Accessibility - vision
Button Shapes
Most people call this showing which words are actually buttons.
Text that acts as a button gets an underline or a shape, so you can tell what is tappable.
Available
This setting is present on your iPhone.
- We have this path on file but have not yet confirmed it against an official source.
Where to find it - iOS 13 and later
- Settings
- Accessibility
- Display & Text Size
- Button Shapes
What it does
Many controls in iOS are plain coloured words. This adds a visible indicator so they read as controls rather than labels.
What changes
When it is on
Tappable words gain underlines or backgrounds.
When it is off
Buttons rely on colour and position alone.
Should you turn it on?
Good reasons to turn it on
- Removes guesswork about what can be tapped.
- Helps when colour vision makes blue text hard to distinguish.
Good reasons to turn it off
- The extra underlines look cluttered to some people.
Battery
No real change
Privacy
No real change
Performance
No real change
Cellular data
No real change
Storage
No real change
Out of the box: Off.
Questions people actually ask
- How do I tell what is a button on iPhone?
- Turn on Button Shapes under Accessibility, then Display and Text Size.
If it is not working
- It applies to system controls. Apps that draw their own buttons are unaffected.