How To Change Font Size on iPhone for Text Messages and Emails

Sometimes, there’s just no screen that’s big enough. Making it better for the eyes means we need to make our gadgets less portable than we want them. It’s impractical to keep having to strain our eyes or always zoom in.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could clearly read or see things without the stress or hassle of clicking additional keys each time?

If you have the same problem, here are a few tricks to make your iPhone reading easier.

Changing Font Size on an iPhone from Control Center

Starting with the release of iOS 11, Apple added the ability to customize text size through the Control Center. The Text Size menu lets you change the font size on your iPhone (including iPad and iPod touch) on the fly.

Just in case you’re unsure whether or not your iPhone runs iOS 11 or a later version, open up the Settings app and tap General > About. The info you need is found on the Version line. If the number is 11 or later, you can customize the iPhone Control Center with no problem.

Let’s start with how to add text size in Control Center, if you haven’t done it yet.

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone;
• Tap Control Center;
• Open the customization menu by tapping Customize Controls;
• Scroll down to tap the green plus button left of Text Size to add the function to Control Center.

Now that it’s set, let’s change text size from your iPhone’s Control Center:

• On your iPhone display, swipe up from the bottom to open Control Center;
• Look for the Text Size control button (the one with differently-sized A’s). Using this button opens up a slider;
• Drag the slider higher to increase the text size. Pull down to reduce it (for users who prefer iPhone text that’s even smaller).

In case the text size isn’t big enough, another way to further enlarge the fonts is through your iPhone Accessibility Settings. To access this phone feature:

• Open the Settings app;
• Look for and tap Accessibility;
• Tap Display & Text Size;
• Tap Larger Text.

In case this setting is already on, or if the text size isn’t large enough, tap the toggle next to Larger Accessibility Sizes.

You’ll be shown a horizontal slider with bigger text options at the bottom of the screen. Slide to the right until you get the desired text size.

Another feature you can use to make texts more readable is doing away with standard letters and replacing them with bold fonts. Bold letters are thicker, making them easier to be read.

Here’s what you need to do to use bold text:

• Open the Settings app;
• Go to Accessibility;
• Just like in making your texts larger, choose Display & Text Size;
• Turn on Bold Text (this is hard to miss, since it’s right above the option, Larger Text)

No need to do any additional steps once your preferred settings are put in place.

From SMS messages, notes, emails, to reading an ebook, these tips should help alleviate eye strain the next time you’re in front of your device. It may be difficult to admit, but there comes a time when our eyesight isn’t what it used to. Not to mention that there are a lot of fonts out there that are not optimized for mobile screens.

Regardless how you want to change the font size on your iPhone, simply remember these steps and you’d be good to go. Share them with family and friends, too!