How to use your large iPhone more easily with one hand

Year after year iPhones get bigger screens. Which is not always a good thing, especially for small hands.

For several years, the iPhone are big, very big. With the exception of mini versions, most iPhone are difficult to use with one hand, and even with two sometimes. If you recently upgraded to a larger iPhone and are having trouble adjusting to that size, here are some tips to make your life easier.

Change iPhone grip

The little ones iPhone are easier to use with one hand than larger models. If you’re used to picking up your iPhone with one hand, you’ll probably get even more out of it if you switch to a two-handed grip. If you can’t break this one-handed habit, you can try the trick below.

Enjoy Siri more often

Rather than trying to stretch your fingers for everything you do on your iPhone, delegate some tasks to Siri. Siri can be frustrating to use, but Apple’s voice assistant does just fine for basic things like setting reminders, controlling music or alarms. You can even answer calls with the assistant or share your screen. Going hands-free when you can is an easy way to fit a larger iPhone.

Make keyboard typing easier

Your iPhone’s keyboard has two features to do this. For longer messages, try using Voice Dictation to say what you want to write. Tap the microphone icon in the lower right corner of the keyboard. With iOS 16you can quickly switch between voice and text while keeping Voice Dictation enabled, to correct on your phone you misunderstood.

If you want to type with one hand, use the one-handed keyboard on your iPhone. When the keyboard is displayed, press and hold the globe icon in the lower left corner and select the keyboard on the left or right, it will then switch to the corresponding side.

Rearrange apps on the home screen

The organization of your apps on the home screen is not necessarily suitable for a large screen. It is therefore in your best interest to rearrange them. On larger screens, your most frequently used apps should be either in the dock or near the bottom of the screen for easier one-handed access. If you want to maximize the surface display on your home screen, place large widgets at the top of the screen to push your apps down.

Make the top of the screen more easily accessible

Accessibility is one of the best features for large iPhones. For example, you can pull down the top half of the screen with a simple swipe, to easily access the control center, notifications and apps and other elements normally present at the top of the screen.

You can enable the feature by going to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and turning on the “Easy Access” option. Now swiping down on the bottom of the screen will bring the top half down.

Try shortcuts for certain actions

Large iPhones make it difficult to perform some common actions, such as taking screenshots, turning off the device, or changing the volume. The physical buttons are hard to reach, especially for small hands. You can simplify the operation by using shortcuts built into iOS. One is offered by AssistiveTouch, a virtual Home button that stays on the screen, giving you access to many actions like opening the control center, activating Siri, taking a screenshot, and more. You can enable AssistiveTouch in Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch. On the same page, you can also select “Customize parent menu” and tap on the various icons to change the shortcuts accessible via the virtual Home button.

You can also use the iPhone’s “Touch Back” feature to set up a similar shortcut. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Touch the back of the device and define the actions associated with the double and triple tap. Now, you can simply tap the back of the iPhone two or three times to perform the actions you want.

Use screen zoom

Finally, you can use the screen zoom to make everything appear larger, making items easier to reach. To take advantage of this, go to Settings > Brightness & Display > Screen Zoom and select “Bigger Font”.