One of the unfortunate realities of getting older is that your vision might start to worsen. For some, no matter the age, you might already have vision limitations. Maybe you are far-sighted, meaning you can see clearly from far away, but reading things up close is a struggle or requires you to wear glasses. Even with glasses on, you might still have trouble due to the way it's displayed, not just the text size. Others might have had issues with contrast, brightness, and even colors due to color blindness. This is where adjusting the display and text size on your iPhone can come in handy. You can do this quite easily by changing not only how large the lettering appears but also bolding text so it’s easier to see, inverting colors, emphasizing certain buttons or features, and more.

1. Go to Settings, Accessibility.
2. Select Display & Text Size.
3. Move the sliders to the right for any option you want to activate. This includes Bold Text, Button Shapes, On/Off Labels, Reduce Transparency, Increase Contrast, Differentiate Without Color, Smart Invert, Classic Invert, and Reduce White Point.
4. Start by selecting Larger Text. Move the slider to the right to turn this on.
5. This indicates that apps that support Dynamic Type will adjust to whichever reading size you choose.
6. Go to the bottom of the screen and slide the slider to the size you prefer. As you slide, you can instantly see a preview of how the text will look from the menu text itself.
7. Go back to and scroll down to Color Filters and select.
8. If you are color-blind, slide this to the right to turn on.
9. Choose among Grayscale, Red/Green Filter, Green/Red Filter, Blue/Yellow Filter, or Color Tint based on which looks most pleasurable to you.
10. Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to adjust the Intensity.

What do all the other options mean?

As you scroll through the Display & Text Size menu, you might be curious about what each feature means and does. When you activate each one, you will see a preview to determine if you want to turn it on or not.

• Bold Text will, as the name implies, bold the text so that it appears darker and more pronounced.
• Button Shapes underlines text you can tap, like menu items, Back buttons, calendar dates, and more.
• On/Off Labels simply adds a “0” to the toggle switch when it is in the “off” position and a “1” when it’s “on.” If you can’t quite distinguish the colors, this makes it more simple to see.
• Reduce Transparency will reduce the effects of transparent or blurred backgrounds in apps that might otherwise make it difficult for you to read the text. Turning this on might make text more legible for some.
• Increase Contrast increases the contrast between colors in an app or menu, so you can more easily distinguish between the background and foreground.
• Differentiate Without Color replaces any item on the screen that would otherwise require color to provide information with something else that makes it easier to see and read.
• Smart Invert reverses the colors of your screen except for images, media, and specific apps that use dark colors for those who find this easier to read. It’s similar to activating a night mode.
• Classic Invert reverses the color of the display itself.
• Reduce White Point reduces how intense bright colors can be. Once selected, you can move the slider to the right depending on how much you want to reduce brightness.

Make the iPhone screen work for you

Being able to change the display and text size is one of many Accessibility features Apple offers with its iPhones, including the latest models like the iPhone 15 Pro Max. You can play around with the options to find the right size and look for the most comfortable experience.

Apple offers a wide range of accessibility features on iPhones designed to assist those with everything from hearing limitations with options like Live Captions to those with vision issues. All the accessibility features noted above, available for the latest iPhones, can help those with a range of vision limitations. One person might not be able to see small text, while another might be color-blind. Or maybe you simply get headaches when the screen is too bright and want to use something a bit more customizable than just reducing brightness. With iOS 17, there's even a new function in the Magnifier app called Point & Speak that allows you to point the phone at an item, like a serial number with tiny lettering, and see what the label says, This makes the iPhone a handy tool to help you see even beyond its own screen.

With some settings, you will see how the change is reflected on the screen right away from within the menu. With others, you won’t fully experience it until you exit the accessibility menu and start accessing various apps, web pages, and more on the screen.

You can go back and forth among the various settings at any time, turning ones on, then using your phone as usual and going back to tweak things as needed until you find the perfect setup for you.