iOS 11: Adding the Magnifier to Control Center

iOS 11

The iOS “Magnifier” feature, which is a way to use your device as kind of a low-powered set of binoculars or a magnifying glass, has been around since iOS 10. In fact, TMO’s Jeff Gamet wrote about how to set it up back in 2016. iOS 11 makes it much easier to use, though—you can now add an icon for it into Control Center, so here’s all you’ve gotta do to configure that! First, visit the Settings app, and unsurprisingly, you’ll look for the “Control Center” section.

Settings App Control Center option lets you add and remove Control Center items

Tap on that, and then touch “Customize Controls.”

Use Customize Controls in Control Center Settings to add and remove items

Within that next screen, scroll down and touch the plus button next to “Magnifier,” and it’ll appear at the top of your list under the “Include” section.

Adding the Magnifier to Control Center

(You can also drag any of the three-lined icons shown to the right of the tools above to set the order in which you want them to appear in Control Center.)

The next time you bring up Control Center afterward by swiping up from the bottom of your Home Screen, you’ll see your new addition:

Control Center with New Icon for the Magnifier

Touch that to open the Magnifier—it’s handy for embiggening tiny text by using the slider at the bottom…

Close-up of Text using the Magnifier from Control Center in iOS 11

…or for getting a close-up view from across a room.

View from Across the Room using the Magnifier in iOS 11

Not that I’ve ever used it for, say, checking out my thermostat without getting up. I would never admit to that level of laziness, friends.

One thought on “iOS 11: Adding the Magnifier to Control Center

  • Great feature but Apple needs to up its game on accessibility for low vision users. The new Smart Invert feature still makes photos look like negatives when on websites! This shouldn’t be a hard problem to solve, surely! They also need to offer some different colours when using Invert colours, not everyone likes orange on black.

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