iOS: How to Use Assistive Touch

iOS How to Use Assistive Touch

Not everyone is as comfortable pressing buttons or performing different actions on the touchscreen. Limited strength in the fingers or reduced mobility can make some tasks that others find trivial almost impossible. Thanks to Assistive Touch in iOS, there are other options to make those tasks easier.

What’s That White Dot On Your Screen?

I’ve had a few people ask about the white dot on my iPhone screen. This is an Accessibility feature that can help you use your iPhone despite problems you might have pressing buttons or touching the screen. It works without any extra accessories. At the same time, the feature can make use of adaptive accessories, like joysticks, if you prefer.

With this feature enabled, a simple tap on the screen can accomplish tasks that would otherwise require multi-finger gestures, double taps, pressing buttons, etc. In my own case, I use it to activate Apple Pay, take screenshots, lock my screen, and restart my iPhone. There are many more possibilities.

Turning On Assistive Touch

Enabling this accessibility feature is as simple as asking Siri. Just activate the voice assistant and say, “Siri, turn on Assistive Touch”. Your iPhone will show a white dot on the screen, which you can tap to activate a menu of options.

Alternatively, you can activate the menu through the Settings app. You’ll also take this route if you want to customize the menu to change which tasks you use it to complete.

  • In the Settings app, tap Accessibility > Touch > Assistive Touch
  • Turn on Assistive Touch
  • Now you can customize the menu, adding additional buttons or removing ones you don’t need.

You should explore the various options here, since the possibilities are so numerous. Assistive Touch can even launch Shortcuts you’ve created. In addition to configuring the icons shown when you single tap the Assistive Touch menu button, you can also set up what the iPhone does if you double tap our long press the dot.

The below video shows enabling Assistive Touch and changing the menu choices.


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