How To Use Switch Control To Operate Your iPhone

iOS has another hidden feature which aims to help those users that suffer from any sort of physical limitation, when it comes to handling an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Yes, it’s an Accesibility feature that can incorporate external accessories, such as joysticks and facilitates predefined commands such as head turns and full screen taps.

What do you say about the option to increase or decrease Volume with a simple head turn?

Handling your iOS device using Switch Control is done with the help of an auto scanning process that sequentially highlights all the items on your iPhone’s screen. A third party accessory attached to your device can be used to activate the selections. This way navigation is achieved.

How To Enable Switch Control
To activate this ingenious accessibility feature tap on Settings, opt for General, enter Accessibility and scroll all the way down for Switch Control. The first setting of the Switch Control menu branch allows you to enable it.
If you have an adaptive accessory it would be about time to connect it with your iPhone. You can also use this feature without an accessory, but this implies that you are at least able to tap the screen.

iOS Switch Control Settings
If you plan to use Switch Control with an adaptive accessory make sure that Auto Scanning is ON. Next, adjust the scanning speed, to fit your needs. This impacts on how long an item from your iPhone’s screen remains highlighted and can be accessed via a tap or button press. You can also adjust the number of loops. This determines how many times the screen is scanned when all items from a sequence are completed. Numerous other settings like cursor color, size, speed, sounds effects, stabilization and sensitivity ones are tweakable.

Switches (Gesture Shortcuts) Setup
The most spectacular Switch Control features are its Switches. You can setup three different types of gesture shortcuts. The coolest ones are those using your iPhone’s front facing camera. You can assign a shortcut each for Left and Right Head Movement. The list is predetermined and you can choose between actions that control the:
– Scanner: Select Item, Scanner Menu, Resume Auto Scanning, Move To Nest Item, Move To Previous Item, Stop Scanning; or
– iOS System: Tap, App Switcher (Multitasking Menu), Home Button, Notification Center, Decrease Volume, Increase Volume, Siri.
Another Switch can be assigned using the Full Screen option. This activates the predefined action by tapping anywhere on the screen. It’s helpful for elderly people with very shaky hands or for those that have other types of physical limitations that prevent them from taping a precise spot on the screen. The predefined action for this switch can be selected from the same lists provided above.
Last but not least External Switches can be added, but this only after connecting and adaptive accessory.

Switch Control Tips
– If you use the head turning gesture shortcuts you should set sensitivity to Low, or else you’ll trigger the shortcuts even with partial involuntary movements.
– When Switch Control is enabled you can rapidly turn it off, if needed, by triple-clicking the Home button, instead of returning to the Settings menu.
– If you’re successfully using Switch Control you might should also check our Assistive Touch review.