Using the iPhone as a Magnifier

In this video, we’re going to be taking a look at the magnifier tool on the iPhone, including the new features that Apple added to it in iOS 14. With the magnifier tool, what we do is we take a photo of something that we need to read, and from there, we can make it larger, we can enlarge it, or even apply filters to it to make it easier to read. Let’s take a look at this magnifier tool on the iPhone. Let’s go to my iPhone.

Now, the first thing we need to do is we need to open up our Settings app. We need to turn the magnifier tool on. So I’m just going to swipe over the left and then open up my Settings app. From here, we need to go to Accessibility. So I swipe up until I find Accessibility. Now what we need to do is we need to go to Magnifier. You’re going to see that mine is turned off. So let’s go and turn this on. Tap on it, and then we tap on the slider. So now that I have it on, what does the Magnifier do? How do I access it? Well, let’s first talk about how we access it. In past versions of iOS, I’m going to go back here; in past versions of iOS, the way that we accessed the magnifier tool was we had to add an Accessibility Shortcut. An Accessibility Shortcut is where you can set what happens when you press in on the sleep-wake button three times. Mine is set to open up the Magnifier. So if I were to press in on the sleep-wake button three times, I’d get my Magnifier.

But now there’s an easier way to access the Magnifier, or I think it’s an easier way. We can now add it as an app icon. This is new and iOS 14. This is one of the new features they’ve added. The first thing we need to do is we need to access it in the library, the App Library. So I’m going to swipe up from the bottom here. And now I need to go to my App Library. This is where it is located by default, once we add it. So now I just go up to App Library here, and I type in Magnifier. You’re going to see we have my Magnifier here. So this is one way of accessing it, by going to the app library, but also what I can do now, if I need to access it a lot, what I can do is I can tap and hold on this and then just drag it to my home screen. So let’s go ahead and drag this to my first home screen here. We’re just going to put it at the top. I tap on done. And now, if I want to open up the Magnifier, I just tap on Magnifier here. So that’s one new feature they added with iOS 14. We can now access it like any other app.

So now, let’s see how this works. I’m going to open this up. I have a box here, Wireless Go. These are wireless microphones, and what I would like to do is I would like to read this. I can’t read this. The printer is too small. Now, what I could do is I could just take a photo of it and then zoom in on the photo. But with the Photos app, what it’ll do is it’ll also save that in the Photos app. I just need a temporary picture of it. Also, we have a few more tools that are easily accessible with the Magnifier app; we can apply filters; we can change the brightness. If I want to zoom in on it, I can easily take the slider and slide it over to the right to zoom in. I can also zoom in on it after I take the photo. I can pinch to zoom in, I’m just pinching with my fingers, and then I can also apply a filter. To make it black and white, I just tap on this icon here, and now it just makes it black and white. Again, making it easier to read.

Let’s say I wanted to take two pictures. I need to take a picture of this column, and I need to take a picture of this column. All I have to do is just go down to these two squares here; this is new and iOS 14; I tap on it. Now we can see it as set for multi-shot. I just take my first photo, and now I go over to the right to take my second photo. And when I want to read them, I tap on view, and we can see that I can easily view my first column. And then, if I swipe over the left, I can see my second column. Swipe back over to the right, and I’m looking at my first column here. Once I take the photo, I can go and zoom in again. I can also apply filters to it. So we can still apply our filters and zoom in even after we take our photo.

When I am done, I just go up to End here, and now it is ready to take another photo. It did not save that photo. So I’m not going to find that photo in my Photos app. To take another photo, I’m just going to take one of the whole thing here; I just frame it right, and then I go down to shutter here, and I take my photo.

We can rearrange the tools here. I go down to the gear here, and I have more options. I have secondary controls that I can add and remove. I can adjust the brightness, the contrast, the filters, as well as use a flashlight. And then I also have my filters. Again, when I’m done, I tap on done here. It brings me back to my camera, and when I am done using the Magnifier, I just swipe up or press in on the home button, and we’re back at my home screen. And again, it did not save those photos to my Photos app. Now where I’ve used this is with menus at a restaurant, especially large menus. Now with the new multi-shot here, what I can do is I can take several photos of the menu, and then I can just swipe around on my iPhone to read that menu. I can zoom in and out. I can make it black and white to take all the color away, thereby making it easier to read.

So that’s the new magnifier tool, or what is new in the magnifier tool with iOS 14. With the magnifier tool, what we’re able to do is take a photo or multiple photos, since iOS 14, of anything that we may need to read. We can zoom in on it. We can apply filters to it. It does not save any of the photos that we take to our Photos library. Since iOS 14, we’re also able to add the Magnifier to our home screen.

So that’s the magnifier tool, and what’s new with iOS 14 with the magnifier tool on the iPhone.