How to Make Text Bigger on Your Screen: Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

Squinting at tiny writing is tiring, and it is one of the most common reasons people give up on a computer or phone. The good news: every modern device lets you make text bigger on screen in a minute, and you can choose between making only the text larger, making everything larger, or zooming in just when you need it. This guide covers Windows 11, Mac, web browsers, iPhone and Android.

This is an independent guide, not affiliated with Microsoft, Apple or Google.

Which option do you need?

You want to…	Use
Make only the words bigger, everywhere	Text size (Windows) or Text Size (phones)
Make text, icons and windows all bigger	Display Scale (Windows) or Larger Text on Mac
Make one web page bigger	Browser zoom (Ctrl and plus)
Look closely at part of the screen now and then	Magnifier (Windows) or Zoom (Mac, iPhone)

Windows 11: make only text bigger

1. Open Settings (press Windows key + I).
2. Select Accessibility > Text size.
3. Drag the Text size slider to the right while watching the preview text.
4. Select Apply. The screen may show “Please wait” briefly.

This makes text bigger in menus, File Explorer, Settings and most apps, but leaves icons and window layouts the same.

Windows 11: make everything bigger (scaling)

1. Open Settings > System > Display.
2. Under Scale & layout, open the Scale menu and choose a larger value, for example 125% or 150%.
3. Some older apps need you to sign out and back in to pick up the change.

Leave Display resolution on the value marked (Recommended). Lowering the resolution also makes things bigger, but it makes text blurry on modern screens. If text already looks fuzzy, our guide to blurry display and wrong resolution or scaling explains how to fix it. If you use two screens, set the scale for each one separately; see second monitor not detected if one does not appear.

Windows: Magnifier for a closer look

Magnifier enlarges part of the screen without changing any settings:

• Turn it on: press Windows key + plus (+).
• Zoom in or out: press Windows key + plus or Windows key + minus.
• Turn it off: press Windows key + Esc.

You can choose between a full-screen, lens or docked view in Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier. For a bigger mouse pointer, see Settings > Accessibility > Mouse pointer and touch.

Mac

• Make everything bigger: open Apple menu > System Settings > Displays and choose one of the Larger Text options. On some displays you first need to show all resolutions.
• Make text bigger in many apps: open System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Text size and adjust the size for all apps or individual ones.
• Zoom: in System Settings > Accessibility > Zoom, turn on keyboard shortcuts, then press Option + Command + 8 to toggle zoom.

Web browsers (any computer)

All major browsers zoom the same way:

• Zoom in: Ctrl and plus (Command and plus on a Mac).
• Zoom out: Ctrl and minus.
• Back to normal: Ctrl and 0.
• Mouse: hold Ctrl and turn the scroll wheel.

The browser remembers the zoom for each website. To make every site bigger by default, set Page zoom in Chrome’s Settings > Appearance, or the equivalent zoom setting in Edge, Firefox or Safari. If pages look wrong after zooming, resetting with Ctrl and 0 fixes them.

iPhone and iPad

1. Open Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size and drag the slider.
2. For even larger text, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Larger Text, turn on Larger Accessibility Sizes and drag the slider.
3. Bold Text in the same place makes letters easier to read.
4. For an overall larger layout, Display Zoom under Display & Brightness enlarges icons and controls on supported models.

Apps that support Dynamic Type follow this setting automatically. Some apps have their own text size option too.

Android

Menus vary by maker, but look in Settings > Display:

• Pixel and many others: Display size and text, with separate sliders for Font size and Display size.
• Samsung Galaxy: Font size and style for text, and Screen zoom for everything else.

The Magnification option under Settings > Accessibility lets you zoom in on any part of the screen with a shortcut, similar to Magnifier on Windows. If you are setting up a phone for a relative, do this at the start; our guide to setting up a new iPhone or Android lists other helpful first steps.

More ways to make the screen easier to read

• Increase contrast: dark text on a light background is easiest for most people. Windows has Contrast themes in Settings > Accessibility.
• Reduce glare: turn up brightness in daylight and use night light in the evening.
• A bigger monitor: for a desktop PC, a larger screen at its recommended resolution plus a little scaling is often the most comfortable setup.
• Screenshots of small print: if you need to read a tiny detail once, a quick screenshot that you then zoom into works too; see how to take a screenshot on Windows 11.

Setting it up for someone else

If you are making a computer or phone easier for a parent or grandparent, change one thing at a time and ask them how it looks, rather than turning everything up at once. Large text plus a high Scale value can push buttons off small laptop screens. Write down what you changed, so it is easy to undo. Then check that the apps they use most, such as email, video calls and the web browser, all look right; browsers keep their own zoom level, so set that too. If you are also checking which version of Windows or how much memory the PC has, see how to check your PC specs.

If you notice that text looks blurry or doubled however large it is, the problem may be your eyesight rather than the screen, and an eye test is worth booking.