No time to drop into the Apple Store and ask the Genius Bar for help with your iPhone or iPad? Maybe one of our resident experts can help!
As Apple nerds, we get asked a lot of tech support questions — and some of those questions crop up time and time again. Here’s a recent query that we think will be familiar to many of you.
“My small hands struggle with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. What can I do?”
Apple has at various points realized people aren’t equipped with banana-sized fingers and thumbs and added useful features to help you more easily navigate a large iPhone with smaller hands. These are all activated in the Settings app.
Go to Accessibility > Touch and turn on Reachability. When you downward-swipe over the Home indicator, the entire screen moves downward, so you can reach app content and Control Center. This section also has a sub-menu called Back Tap, within which you can define actions or shortcuts triggered by two or three taps on the back of the device. Reachability is one of them, but other options include Control Center, taking a screenshot, opening the app switcher, and more.
It’s also possible to make typing easier with one (small) hand. Tap-hold the emoji button and select a one-handed keyboard option. Tap the arrow button to return the keyboard to its normal size.
A word of warning, however: if you have small hands and a large iPhone, long-term use is best with two hands. Whatever you do, avoid balancing the phone on a small finger over extended periods, or you could strain tendons and bring on carpal tunnel symptoms.