How to Increase and Decrease Text Size on iOS Devices

While you can zoom into an email with finger gestures without adjusting text size on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, it's not convenient to do every time you need larger text. However, you can change the size of text across your device and compatible apps 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 for example, this too can be accomplished in iOS.

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 do not support Dynamic Type will remain unchanged.

Fortunately, later versions of Apple's iOS apps support Dynamic Type, including Mail, Notes, Messages, and Calendar. Accessibility settings can be used to further increase the font size and contrast.

Changing Text Size in iOS 8 and Later Versions

In iOS 8 and later versions, Dynamic Type is supported in a variety of apps. Remember that increasing the text size in the iOS settings, such as for reading your email, will also change font size for all other apps that use Dynamic Type.

Tap and open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap Display & Brightness.
Tap the Text Size setting option.
At the bottom of the screen, drag the slider right to increase text size, or left to decrease text size. At the top of the screen is text that will change as you adjust the slider, so you will have an example to judge which size is best for you.

Changing Text Size in iOS 7

The text adjustment settings are located in a different area of iOS 7. Follow these steps if your device runs this older version.

Tap to open the Settings app.
Tap the General menu item.
Tap Text Size.
Use the slider to adjust the font size, left for smaller text, right for larger text.

Add Text Size to Control Center in iOS 11

If your device is updated to iOS 11 or later, you can add a text size adjustment shortcut to your device's Control Center (swipe up from the bottom of the screen or, if you are using an iPhone X-model iPhone or an iPad from the upper right to display your Control Center.)

To add the text size adjuster to Control Center, follow these steps:

Tap Settings on your iOS device.
Tap Control Center.
Tap Customize Controls.
Scroll down and look for Text Size under More Controls. Tap the green plus (+) next to Text Size. This will move the control up to the top list of features that are displayed on your Control Center screen.

Now when you open your Control Center by swiping up from the bottom, you will have the Text Size option available. Tap it and you will get a vertical slider you can adjust up and down to change text size.

Making Text Size Even Larger

If the adjustments detailed above do not make text large enough for you, there is another way you can further increase text size: Accessibility settings. This adjustment is useful for those who have greater difficulty reading text on a mobile device.

To have iOS Mail and other apps display text in an even bigger font size, follow these steps:

Tap and open the Settings app.
Tap the General menu item.
Tap Accessibility.
Tap Larger Text under the Vision section.
At the top of the screen, tap the Larger Accessibility Sizes setting to turn it on (the switch will slide to green when it is activated). At the bottom of the screen is the text size slider. When you activate the Larger Accessibility Sizes switch, the slider will change, extending to offer larger text sizes.
Drag the slider at the bottom to the right to increase text size further.

As in the previous setting instructions, increasing the text size in the Accessibility settings will also adjust text in all apps that use Dynamic Type.