The Senior Signal

Phones and tablets

Make your phone easier to see and hear

By Keith Ables · Published October 2026

An older man lifting his glasses to read his phone

If you find yourself squinting at texts or asking callers to repeat themselves, your phone can help more than you might think. These built-in settings take a minute each, cost nothing, and you can change them back anytime.

Don't see an option? Phones move their menus around after updates. Open Settings and type the name of the setting into the search bar at the top. (On an iPhone, if you don't see a search bar, swipe down a little in the middle of the Settings screen.)

Make the words bigger

iPhone

  1. Open Settings, tap Display & Brightness, then Text Size.
  2. Drag the slider to the right until reading is comfortable.
  3. Need it even bigger? Go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Display & Text Size, tap Larger Text, and turn on the larger sizes.

While you're in Display & Text Size, try Bold Text. Many people find it easier to read than size alone.

Android (Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and others)

  1. Open Settings and type Font size in the search bar at the top.
  2. Drag the slider to the right. Text can go up to twice its normal size.
  3. Then search Settings for Display size and drag that slider too. It makes buttons and icons bigger, not just words.

Very large text can crowd some apps, so go up a step at a time until it feels right.

See the words people are saying

Captions turn speech into text on your screen, including phone calls and videos.

  • iPhone (iPhone 11 or newer): Open Settings, then Accessibility. Scroll down to the Hearing section, tap Live Captions, and turn it on. A caption box appears whenever there's speech, and you can drag it out of the way. On a FaceTime call, tap the More button, then Live Captions.
  • Android: Press a volume button, tap the three dots (More) under the volume slider, and tap Live Caption. If you don't see it, search Settings for Live Caption. The first time, connect to Wi-Fi so the phone can download the language. Captions then work on phone calls, video calls, and videos.

Captions are very good but not perfect. For anything important, like a doctor's instructions, ask the person to repeat it or follow up in writing.

Two more quick wins

  • Turn up the call volume while you're on a call. Press the volume-up button on the side of the phone during the call. Call volume is separate from ringer volume.
  • Use the speaker. Tap Speaker during a call. Many people hear better with the phone on the table than pressed to one ear.

If you wear hearing aids, ask your audiologist whether yours can connect to your phone by Bluetooth. Many newer ones stream calls straight to your ears.

Sources: Apple: Change text size, Apple: Live Captions, Google: Font and display size, Google: Live Caption. Menu names vary slightly by phone model.

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