Change Settings for Specific App with Per-App Settings on the iPad

Learn how to customize text and display options for specific apps on the iPad.

Learn how to customize text and display options for specific apps on the iPad by using Per-App Settings. Introduced in iPadOS 15, with Per-App Settings you can make the text bold, change the text size, and more for specific apps on the iPad. Learn how in this video for the iPad.

Video TranscriptIn this video, we’re going to take a look at Per-App Settings. With Per-App Settings, what we’re able to do is customize an app. Basically what we’re able to do is make the text bold in an app, we can change the text size of a specific app, we can add on and off labels, or reduce motion. We can do this on an app by app basis or per-app basis. This is an accessibility option and was introduced with iPadOS. Let’s see how Per-App Settings work on the iPad. Let’s go to my iPad.

Now to change the settings on a per-app basis, let’s say I wanted to make the text bold in the App Store, but only in the App Store, to do this what we need to do is go down to our Settings app. This is an accessibility option, so now I tap on the Settings app to open it up and then we go over to Accessibility. Under Accessibility, at the very bottom, you’re going to see Per-App Settings.

With Per-App Settings what we’re able to do is select an app and then change the settings for that specific app. Maybe make the text bold or the text larger, smaller, or reduce motion. So now let’s tap on this and add an app. I want to make the text bold for the App Store. So all I do is just go up to Add. I select the app. So we’re going to go with the App Store here and now I just tap on the App Store. When I do this, you’re going to see I have a number of different settings that I can change.

So here’s where I can make my text bold. I can change the text size, add button shapes, add on and off labels, or even reduced transparency. And again, this is only going to be for the App Store. Any changes that I make will only affect the app Store. I can also increase the contrast, differentiate without color, as well as smart invert, and reduce motion. And then at the very bottom here, we also have auto-play video preview. So I just want to make my text bold, and again, only in the App Store. So now I just go up to Bold Text here, I tap on it and then I tap on On.

Let’s go and add another app in here. We’re going to go to our Messages app. So I tap on the App Store and then I go to Per-App Settings. I tap on Add App, and then I swipe up until I find Messages. With this app, let’s go ahead and tap on it so we can change our settings with this app, what I’d like to do is add button shapes. So I tap on Button Shapes. We’re going to go with On, basically what this is going to do is underline all of my buttons or anything that I can tap on so I can easily see what I can tap on. Let’s go back and we’re going to change one more setting here. Let’s add on and off labels. I tap, and then we go over to On.

So now with the App Store, I made the text bold, but on Messages I added on and off labels, as well as button shapes. So let’s tap on our Home button here and let’s first look at our App Store. I tap on the App Store, and we can see that the text is bold. Let’s get a closer look. I tap on this and now we can see all of our text here is bold. Let’s go to my Messages app. Remember I added button shapes to that as well as on and off labels. So now I tap on the Home button and we go over to my Messages app. The text is not going to be bold, but any buttons, if we look at filters here, this is a button, it has an underline on it. This is a button shape, and this is only going to show in the Messages app. What about on and off labels? Well, let’s go up to my profile here and when I swipe up, we have our on and off labels. Circle means that it’s off, while vertical line means that it is on. And again, this is only going to show on my Messages app.

Let’s finish up with how you remove any settings that you’ve made for a specific app. Let’s go back over to my Settings app. I tap on the Home button and then I go over to Settings. I’m looking at my Accessibility options here. Now I’m looking at my Per-App Settings. For the Messages app, if I want to change any of them, I just make any changes here, but let’s say I wanted to remove these settings all together. I tap on Per-App, I can see all of my apps that I have any customizations for, and now I just swipe to the left on any app that I want to remove the customization for. So in this case here I want to remove the customizations for the Messages app. So now all I do is just swipe over to the left. You’re going to see Delete, I tap on it and now it removed any customizations I made for that app. I can also just swipe all the way over. So I just swipe all the way over to the left and removes it.

So that’s our Per-App Settings we have on the iPad. Basically with Per-App Settings, what we’re able to do is customize our apps on a per-app basis. We can make the text bold, we can change the text size, we can add on and off labels, or we can add button shapes, and we can do this on an app by app basis or per-app basis. This is an accessibility option. So what we need to do is open up the Settings app and then go to Accessibility. From there you’re going to see Per-App Settings. Just add the app that you want to add settings for or customize. Tap on that app and then make your customizations. To remove your customizations, you just swipe over to the left on that app while looking at your Per-App settings.

So that’s how we use Per-App Settings to customize our apps on the iPad.