How-to

Basics

Accessibility on my phone

Windows Phone provides lots of ways for you to personalize your phone, and it has built-in accessibility features that can make it easier to see, hear, and use your phone.

To change the text size

You can choose from five different text sizes for phone, People, email, messaging, and on the lock screen.

  1. In the App list, tap Settings Settings icon > Ease of access.

  2. Under Text size, move the slider until the sample text size is the size you want.

To use a high-contrast theme

High contrast makes everything easier to read by changing all of the icons and text to black and white and providing a solid background behind words that would otherwise be on top of pictures.

  1. In the App list, tap Settings Settings icon > Ease of access.

  2. Turn High contrast on.

Tips

  • You can also choose one of the theme colors for the phone that provides higher contrast on its own. The highest contrast theme is the dark background with red (not crimson). To change the accent color, go to Settings Settings icon > Theme.
  • To change the color scheme for the calendar, on Start, tap Calendar Calendar icon > More More icon, and then tap Settings. Select the color you want to use for each calendar.
  • It's easier to see what's in the foreground in your Photos Hub with a plain background. On Start, tap Photos Photos icon > More More icon, and then tap Choose background.

To use the screen magnifier

The screen magnifier lets you use gestures to enlarge any page you're viewing.

  1. In the App list, tap Settings Settings icon > Ease of access.

  2. Turn Screen magnifier on.

  3. On any page you want to magnify, do either of the following:

    • To zoom in the maximum amount, double-tap with two fingers.
    • To change the magnification, use two fingers to double-tap and hold, then pan up or down to increase or decrease magnification.

    Tip

    It may take a few tries to get the hang of the two-finger double-tap. If it's not working for you right away, try angling your fingers so they aren't too far apart, and so they both touch your phone at the same time.

To turn on more options for Speech

You can make calls, search the web, open apps, or listen to text messages with Speech. In Ease of access, you can turn on even more features that help you use your phone hands-free (or eyes-free)!

  1. In the App list, tap Settings Settings icon > Ease of access.

  2. Turn on Speech for phone accessibility. This allows the following things:

    • Talking caller ID for phone calls. When you get a call, your phone will announce the name or number of the caller.
    • Speed dialing. To assign a speed dial number, say "Save speed dial" and then follow the instructions. Once you assign some speed dial numbers, you can use the "Call speed dial" command to call them. Say "Call speed dial number" (where number is the assigned speed dial number).
    • Turning call forwarding on or off using Speech. Say "Turn call forwarding on" or "Turn call forwarding off."

    Tip

    You can also find the instructions for using these Speech features on your phone by tapping Help Help icon after opening Speech.

  3. To have your phone announce and read incoming text messages, tap Settings > Speech, and then turn on Play audio confirmations. Tap Read aloud incoming text messages, and then choose when you want to hear the announcements—all the time, or only when using a Bluetooth and/or a wired headset.

  4. When your phone announces an incoming text, you can say "Read it" or "Ignore." Then you can dictate and send a reply.

Note

Speech may not be available in your country or region.

More tips for making your phone easier to use

Here are some other ideas for making your phone easier to use:

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