Guide To Help You Turn Off Assistive Touch in iPhone and iPad

Assistive Touch is an accessibility feature available on Apple iPhones and iPads. It was added to alleviate the burden of having to continually press on the Home button to switch through various tasks or applications.

It was primarily included to help you use and control your Apple iPhones and iPads in a much more straightforward manner. Furthermore, it also aids in to perform necessary gestures such as swiping, multi-finger swiping, 3D Touch, and more. However, there are times when Assistive Touch can be a pain to use, which is why we’ve provided three ways to turn off assistive touch on your device. You’ll be glad to know that these solutions are quite easy and that you’ll be able to get back to using your iPhone without any hassle.

How to Turn Off Assistive Touch Permanently – 3 Guaranteed Ways

As a technology, the assistive touch feature is not completely bad. The only problem with it is that its existence has put iPhone and iPad users in a quandary. If you have accidentally activated this feature it will keep popping up every time you press on the home button. And if you are among the many iPhone users who just don’t this annoyance, enlisted are three proven ways to turn off assistive touch.

1) Turning It Off Manually Through Settings

Step 1: Click the “Home” button on your iPhone and then look for the “Settings” icon, as shown in the image attached below. Once you locate the “Settings” icon, tap to open it.

Step 2: Once inside the “Settings” panel, look for “General,” which is usually the third option.

Step 3: Now click on the “Accessibility” option.

Step 4: Once you have opened up the “Accessibility” menu, inside it, you will find an option called AssistiveTouch, which is usually located inside the “Interaction” tab. Just beside this option, you will get a toggle button to turn it on or off.

This is probably the most time-consuming method among the other two methods discussed in the guide.

2) Use The Siri Voice Assistant to Turn off Assistive Touch on an iPhone

You can use your voice to toggle on and off features, open and close applications, and do various tasks in Apple devices, and all thanks go to Siri.

To open Siri, all you need to do is follow two simple steps.

1. Press and hold the “Home” button for a few seconds.
2. You will then get vibration feedback, or you will hear two beeps.
3. In either case, it means Siri is now activated and is ready to follow your voice commands.

Now, all you have to do is ask Siri to “Turn off Assistive Touch,” and in a second or two, you will be able to notice the changes.

This is one of the easiest methods, but you have to deal with the inconsistencies that Siri presents as a voice assistant.

3) Turn On Accessibility Shortcut (With triple-click)

Another way you can turn “AssistiveTouch” on or off is by turning on the “Accessibility Shortcut.” This would allow you to access various essential accessibility features easily by just triple-clicking your Home button.

To turn on the shortcut, you will have to navigate to the “Settings” menu. From there, you will need to open the “General” tab, and here you need to look for the “Accessibility” option. Click on the “Accessibility” option and then scroll to the bottom of the screen, and here you will find the button to turn on or off the shortcut.

Once you have Accessibility Shortcut on, you will be able to effectively turn Assistive Touch off no matter what screen you are on by triple-clicking the Home button on your iOS device no matter if you are using an iPhone or iPad.

Important Points to Remember

1. You Can Hide It: If you are looking to keep the feature on, but you are looking to hide the menu, all you have to do is press the ‘hide menu’ from the settings screen.
2. Changing Triple-Click Speed: Some people might have issues with triple-clicking if the speed is too fast or too slow. If you find yourself unable to triple-click with the appropriate accuracy, you could always change the speed settings associated with your home click found in the ACCESSIBILITY settings.
3. Easiest Method For Most: For most, the triple-click is going to be the easiest and fastest way to toggle the setting ‘on and off.’ However, there are multiple ways to do it, so you can simply choose the option that works best for you.
4. It Can Be A Good Option For Damaged Home Buttons: Because previous iPads and iPhones always used a physical Home button, anyone that had a damaged Home button likely had a lot of issues with navigating their devices. Therefore, you pretty much had to get the physical button fixed prior to using it again.

However, with this feature, you can effectively create a digital Home button, which will allow you to achieve the same Home button functions that you wouldn’t be able to with a broken physical Home button. Therefore, for these people, the feature is likely something that will make the phone much easier and more enjoyable to use.

How to Properly Use Assistive Touch to Control Your Device?

This feature makes it much easier to control your device once you get used to it. You will be able to use it to perform various tasks much more conveniently, such as being able to easily control your volume settings, rotate your screen, quickly lock your screen, and more. You can even use the feature to turn off your phone quickly. Another right way to use it is to navigate to important settings like Bluetooth, AirDrop quickly, and even to quickly take photos.

3D Touch Integration

For those with an iPhone 6s or later, you will be able to utilize 3D touch alongside the feature. This will allow you to customize the feature’s actions to help you perform specific tasks.

That being said, not everyone is going to enjoy using this feature as it can get in the way at times, and it can even be confusing to use for someone that is not entirely familiar with it like me. If you are like me, you will be looking to turn it off to avoid it getting in the way.

Figuring out how to access and manipulate settings on iOS devices can be difficult. Recently I was faced with the issue of wanting to turn off ‘Assistive Touch’ and really had a tough time finding the setting. Because I had to navigate through setting after setting, I figured I would create the ultimate guide for those that are having the same issue with being unable to turn it off. Below, I will go over multiple ways you can turn off the assistive touch feature on your iPad or iPhone device.

Reasons to Like and Dislike Assistive Touch

Users Don’t Like It Because It Gets in Their Way – The pervasive sentiment among users who seek to disable the feature altogether is one of frustration at its intrusive nature. The button tends to hover in an obtrusive manner, frequently leading to inadvertent clicks and consequent disruptions.

Users Like It Because They Avoid Pressing the Home Button – One of the key advantages of using an iPhone is its unparalleled durability and superior build quality. However, constant pressing of physical buttons like the home button can cause wear and tear, leading to frequent replacements and added expenses. To address this issue, the iPhone offers a digital control feature that allows users to avoid pressing physical buttons altogether. This not only reduces the wear and tear on the buttons but also extends the longevity of the device, ensuring that it continues to run optimally for longer periods of time.

Conclusion

Overall, iOS was designed to have this feature to make things ‘easier’ to use and access. However, for some, it just made things a little more difficult. If you are like me and you want things to go back to normal without the feature getting in your way, you will be looking to turn the setting off completely. Follow the guide above, and you should be able to do so easily.