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Once you have unlocked your iPhone, find the ‘Settings’ icon and tap on it. It looks like an image of a grey gear. You might need to swipe your screen to find it.
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Scroll down to find ‘Accessibility’. It's blue and has a white stick man on it. Tap on it.
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Scroll down to find ‘Voice Control’. This is under the 'Physical and Motor' heading. Tap on it.
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Tap on ‘Set Up Voice Control’.
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If it’s your first time setting up voice control, your phone will guide you through some functions you can use. Read through, tap ‘Continue’ and then tap ’Done’.
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Then tap the switch at top of the screen to enable voice control. You will see a small sound wave appear in the top left corner of your screen. This means your phone is listening.
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If you want to go back to your home screen, just say, “Go Home”.
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Now let’s look at how to send a text message. Say “Open Messages”.
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If you then say “Show Grid”, a grid will appear that will allow you to tap precisely onto your desired location using your voice.
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Say the number shown on the screen where you want to tap. For example, say, “Tap 4."
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A smaller grid will appear. Then say, “Tap 9” to press the button in that section. In this case, it is the “New message” button.
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Say the name of the person you want to write a message to, for example “Jane”. The contact's name and phone number will then appear in green. Say "Tap Jane".
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Then say "Text Message".
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Write the text message by saying, for example, “Hello, exclamation mark, how are you, question mark”.
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When you finish, say "Tap Send".
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To go back to the home screen, say "Go Home".
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Now let's do a phone call. Say "Tap Phone" while you are in the home screen.
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Then say "Tap Contacts".
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As an example, say "Tap Jane".
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Say, “Tap Call” and you will be calling this person. Note that for your privacy, voice access will stop listening at this point, so you might need to ask the other person to end the call.
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Now, let's open and close a app. As an example, say "Open Safari". To exit app, say "Go Home".
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If you want to pause voice control, say, “Stop listening”. A notification will pop up, confirming it stopped listening.
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If you want to turn it back on, just say, “Start listening”. A notification will pop up, confirming it is listening again.
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You can turn it off at any time by going back to ‘Settings’.
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Scroll down to find ‘Voice Control’. This is under the 'Physical and Motor' heading. Tap on it.
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Tap the switch next to ‘Voice Control’. On this page, you can also open the Voice Control tutorial to learn about all the commands you can use.
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You can also view a list of commands from the 'Settings' page by tapping 'Commands'.
Charley, with a background in teaching, has worked in both educational and community settings, specialising in helping older adults build confidence with technology. Her work has given her a real understanding of the challenges people face when learning new skills later in life, and she enjoys finding simple, practical ways to make technology feel less daunting.
