Mobile phones are very handy devices, but sometimes the small size has its drawbacks, especially
if your eye sight is no longer what it used to be. But there are ways to make life easier and most of
them are built right into the phone.
On an Android phone, go into Settings (usually a gear icon), type Magnification into the search bar
on top. Click on the entry and under options you will find three ways of turning on a shortcut:
Accessibility button, Hold Volume keys and Triple tap screen. Choose one of these, there is an
explanation how to use it. For example if you choose triple tap, you can triple tap your screen in
any app and it will magnify what is on the screen, use 2 fingers to drag what is displayed to see all.
Another triple tap sets the display back to normal.
On an iPhone it is even simpler: just triple click the side button on your phone to open the
magnifier and swipe from the bottom of your screen to close it.
Another way, that works on both types of phones is the 2 finger zoom: put two fingers together on
your screen and then move your fingers apart – the screen will be magnified; or put two fingers
apart on the screen and move them together – things will go back to normal.
If you would like to know more about options to make phone use easier, have a look around the
Accessibility options in Settings on Android or iPhone, there are many ways to help you with vision,
hearing and even motor skills; have a look around.
Next time we will have a look at how to use the ‘talk to’ features to avoid typing on the rather small
keyboard.
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