Visionary Improvements in iOS 15

Text Size Per App

Folks with vision impairments have long been able to increase the interface text size across all apps. This setting is still available in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger Text.

In iOS 15, you can now specify text size on a per-app basis. First, add Text Size to Control Center and make sure Control Center is accessible within apps. Then, on the Home Screen or in any app, visit Control Center and tap the Text Size button, which looks like two As in different sizes (Aa).

At the bottom, choose whether you want to set the text size for the current app or for all apps. For the current app, you can then set your desired text size for that app alone. Other apps will respect the system-wide setting.

(Learn more about Control Center and configuring it in Discover Hidden Controls.)

Reorganize Missing Apps

Depending on how you’ve organized apps on your iPhone or iPad, you might sometimes have difficulty finding one. You might even have removed the app from all Home Screens or intentionally moved it to the App Library, which is one screen to the right of the last Home Screen.

Generally, I consider “difficulty” as not knowing which screen an app is on or swiping for more than 5–10 seconds to locate it.

You can always swipe down from the middle of the screen (i.e., anywhere between the top and bottom) to reach Spotlight and search for an app. However, in iOS 15, you can also drag an app out of the Spotlight search results and place it where you wish, perhaps somewhere easier to locate in the future.

In the case above, I searched for Jotto. Spotlight indicates it’s in a folder called Play. I long-pressed and dragged the app to pick it up. The next step is to use another finger to tap Cancel at the top, leaving my iPhone in jiggly mode, in which I can place the app wherever I want it.

Precision Cursor Placement

There are two touch-based ways to precisely place the text cursor. I suspect the more common approach is to tap next to a word and then touch and drag the cursor to the desired position. In iOS 15, this is a little easier because Apple has brought back the magnifier loupe that shows the precise cursor position as you drag it.

The second, which I first mentioned in Efficient Dexterity, enables you to use the screen as a trackpad. Just long-press the spacebar and the keyboard will fade out. Then, drag your finger up and the cursor will track with it.

Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to scroll very far while dragging, so this method is currently only useful for smaller bodies of text. An improvement would be the ability to scroll with another finger or have the cursor continue moving up or down the text when my finger reaches the top or bottom of the screen, just like holding an arrow key.