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iPhone or iPad: Screen Appears Too Big or Zoomed In Too Much

iPhone or iPad: Screen Appears Too Big or Zoomed In Too Much

December 21, 2016 by Mitch Bartlett 64 Comments

There seems to be a large amount of people who bought the Apple iPhone or iPad who have problems with the unit magnifying the screen 2X and making the graphics huge to a point where the screen is too big to be usable.

Apparently this is a feature with the iOS operating system. What has most likely happened is you may have accidentally enabled the zoom feature by double tapping it with 3 fingers.

  • To fix this issue, simply double-tap on the screen with 3 fingers, and the screen will usually go back to normal and eliminate the magnification.
    iPhone Triple Tap
  • If the double-tap doesn’t work for you, try double tapping again, only on the second tap, keep your fingers on the screen, then drag them up and down to zoom in and out respectively.
  • If you want to disable this feature and prevent this problem from happening again, you can go to “Settings” > “General” > “Accessibility” and turn off “Zoom“.
    iPhone Zoom feature

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Filed Under: iPhone

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John says

    October 12, 2022 at 1:36 pm

    Cannot believe this worked! Thx

  2. holly branstner says

    August 30, 2022 at 11:16 pm

    Nope didn’t work

  3. Hayden Howell says

    July 16, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    Settings > ‘Accessibility’ > ‘Display & Text Size’ > ‘Larger Text’ > ‘Larger Text’

    Adjust the Text size this way. This was the only thing to fix my issue. My ‘Zoom’ Feature was already off so i knew it wasn’t that.

  4. Trevor Howard says

    June 23, 2022 at 9:54 am

    I haave been going crazy trying to figure it out. I can now get at then icons that were always hidden. You techs are great. Thank you.

  5. SgtLip says

    May 4, 2022 at 7:35 pm

    On iPad it is zoomed in for the Dig This app and three fingers doesn’t work. Went to the Settings and Zoom is completely off.

    Can’t play half the games because it cuts the tops of the screens off.

  6. harshi says

    May 3, 2022 at 4:54 am

    hey, for some reason when I choose the standard view, the clock seems to be too big, and when I choose the zoomed view the opposite happens. do you know how I can fix that?

  7. Lorena Carr says

    April 28, 2022 at 11:02 am

    Hell no & I am not going to pay 1 penny for someone to help me with problem on my iPhone…. They are expensive enough so I think if I should come free if not I will throw this phone away and get me a galaxy or a different phone because you don’t stand behind your product

  8. Dan McBride says

    April 20, 2022 at 1:07 pm

    This was great! Mine kept doing it in my backpack somehow. Now its disabled. Thx

  9. JohnIL says

    April 17, 2022 at 4:30 am

    Apple has crammed too many gestures and ways to do things with touch that it’s become a mess to use a iPad without doing something you didn’t intend to do. I wish I could just go back to what the iPad was in the beginning.

  10. Julie says

    March 27, 2022 at 7:18 am

    I’m in hospital at the moment & my iPhone 12 as zoomed in so much that it looks like their is an other screen I can’t get in to phone it won’t turn off its not letting you do anything the 3 finger as always worked when it zooms in but nothing is working now it my only mean to the outside world I can’t even make any call or get my numbers please please help I’m on the ward s iPad to try to find a way to fix it but had no look hope you can help me soon hoping for a solution
    Julie

  11. Andy says

    March 2, 2022 at 12:06 pm

    Thank you very very much.

  12. Marla B says

    January 21, 2022 at 1:17 pm

    Three fingers! YES!!
    THANK YOU !! THANK YOU !! THANK YOU!!
    My panic resolved!!

  13. Diana says

    December 19, 2021 at 12:26 am

    Thanks a million. Didn’t work, didn’t work, and then…it worked!

  14. RC says

    December 14, 2021 at 2:40 pm

    Help, I’ve tried the 3 fingers on the iphone 8plus and still can’t get it the huge font gone! I can’t shut off because the screen is too big, won’t let me side it over to shut off… What now?

  15. susan says

    November 30, 2021 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you so much !! What a wonderful service you provide …

  16. Mike E. says

    November 24, 2021 at 11:57 am

    Certain websites kept being too wide for my iPad Pro screen when using the Safari browser. I finally figured out the solution in my case: Go to Settings->Safari->scroll down to “Settings for Websites” section->click on “Request Desktop Website”->Turn it “Off” for all websites. My frustration level has now dropped significantly :)

  17. Art says

    November 8, 2021 at 12:45 am

    Thank you! Phone call in middle of night and I accidentally did this. So happy I found this article!

  18. Jeroen says

    September 16, 2021 at 2:56 am

    3 fingers it is ! Thank you. Solved my problem immediately.!

  19. Brenda Leiboldt says

    August 23, 2021 at 6:10 pm

    Pressing the up volume button then the down volume button then powering off worked for me.

  20. Priya says

    July 11, 2021 at 6:41 am

    Worked immediately! Very grateful

  21. Jill M says

    July 10, 2021 at 7:05 am

    If tapping doesn’t work, press the up then the down volume buttons on the side and then hold the power button until it goes off.

  22. Gary Robinson says

    June 3, 2021 at 10:38 am

    ZOOM
    3 Finger tap not working and I can’t shrink my screen enough to get even my pass code entered! ARGGGG!!!
    Someone please help!

  23. Melissa says

    May 28, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    Thank you so much! This worked like a charm!!

  24. Julia says

    May 3, 2021 at 5:42 am

    This was a new phone. Thanks it worked. I ‘ve turned zoom off!

  25. GraMargot says

    March 23, 2021 at 1:22 am

    Daddy Mitch with beautiful baby, thank you to the moon and back! My zoom overloaded about 3 months ago. My daughter found the riddles answer. But this time I braved the zoom and searched online. And found your well stated solution. Familiar. God bless you

  26. MdelR says

    March 19, 2021 at 7:09 am

    Thank you. It worked. Last night while I was cleaning the screen, I must have inadvertently tapped on it. At first it didn’t look like the tapping had worked, I may have also dragged the screen some, but when I pressed the home button and went back to the apps, I was happy to find it was back to normal size and usable again. Thanks again for a very useful post.

  27. Scott says

    February 23, 2021 at 3:46 pm

    Thanks so much – was ready to chuck the phone in the bin!
    Great!

  28. Jules Mckinnon says

    December 31, 2020 at 9:03 am

    It did not work, I can’t type password or email in App Store.

  29. Jalen says

    December 2, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    My zoom is off but my phone is still magnified

  30. Deanna Thomson says

    November 28, 2020 at 10:41 pm

    I have a problem why does my iPad screen apps looks so big

  31. Narish Shikarpoori says

    October 24, 2020 at 8:38 am

    Thank you S
    IT WAS PERFECT AS SOON AS I CLICKED THREE FINGERS ALL WAS NORMAL AGAIN AND KNOW FIRST THING I DID WAS TO DISCONNTECT FROM ZOOM
    FIVE STARS FOR YOU “””””

  32. Anniegardengirl says

    September 3, 2020 at 6:40 am

    Thank you so very much. This has happened a couple of times and I fixed it but didn’t know how. This worked perfectly and now I know the rule!

  33. Allen says

    September 2, 2020 at 5:09 am

    Worked like charm!

    Thank you.

  34. David Marrie says

    August 27, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    no. my phone was off when the zooming took place. the numbers on screen are too large for me to enter password or to shut off phone. tried the three finger double tap repeatedly to no avail.

  35. Gillian Lofts says

    July 14, 2020 at 6:20 am

    3 fingers just won’t work and it is driving me crazy. PLEASE help. Zoom is turned off and screen still huge.

  36. Grizelda says

    April 21, 2020 at 6:21 am

    I turned Zoomoff, then on, then off again, turned off my iPad, had a cup of coffee, turned it back on again. I then found a Zoom ‘square’ appeared on my screen but a double tap removed it and now messenger is working so that I can read whole message and reply! All very strange.

  37. Annette says

    April 19, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    The text on my email is strung out and the pictures too huge to view. Three finger taps aren’t working to fix the problem. I tried turning the iPad off and on again, tried closing Mail and reopening, etc.

    This is the only email this has happened to. I really need to read the text that accompanies each photo!

  38. Mark says

    March 25, 2020 at 3:39 am

    3-finger trick worked, thank you!!!

  39. Eileen Luce says

    March 23, 2020 at 8:55 am

    I tried the three finger method and still cannot get graphics reduced.

  40. Gina says

    November 25, 2019 at 7:34 pm

    3 Finger tap not working and I can’t shrink my screen enough to get even my pass code entered! ARGGGG!!!
    Someone please help!

  41. Linda Gonse says

    September 18, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    Yes, this is an intermittent problem for me. Zoom is not turned on, but sometimes a double-tap on a page causes it to zoom in. Any other taps zoom in even larger. Three finger taps don’t work. Sometimes closing the application by removing it from the screen and reopening it will turn return it to normal. This time, is it not. I will try rebooting. This is an unexplainable and irritating problem.

  42. Ric says

    June 5, 2019 at 10:29 am

    No, just the same
    Even turned off & on

  43. Ann says

    April 25, 2019 at 3:44 am

    Was happening only on one of my page and had no idea why, tried this and it’s worked. Thanks

  44. Ivan says

    April 22, 2019 at 11:58 pm

    The 3-finger double tap magnification is too large. It is impossibly hard work working the scan window around to view the rest of the text of image. Is there any way to vary the magnification?

  45. Ken Johnston says

    February 23, 2019 at 8:59 am

    A hard reboot also works. Never could get any other options to bring size back to normal.

  46. Bev says

    January 7, 2019 at 9:45 pm

    Took me about 10 times but it finally worked. Stupid thing to happen. Apple needs to address this issueBev

  47. Barry says

    June 23, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    I have my iPad stuck in zoom mode although zoom in settings is in the off mode
    I tried tapping 3 fingers on screen with no success
    HELP!!!

  48. Greg says

    June 21, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    Glad it worked for those other folks. I’m in with crowd that still has 1/4″ high letters after trying both options. Any more suggestions?

  49. Hope says

    May 1, 2018 at 5:11 am

    Thanks so much. It worked like magic. :)

  50. Ro says

    March 10, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    Genius! Thank you so very much! Tech problems SUCK!

  51. Dan Paxton says

    March 5, 2018 at 11:49 am

    Thanks Mitch!

  52. Frank says

    March 1, 2018 at 2:58 am

    Thank you thank you!!!

  53. Oz says

    December 1, 2017 at 8:33 am

    Zoom option is off and still too big! Cannot find any help to make this smaller. It is a shame!

  54. Phil says

    July 17, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    Thank you for the great tip. Worked perfect for me and my old fat fingers. Greatly appreciate it!

  55. Kermit says

    July 11, 2017 at 8:08 am

    Thanks for the help. really appreciate it. Thanks for keeping this post active, since Apple has not bothered to fix/adjust it.

    Thought I would have to go to the apple store in Berlin and am supposed to leave Berlin tomorrow.
    Saved me all that and the friendly smirk. :)

  56. Nancy Mills says

    April 9, 2017 at 6:40 pm

    Thanks. Zoom thing happened on my IPad. But double tap with 3 fingers worked like a charm.

  57. Teresa says

    January 22, 2017 at 5:10 pm

    I tried everything above and the only game that is still too big is Clash of Kings. Nothing I do will reduce the graphics.

  58. Evelyn says

    January 10, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Thank you so much. We had no idea how to handle this. What a relief!

  59. ken says

    October 7, 2016 at 5:47 pm

    3 fingers haleluyah, thank you ever so much

  60. Bonzzz says

    September 26, 2016 at 6:11 pm

    Wow – that’s amazing – I did not know that I tapped the screen with three fingers – Bless you for helping me get my screen back to the size I can read !!!

  61. CharBeeXOX says

    September 25, 2016 at 10:46 am

    please help my iPad is on zoom mode and won’t un zoom i tried everything but it won’t work plz help…

  62. sal says

    July 14, 2016 at 9:38 am

    Thank you this is useful information .. however this happened to me when my Zoom feature was already off. I had no idea how it happened and how it was suddenly fixed.

  63. Jean says

    July 7, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    Thank you for posting this. It worked!
    Jean

  64. Iona says

    June 21, 2016 at 3:30 am

    Thank you so much, this has been a big problem for me and only fixed it by a fluke in the past. Now I know what to do.

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Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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