Android has several accessibility features to improve and provide users with better experience. One of those features is the three-key zoom. There are certain times when you receive texts on your Android phone written in weird fonts that you are not well familiar with. Someone may also send you a diagram or drawing that requires further analysis or examination. Additionally, some apps display information / text in rather small fonts than we are used to. To enlarge the information displayed on your Android screen, you will need the triple touch zoom feature.
Triple Touch Zoom lets you magnify your screen by tapping it three times continuously with just one finger. This gives you a detailed look at what’s on the screen. As is the downside to all tap-based gestures, this feature sometimes ends up zooming you in when you don’t want it too.
Enabling and disabling triple touch zoom on Android phones
You can turn on the triple-touch zoom whenever you want to use it, but sometimes we don’t need it. You may find it convenient to turn it off completely. Turning the triple touch zoom on or off is especially handy when playing a video game on our phone or using other Android apps that require frequent tapping. If you don’t turn off the feature, triple touch zoom can slow down the screen response time, resulting in a frustrating experience with an app.
Different Android phones have different locations of the Accessibility functionality. In most telephones, this function is located in Settings under Additional parameters. In other phones it can be found in the settings under Staff settings. The best option would be to open Settings and look in Search parameters.
Enable triple touch zoom
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down until you find the Accessibility functionality or Additional or Staff Settings, depending on your Android.
- Click on the Accessibility or Additional or Staff Settings.
- Click on Magnification Gestures.
- Turn it Sure.
- Now triple tap on the screen and see what happens.
The screen should be able to zoom in after you’ve triple-taped and zoomed out after you’ve done another triple tap. However, some phones with older versions of Android do not support this type of magnification. This is because the accessibility feature is not installed.
Disable Enable triple touch zoom
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll down until you find the Accessibility functionality or Additional Settings or Staff Settings. Remember that one of these options will take you to the screen you need.
- Press the Accessibility or Additional or Staff Settings.
- Click on Magnification Gestures.
- Turn it Of.
- Now triple tap on the screen and see what happens.
Nothing should happen!
Once you are in full zoom, you can refine and move around your view.
Zoom in and out
You just need to tap the screen three times quickly with one finger. This enlarges the screen to bring it closer to you. You can ‘push back’ content or zoom out when you triple tap again.
Scrolling
Slide two or more fingers across the screen. If you use a finger, the screen may take longer to respond because it will check if the tap is one of the two valves that could follow to do them three times.
Adjust the zoom level
To adjust the zoom level, pinch or lift two or more fingers on the screen.
- To pinch, spread two fingers apart on the screen and pinch them together.
- To unpin, spread those fingers apart.
Temporary magnification
If you don’t want to use the full zoom feature of the triple-tap zoom, you can use a temporary magnification. Temporary magnification works well when you want to do a quick and brief check of something on the screen.
Screen magnification does not apply to the keyboard and navigation bar, and not all phones can easily access the magnification accessibility option via Accessibility or Settings.
To find it, select Search in your Settings and explore Magnification gestures.In some other phones, to access Magnification settings, move towards Accessibility > Vision > Magnification Settings.
- Magnification can be up to 8x, although some phones only allow 5x.
- When you open or close an app while zooming in, the phone will automatically zoom out for you.
How to use temporary magnification
- Press three times quickly and hold the last press for as long as you want.
- Slide your finger across the screen.
- Lift your finger to cancel zoom.
Magnify view on Android TVs
You can enlarge the information displayed on Android TV also sets, especially when accessing the Internet. Unlike mobile phones, you use a remote control to zoom, not gestures.
- Open the Web browser app on your TV.
- press the PROG + or CH + button on your remote.
- Choose your preferred and appropriate option: 100%, 150%, 200% or 300%.
To turn off or reduce the display size, press the PROGRAM- or CH- on your remote.
Disadvantages of triple tap zoom
A major downside to this feature is that it is sometimes inappropriate, especially when texting someone, copying and pasting information, or playing a smartphone video game. This is because your phone may misinterpret every press you make for magnification. The screen will continue to zoom in and out, and unless you know how to turn off the feature, it could be pretty annoying for you.
Conclusion
The developers invented triple touch zoom out when most Android phones had smaller screens that made it difficult to read the contents of the screen. The zoom feature was a breakthrough, but unfortunately most people don’t know how to use it (toggle on and off) appropriately. Like any other feature on Android OS, triple-touch zoom is a feature that can be turned on and off when not needed, and you probably wouldn’t even miss it if it was turned off.
So why even keep it as an accessibility feature? The point is that our screens may have gotten bigger, but the clairvoyance, curiosity about the finer details and small text remains the same.