Accessibility

Apple’s focus on accessibility has grown since its first days of larger type and simple setups, and the Sound Recognition setting is possibly the most exciting new example of Apple’s inclusivity initiative. For those who are deaf, hard of hearing, or simply frequent users of noise-canceling headphones, the Sound Recognition feature in iOS 14 can alert them to a whole host of pre-programmed recognizable sounds. I use this feature when I’m working in my studio and can’t quite hear things like the doorbell, running water, or other important sounds. Here’s how to set up Sound Recognition, how to use it, and what to know before you start.

We've gone over how to take a screenshot manually, but pressing buttons on an iPhone can be a literal pain if you have joint problems. That, plus messy fingers from cooking or being outside in the cold can make it hard to use to your hands to do a screenshot. For those times when a manual screenshot isn’t an option, you may have wondered, "can I ask Siri to take a screenshot?". The answer is, sort of. You can use Voice Control to take a screenshot, which is very similar to using Siri, since you're using vocal rather than manual control. However, you don't need to say, "Hey, Siri" before you give this command. In fact, if you say "Hey, Siri" first, this tip won't work. You can take a screenshot with a voice command if you have an iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, 7, 7s, 8, X, XR, XS, or XS Max, or the iPhone 11, 11 Pro, or 11 Pro Max; here's how.

Siri is great, but there are some things Siri can't do, like take screenshots. Plus, if you have low cell coverage and no Wi-Fi access, then Siri turns off entirely. Turning on voice commands is a great way to navigate your iPhone, open apps, browse the web, and send texts, all without relying on Siri. You can enable your iPhone's Voice Control in the Accessibility menu of your Settings app. Let's dive in with how to turn on Voice Control for the iPhone.

If you have an iPhone X or later, you might notice your device does a few things automatically if you're looking at it. For example, your screen won't dim if you're still facing it and your ringer's volume will lower when you're facing the screen as well. This is because of the Attention Aware feature. By disabling Attention Aware, you can stop your alert noises from lowering automatically and your screen will dim with your face in view, which may save you some battery power.

Most professional videographers agree that high-quality audio capture is just as important, if not more so than, high-quality video capture. Watching a low resolution YouTube video with superb audio reproduction is far more tolerable than watching a high resolution video with poor audio quality. That is why I find it so surprising that Apple has focused so much of its iPhone feature attention on camera and video capture quality while still utilizing a run of the mill embedded mono microphone for audio. The founders of Hooke Audio saw this subpar configuration in not just the iPhone but other smartphones and video capture devices like GoPro's, and built a product to address this discrepancy. Read on to find out if the Hooke Verse wireless binaural 3D audio microphone system ($159.99) succeeds at eliminating this mobile audio capture fidelity problem.

Most people prefer listening to audio on their AirPods in stereo (where sound is fed through at least two channels). This requires listening to both AirPods to get the full dual-channel experience. But what if you only want to use one AirPod? You're going to miss out on the sounds coming through the other AirPod. Mono audio is a feature on iPhones that makes sure you don't miss anything when using one ear instead of two. Whether you have hearing loss in one ear, want to share the other AirPod with someone else, have misplaced one of your AirPods, or just want to keep one ear tuned in to what's going on around you, it's possible to make all the sound come out of one AirPod by enabling Mono Audio in your Accessibility Settings. Switching to this single channel setting means you'll be able to hear all the audio from either AirPod, so you can choose which AirPod to use.  

With iOS 13 and iPadOS, Apple offers more accessibility settings than ever before. Beginning with iOS 11, iPhone and iPad users could customize their devices' Control Centers to include the apps they use the most. For those with mobility issues, the deaf and hearing impaired, and the blind and visually impaired, Apple's accessibility features are a great choice to add to the Control Center. There are many settings to choose from, including RTT/TTY phone call access, an LED flash rather than an audible alarm for alerts, assistive touch, braille, a magnifying glass, and much more. Let's get started learning how to add Accessibility Shortcuts to the Control Center on your iPhone and iPad so you can have the features, tools, and settings you need at your disposal. 

For someone who is blind or has impaired vision, Be My Eyes is a resource that makes everyday tasks easier. Sighted people sign up to be volunteers; when a blind or visually impaired person asks for assistance, the app video calls one of over a million volunteers to help. When someone starts a call, the first available volunteer will connect with them. If you’re blind or visually impaired, you can contact volunteers as often as you want; there are plenty of people who have showed up to say, “I’m here; what can I do?” And you can connect with them in a matter of minutes. Learn more on what the app does and why we love it below.

The new gestures on iPhone X or later have some people confused while others are thinking up ways Apple could have done it better; but either way, they're probably here to stay. In this tip we'll cover how to open Control Center on the iPhone X, XR, and XS, as well as how to customize Control Center. Luckily, once you learn how to open Control Center and get used to the new movement, it’s really not that big of a challenge. Plus, we'll include a bonus tip for those who want to open Control Center a bit more easily on the iPhone X or later. 

Home button or Sleep/Wake button not working properly? (Maybe you had some kind of iPhone misfortune involving water or a drop?) You're probably planning to take your phone in to get fixed; but in the meantime, Assistive Touch is a great work around to this problem. Here’s what you can do as a workaround if your Home button isn’t working on iPhone.

A heavily requested feature for iOS 11 was Dark Mode. Dark Mode essentially turns white space black while leaving media, photos, and content the same. However, we did not get an official Dark Mode in iOS 11, and we haven't gotten one for iOS 12, either. Hopefully this will come out soon because macOS Mojave does offer this feature. For now, though, the next best thing is pretty darn fantastic. Inverting colors on iPhone in the past meant distorting the look of photos and content as well. But iOS 11 introduced Smart Invert, which is (almost) as good of a Dark Mode as we need. Here’s how to turn on Dark Mode or Night Mode in iOS 12 on iPhone, this will invert colors on your display and reduce eye strain.

Did you know that the iPhone allows your phone to automatically answer calls after a certain number of rings? This is great for when you're using a headset or you're making dinner, but also expecting an important phone call.  If you’re the type of person who’s always near their cellphone but sometimes takes too long to answer, or if you find the swiping-to-answer motion annoying or difficult to do, then you can enable this feature in your Accessibility Settings. Here's how to have your iPhone automatically answer incoming calls.

The triple- and double-click shortcuts are designed to let you easily maneuver through a few features of your iPhone when pressing your Home button multiple times. The double-click shortcut lets you find the recent apps you’ve used, and the triple-click shortcut allows you to quickly jump to Accessibility shortcuts you’ve set. However, the triple- and double-click Home commands have a default setting that might be too fast for some to push. My 83-year-old grandmother has an iPhone and she has difficulty pressing her Home button in quick succession due to arthritis in her hands. Whatever your reason, here’s how to slow down the triple- and double-click shortcuts on iPhone.

For some, it’s not easy to catch every word spoken when watching their favorite shows, videos, and movies on their devices. My mom has grown accustomed to watching her shows with closed captions, simply because she likes the added benefit of reading while she watches. Luckily, it’s easy to set up. You can turn on closed captions for media as your default on iPhone or iPad; here’s how.

3D Touch can be a cool, helpful feature for a lot of people. But I also know some who never use the feature or even find that it gets in the way of simply pressing and holding something on the screen. Whatever your reasoning, you can turn 3D Touch off on your iPhone. And it’s very easy to do. Here’s how to turn 3D Touch off on iPhone.

Let’s say you’re listening to music using your Bluetooth speaker, and you get a call. When you answer that call, the audio will probably default to your iPhone. But what if you want the call to always default to your Bluetooth headphones, speaker, or earbuds? You can select which Bluetooth device your call audio defaults to in the Call Audio Routing settings in the iPhone Settings app. We've already covered Bluetooth pairing to your iPhone, and how to change which Bluetooth connection you're using to play audio from your iPhone or iPad. Now, here’s how to set your speaker, headphones, or earbuds as the default audio on your iPhone.

Accessibility features on iPhone improve year after year. It used to be that those who are color blind could only to choose to use grayscale, but did you know that’s no longer the case? If you’re color blind, you can go into your settings and select the color correct palette that works with your specific type of color blindness. It’s pretty incredible. Even those with ‘regular’ vision should check it out. Here’s how to correct your iPhone’s colors for your vision.

On your iPhone, there are many instances in which you can shake to undo something. For example, if you delete an email and quickly realize you didn't mean to do that, you can simply shake your phone to undo deleting it. However, plenty of iPhone users have complained about the feature, and they would rather just turn the damn thing off. Luckily, you can. Here’s how to turn off shake to undo on iPhone.

Did you know Apple's iOS has an option to set your phone screen to grayscale (greyscale for our UK and Canadian friends)? Your first thought may be, “Why would I want my display in black and white rather than in color?” There are a few reasons you might want to see your mobile screen in black and white mode. First, for those who are color blind, items on menus may be hard to distinguish if they rely on color to stand out from a background. iPhone grayscale can make the display more readable for those who are color blind. Second, if your battery is running low and you know that it will be a while before you have the opportunity to charge it, grayscale can extend battery life. Third, some experts say that using grayscale on your iPhone might be the answer to the question of how to break phone addiction. Here’s how to turn on grayscale mode on your iPhone or iPad.

The Accessibility features on iPhone are useful for those who are visually impaired; but they can also be useful to others, such as those occasions when it might be more convenient to have your iPhone or iPad read to you. Unless you're visually impaired, you may not want to enable VoiceOver via the Accessibility panel because it then begins reading aloud everything, including the Settings screen that you're on. Instead, we’ll go over how to enable a feature that lets you turn VoiceOver on just when you need it. Here’s how to have Siri read text to you on iPhone.