Is Your iPhone Screen Stuck Zoomed In? Here’s How to Zoom Out Again

Something’s gone wrong and now your iPhone screen is zoomed in. You might be able to zoom out briefly when you open apps or go to the Home screen. But other than that, you’re stuck looking at a tiny part of the zoomed-in screen.

This is a common issue for iPhone users. It actually results from an iPhone feature aimed to help people with visual impairments. If your iPhone is stuck zoomed in, find out how to fix it below.

Related:

• iPhone Black Screen Bug After iOS Update, Fix
• iPhone or iPad Screen Won’t Rotate? Here’s How to Fix It
• Where’s Accessibility in iOS 13 and iPadOS? We Found It and More
• Use an iPhone or iPad Without Touch? How to Use Full Keyboard Access

Why Is My iPhone Screen Zoomed In?

Apple includes lots of Accessibility features in its software so that anybody can use Apple products. One of these features, Zoom, lets you enlarge the content on your iPhone screen making it easier to see. You probably turned this feature on by mistake.

How to Turn Off or Control the Zoom On Your iPhone

To zoom in or out on your iPhone screen double-tap with three fingers. If that doesn’t work, try double-tapping again even faster and make sure your fingers aren’t too close together.

While Zoom is turned on, you can move around your iPhone screen by dragging with three fingers. This way, you should be able to keep using your iPhone without needing to zoom out.

What If I Can’t Zoom Out By Tapping Three Fingers?

Sometimes zooming out on your iPhone screen isn’t as simple as it should be. If double-tapping with three fingers doesn’t zoom out, it might be because your iPhone is unresponsive. Try to force restart the device to fix it.

If that doesn’t help, you can turn off Zoom from your iPhone Settings instead. It’s possible to do this on the device itself or using a computer.

Access the Settings on Your iPhone to Turn Off Zoom:

1. You should be able to navigate your zoomed-in iPhone by dragging with three fingers. If you can do that, make your way to the Settings app.
2. On iOS 13 and later: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Zoom.
3. On iOS 12 or earlier: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Zoom.
4. Turn off the Zoom feature.

Use iTunes or Finder on a Computer to Turn Off Zoom:

1. Connect your iPhone to the computer using an official Apple Lightning cable. Preferably, use a computer your iPhone has previously paired with so you don’t need to enter your passcode or tap Trust.
2. On macOS Catalina: Open Finder and select your iPhone from the sidebar. Then go to the General tab.
3. On Windows or macOS High Sierra or earlier: Open iTunes and select your iPhone from the top-left of the screen. Then go to Summary.
4. Under the Options section, click Configure Accessibility.
5. Deselect Zoom from the pop-up window that appears, then click OK.
6. To confirm your new Accessibility settings, Sync with your iPhone.

Check Your Other Accessibility Settings As Well

If you don’t need to zoom in on your iPhone screen to read small text, there’s no reason to keep that accessibility feature turned on at all. By turning it off, you eliminate the risk of accidentally zooming in on your iPhone in the future.

Zoom isn’t the only feature worth disabling on your iPhone if you don’t need it. You should also turn off features like VoiceOver or AssistiveTouch. Review all the optional features in the Accessibility settings on your iPhone.

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.

He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.

Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.