How to Change the Font Size on an iPhone

Improve text readability by altering size and other settings

Magnifying glass over a phone

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by Heinz Tschabitscher
An independent writer who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997.
Updated June 10, 2019

While you can zoom into an email with finger gestures without adjusting the text size setting on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, it's inconvenient to have to do that each time you need larger text. However, you can change the size of text across several apps at once using an easy slider in the Settings app. 

If you prefer a smaller text size so that more content fits in a smaller screen size, such as on an iPhone versus an iPad, this can be accomplished, too.

Dynamic Type and Text Sizes in Apps

Dynamic Type is the name of the iOS feature that allows you to adjust your text size. Adjusting the size of text is not necessarily universal on an iOS device; apps that support Dynamic Type will take advantage of the customizable text sizes. Text in apps that don't support Dynamic Type will remain unchanged. 

Fortunately, later versions of Apple's apps support Dynamic Type, including Mail, Notes, Messages, and Calendar.

Accessibility settings can be used to further increase the font size and contrast.

How to Make the Font Bigger or Smaller

The Text Size option is how you adjust the font size on an iOS device.

  1. Open Settings from the home page.

  2. Go to Display & Brightness > Text Size.

    If you're not running a modern version of iOS (like iOS 12 or iOS 11), you'll find this option in the General menu.


  3. Drag the slider right to increase text size, or left to decrease text size. Watch the sample text on that page change as you adjust the text size to what works best for you.

    Display & Brightness, Text Size, slider in iOS Settings

If you're running iOS 11 or newer, you can add the Text Size shortcut to Control Center for quicker access than following the menus in Settings. A pop-up will show where you can adjust the slider setting in just a couple seconds.

How to Make Text Even Larger

If the adjustments detailed above don't make text large enough for you, there's another way you can increase text size: Accessibility settings. This adjustment is useful if you have greater difficulty reading text on a mobile device.

Doing this will force even larger text in Mail and other apps that support Dynamic Type:

  1. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility.

  2. Tap Larger Text.

  3. Select the button next to Larger Accessibility Sizes to turn it on.

    Accessibility, Larger Text, toggle in iOS Settings

  4. Drag the slider at the bottom to the right to make the font bigger.

Other Accessibility Features to Improve Readability

Also located from the Accessibility page in your device's settings is Zoom. This magnifies the entire screen, letting you double-tap with three fingers to zoom, and drag three fingers to move around the screen. Details on using this feature are explained in the settings.

Bold Text is another setting that might make it easier to read on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This is self-explanatory, making Dynamic Type text bold.

Enable Increase Contrast to make other text styling adjustments, and Reduce Transparency to reduce transparency and blurs, both of which can increase legibility.