Android 15’s new display screen magnification gesture makes it simpler to zoom in

Android is utilized by billions of individuals worldwide, so it’s no marvel that accessibility is a key concern for Google. The corporate has developed a number of accessibility instruments for its cell working system, together with the Android Accessibility Suite, which gives a built-in select-to-speak operate, a display screen reader instrument, further navigation choices, and extra. Google additionally baked a number of accessibility options proper into the OS, comparable to textual content and show scaling, shade correction, and display screen magnification. Display screen magnification can at the moment be activated in certainly one of 3 ways, although a fourth possibility is being added within the upcoming Android 15 replace.

Display screen magnification — to not be confused with the Pixel-exclusive Magnifier app, which lets you use the digital camera to see real-world objects which might be small or far-off — is a local characteristic of the Android working system that zooms in on the display screen to make components simpler to see. It’s discovered underneath Settings > Accessibility > Magnification (no less than on Pixel gadgets) and could be set as much as amplify both the whole display screen or a particular space of curiosity. It’s an particularly nifty instrument for anybody who has problem seeing, which is why Android gives a few strategies to activate it on demand.

These activation strategies, which could be discovered underneath the “magnification shortcut” submenu, at the moment embrace an on-screen accessibility button, a gesture that entails urgent and holding down each quantity keys, and a gesture that entails shortly tapping the display screen 3 times. The primary technique is essentially the most handy however takes up a part of the display screen and at all times magnifies the middle. The second technique doesn’t take up house on-screen however has the longest activation time. The third technique is de facto handy and in addition permits you to zoom in on the precise a part of the display screen you need to amplify, however it additionally slows down your gadget since Android has so as to add a delay to each display screen faucet.

The brand new, fourth activation technique for display screen magnification — at the moment being developed for Android 15 — will let customers shortly faucet the display screen two occasions with two fingers to zoom in. This new “two-finger double-tap display screen” magnification shortcut isn’t seen but within the newest Android 15 Beta 1.2 launch, however we managed to floor the toggle manually, as proven beneath. This toggle is proven above the collapsed-by-default “superior” dropdown, which at the moment accommodates the “triple-tap display screen” shortcut. The possible purpose that Google hid the triple-tap display screen shortcut underneath a dropdown is that it slows down different faucet inputs, as talked about earlier than. Its description even warns that “this shortcut could decelerate your gadget.”

Curiously, this textual content is lacking from the outline for the two-finger double-tap display screen shortcut, suggesting it gained’t decelerate your gadget. Nevertheless, in our transient testing, we seen that there’s nonetheless a slight delay in display screen faucets when it’s enabled. This might be as a result of the characteristic isn’t completed, or it’s really working as supposed, and Google simply hasn’t up to date the outline to replicate the habits. Both method, customers who depend on Android’s display screen magnification characteristic ought to sit up for the Android 15 replace and its quite a few accessibility enhancements.