This is a short guide designed to give you a quick overview of the different accessibility features on iOS devices such as iPad and iPhones. All These settings can be customised by opening Settings then going to Accessibility.
Section 1 Screen Enhancements
These settings can be found at display text size in the Accessibility menu.
Large Text / Dynamic Text
This can be adjusted to increase the size of the text on apps that support this feature.
This will make the default font for the device Bold which will help to increase font visibility.
This will invert the colours of the screen so white will become black and vice versa. This can make the text on the screen easer to see for some eye conditions
This gives you some options to get the device to read back text without using the full VoiceOver. An especially useful option is the speak screen which will read the full screen by Swiping Down from the top of the screen with Two Fingers. You will find the settings for speech at spoken content in the accessibility menu.
Voice control is a new accessibility feature. It allows you to control your IOS device by using your voice. You will find voice control in the accessibility menu.
Section 2. Zoom.
Zoom is an accessibility feature that allows you to magnify the screen and navigate around it. It Can Be turned on by going to the Accessibility menu and selecting zoom. There are two modes that can be used with zoom Full screen and Window. We would recommend using Full screen. Once the zoom function is turned on it can be used universally on any app.
Double Tap with Three Fingers
This will turn zoom on and off. It will automatically start at the last zoom level.
Hold Three Fingers on screen and move them around.
This will allow you to navigate around the app or screen. The faster you move your fingers the faster the screen will move.
Double Tap with Three Fingers and hold the Second Tap.
This will allow you to adjust the level of the magnification on the Screen. Hold the second tap and move your fingers to the top of the screen will increase the zoom and moving your fingers to the bottom of the screen will decrease the zoom.
When using zoom the screen will automatically zoom into the area of the screen where the gesture was performed.
The accessibility shortcut is a feature which allows you to quickly turn on and off selected accessibility features. Once enabled you can activate the shortcut by either pressing the home button three times or power button for devices that do not have a home button. You will find the accessibility shortcut at the bottom of the accessibility menu.
All iOS devices running iOS 10 or higher have an e-magnifier built into them. To turn on the magnifier go to accessibility and then magnifier. As of IOS fourteen the magnifier is now a native app.
To start the magnifier Triple Tap the Home Button to activate the accessibility shortcut. If no other accessibility options have been assigned to this shortcut the magnifier will start automatically, otherwise select magnifier from the list.
One Finger Hold and Slide to top of screen.
This will increase the magnification. This can be increased up to 15 times magnification.
One Finger Hold and Slide to bottom of screen
This will decrease the magnification.
Single Tap the screen with One Finger
This will readjust the focus and clear the image up.
You can freeze frame an image by pressing the white button located above the Home Key. When the image is frozen you can use a pinch in and out to adjust the magnification.
You can also apply a real time filter to change the colour of the text and paper there are several options to choose from.
Back tap is a new IOS fourteen accessibility feature. Back tap allows you an additional two gestures to use by either double or triple tapping the back of your device. Back tap can be found at the bottom of touch in the accessibility menu.
Section Four. VoiceOver.
All iOS Devices have a Screen Reader built into them called Voice Over. VoiceOver will read out all the information on the screen back to you. It can be turned on by going into the accessibility menu and turning it on. There are many different gestures and functions that can be used on voiceover but we will only focus on the basic one for this section.
One Finger Flick Right.
This will move the VoiceOver focus forward one item.
One Finger Flick Left.
This will move the VoiceOver focus back one item.
One Finger Double Tap.
This will activate the item in the VoiceOver focus.
Two Finger Single Tap.
This will pause the VoiceOver speech.
Two Finger Double Tap.
This will start and stop any media playback. On an iPhone this will also answer and reject a phone call.
Three Finger Flick Right.
This will move back to the previous page.
Three Finger Flick Left.
This will move forward to the next page.
Three Fingers Flick Up.
This will move up a page in menus and on the internet.
Three Fingers Flick Down.
This will move down a page in menus and on the internet.
Three Fingers Double Tap.
This will turn the speech off and on. If zoom is enabled, this will be a Three finger Triple Tap.
Three Fingers Triple Tap.
This will turn on and off the screen curtain. This turns the screen off. If Zoom is enabled this will be a Three Finger Quadruple Tap.
Other Voiceover Features.
Commands is a new feature that has been added to voiceover. Commands gives you a list of all the available gestures for voiceover including keyboard and braille shortcuts. Commands can be found in accessibility. Voiceover and then commands.
Voiceover Recognition is another IOS fourteen accessibility feature. It gives you onscreen descriptions of images, apps and text. There are Three options available and can be found in accessibility, voiceover and then Voiceover recognition.
There are a lot more gestures that can be used with VoiceOver if you would like to find out more about VoiceOver or any other technology contact us.
Triple Tap Tech
The Renfield Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4JP
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