siri” isn’t active.

DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING

Made for iPhone and iPad Hearing Aids: Apple has worked with top manufacturers to create hearing aids and sound processors designed specifically for iPhone and iPad. These advanced hearing devices provide outstanding sound quality, offer many helpful features, and are as easy to set up and use as any other Bluetooth device. You can quickly access the features and settings of your paired hearing device by triple-clicking the Home button. Glance at the battery status or change the left and right volume, together or separately. And quickly apply your audiologist’s environmental presets as you go outdoors or enter noisy locations, like restaurants, without having to rely on additional remotes.

Lean More About Made for iPhone and iPad Hearing Aids

Pair and connect

When you pair a Made for iPhone hearing aid to your iOS device, audio from your iOS device goes to your hearing aid. If you turn off your hearing aid, you need to reconnect it when you want to use it with your iOS device again.
To pair your hearing aid, follow these steps:

  • Open your hearing aid’s battery doors.
  • On your iOS device, tap Settings > General > Accessibility > Hearing > MFi Hearing Devices.
  • If Bluetooth is off, turn it on under Devices.
  • Close your hearing aid’s battery doors. Your iOS device will search for your hearing aid.
  • Under Devices, tap the name of your hearing aid.
  • Tap Pair when you see the pairing request on the screen. If you have two hearing aids, you’ll get two requests. Pairing could take up to a minute.

You can start using your hearing aid when you see it under Devices with a check mark. Control on Lock Screen will be on. Leave it on to control your hearing aid from the Lock screen.

Control your MFi hearing aid

You can use your iOS device to see your hearing aid’s battery life, adjust the volume, turn on Live Listen, and more. To control your hearing aid, use Settings or the Accessibility Shortcut.

  • Set preferences for features that you control with your iOS device by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Hearing. Then tap MFi Hearing Devices.
  • You can play ringtones through connected hearing devices.
  • Choose the default device for audio playback.
  • Use your iOS device to adjust the settings of hearing aids that are on the same WiFi network and connected to your iCloud account.
  • Continue listening to media through your hearing aid when you switch between your iOS devices. For example, if your hearing aid is connected to your iPhone but you start watching a movie on your iPad, the hearing aid automatically switches to the iPad.
  • Quickly make preset and volume adjustments on your hearing aid right from the Lock Screen on your iOS device. Just triple click the Home button.

Captions: Watch movies, TV shows, and podcasts with closed captions. Just look for the CC icon to buy or rent captioned movies from the iTunes Store or find captioned podcasts in iTunes U. Download straight to your iPad to watch on the go. iOS also supports open captions and subtitles. You can even customize captions with different styles and fonts, including styles that are larger and outlined for better legibility. For those who are deaf-blind, iPad or iPhone lets VoiceOver users access closed caption and subtitle tracks through their braille displays.

Mono Audio: When you’re using headphones, you may miss some audio if you’re hard of hearing or deaf in one ear. That’s because stereo recordings usually have distinct left- and right-channel audio tracks. iOS can help by playing both audio channels in both ears, and letting you adjust the balance for greater volume in either ear, so you won’t miss a single note of a concerto or word of an audiobook.

Learn More About Mono Audio

You can adjust the audio volume balance between the left and right channels. You can use Mono Audio to combine the left and right channels into a mono signal played on both channels. This way you can hear everything with either ear, or through both ears with one channel set louder.

In order to use mono audio:

  • Go to Settings > General > Accessibility.
  • To combine the left and right channels, turn on Mono Audio.

Vibrate: The phone will vibrate for incoming calls, alarms and notifications.