If you have a large iPhone, like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Plus, or iPhone 13 Pro Max, the 6.7-inch screen can be difficult to use with one hand. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make your iPhone easier to use one-handed with some iOS 16 tweaks and tricks.
I’ve already told you that the back key on iOS lacks ergonomics. But on larger iPhone models, screenshots, Control Center, or Notification Center aren’t necessarily intuitive to use with one hand. To avoid tendonitis or finger cramps, I’ll share some tips I’ve discovered in iOS 16.
To summarize:
Activate Ease of Access, pull down the iOS interface at the bottom of the screen
The first tip is the easiest, and most importantly, the most versatile for one-handed use of your iPhone. This accessibility feature allows you to swipe down the iOS interface. As a result, the area at the top of the screen drops down to thumb height in the middle of the screen. To activate it:
- go to set up Then accessibility
- in that section physical and motor skillspress touch
- Activate the switch marked as accessible
Easy access gestures can be finicky at times / © kwgeek
Then just swipe down from the bottom of the iPhone screen. Gestures are very similar. Sometimes the notification center expands when you swipe up. But this feature works everywhere, no matter the application.
Using Apple’s One-Handed Keyboard on iPhone
The default keyboard on the iPhone can be shrunk or squeezed to align with the left or right side of the iPhone screen. To switch the iPhone keyboard to one-handed mode:
- Pressglobe icon at the bottom left of the keyboard
- Under Available Languages, Three keyboard icons display, two with left or right arrows
- Follow the arrows on each icon to select the desired alignment
You can align the iPhone keyboard to the left or right side of the screen. / © kwgeek
If you’re right-handed, you can align your iPhone’s keyboard to the right side of the screen. It will then be compressed a bit, but it will be more accessible, especially for the keys placed opposite the thumb.
Enable Assistive Touch to add multifunctional virtual buttons
AssistiveTouch is an accessibility feature designed for people who cannot use their iPhone with their hands or use a third-party device such as a mouse.
But beyond this very specific use case, AssistiveTouch also allows you to add a floating virtual button to your iPhone’s home screen. You can assign multiple shortcuts to this button.
- go to set up then in accessibility
- in that section physical and motor skillspress touch
- activation switch Assistive Touch
- in that section custom actionassign the shortcut of your choice to 3 gestures: Single touch/double touch/long press
The AssistiveTouch function offers many possibilities in terms of shortcuts / © kwgeek
Here, you have two solutions. Alternatively, you use the virtual buttons as multifunction keys. So you press it and you can access up to 8 shortcuts. You can of course assign/reassign each of the 8 slots to a different hotkey.
The second option is to use this button as a simple touch point. Basically, it will only be used for single, double or long presses. You can then assign a shortcut to each of these three gestures.
Admittedly, it gives you three shortcuts instead of eight, but it’s also more intuitive and quick to use. Just click a button, no need to choose from multiple shortcuts. do this:
Enable Back Tap gestures to create additional shortcuts
We already have a fairly complete tutorial on activating Back Tap on the iPhone, which I invite you to refer to. It just assigns shortcuts to double taps and triple taps on the back of the iPhone. It’s like having an extra physical button.
- go to set up then in accessibility
- in that section physical and motor skillspress touch
- scroll down and click Touch the back of the device
- Assign shortcuts to gestures 2 touches and touch 3 times
If you’re using a case on your iPhone, the Back Tap feature won’t be very responsive. / © kwgeek
Personally, I assign double tap to scroll to screenshot. I rarely use triple tap, but I assign it to silent mode.
Zoom your iPhone screen
This accessibility feature allows you to zoom in on the interface displayed on the iPhone screen. Some gestures and some virtual buttons are a little boring. But in most cases, you can interact with more items with one hand. To zoom the iPhone screen:
- go to set up Then Brightness and Display
- scroll down and click screen zoom
- select mode larger font and press OK top right
In my opinion scaling the screen alone is not enough, you have to combine it with one of the other tricks above / © kwgeek
Personally, I would use this feature in conjunction with the one-handed keyboard mentioned above. As the keyboard tightens, false touches are more frequent. Scaling the screen allows you to slightly empty the keyboard while maintaining left or right alignment.
This tutorial is finally long enough to help you use your iPhone with one hand more easily. What do you think of the iOS tricks presented here? Do you also have ergonomic concerns about the larger iPhone models?