iOS 14 Adds Accessibility Feature for Tapping on the iPhone to Perform Actions

iOS 14, released for developers today, includes an interesting new Accessibility option that's designed to allow users to double tap or triple tap on the back of the iPhone to perform various actions.

backtapios14
The feature can be used to do things like access Control Center, Notification Center, the Lock screen, the Home screen, or the App Switcher, or it can change the volume, bring up Siri, mute the ‌iPhone‌, take a screenshot, or access a Shortcut.

It can also be set up to work with a number of Accessibility features like Assistive Touch, Magnifier, or VoiceOver.

The Back Tap options can be accessed in the Settings app by tapping Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap. Tapping to trigger an action appears to work fairly well when the ‌iPhone‌'s back is tapped in any spot on the device with either the double tap or triple tap gesture.

Back Tap is just one of many new Accessibility features that Apple has built into iOS 14. VoiceOver has also received major improvements with support for image descriptions, text recognition, and screen recognition, as well as Headphone Accommodations that can amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies for music, movies, phone calls, podcasts, and more.

Related Forum: iOS 14

Popular Stories

airpods pro 3 purple

New, Higher End AirPods Pro Coming This Year

Tuesday January 20, 2026 9:05 am PST by
Apple is planning to debut a high-end secondary version of AirPods Pro 3 this year, sitting in the lineup alongside the current model, reports suggest. Back in September 2025, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to introduce a successor to the AirPods Pro 3 in 2026. This would be somewhat unusual since Apple normally waits around three years to make major...
iOS 27 Mock Quick

iOS 27 Will Add These 8 New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday January 18, 2026 3:51 pm PST by
iOS 27 is still many months away, but there are already plenty of rumors about new features that will be included in the software update. The first beta of iOS 27 will be released during WWDC 2026 in June, and the update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense...
smaller dynamic island iphone 18 pro Filip Vabrous%CC%8Cek

iPhone 18 Pro Leak: Smaller Dynamic Island, No Top-Left Camera Cutout

Tuesday January 20, 2026 2:34 am PST by
Over the last few months, rumors around the iPhone 18 Pro's front-panel design have been conflicted, with some supply-chain leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, reports suggesting a top-left hole-punch camera, and debate over whether the familiar Dynamic Island will shrink, shift, or disappear entirely. Today, Weibo-based leaker Instant Digital shared new details that appear to clarify the ...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

MacBook Pro Buyers Now Facing Up to a Two-Month Wait Ahead of New Models

Sunday January 18, 2026 6:50 pm PST by
MacBook Pro availability is tightening on Apple's online store, with select configurations facing up to a two-month delivery timeframe in the United States. A few 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations with an M4 Pro chip are not facing any shipping delay, but estimated delivery dates for many configurations with an M4 Max chip range from February 6 to February 24 or even later. At...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature Purple

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Thursday January 15, 2026 10:56 am PST by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another eight months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped 12 features rumored for the iPhone 18 Pro models, as of January 2026: The same overall design is expected, with 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, and a "plateau" housing three rear cameras Under-screen Face ID...

Top Rated Comments

QuarterSwede Avatar
73 months ago
Super cool!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tillsbury Avatar
73 months ago
Interesting... wonder if it works with a case on...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gymnastboatman Avatar
73 months ago
FYI: This only works on models that support tap to wake. It is not available on my iPhone SE 2nd gen.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hal~9000 Avatar
73 months ago
This seem’s like a fantastic trick for the large Pro Max iPhone in order to easily bring down Control Center when using the phone one handed. Just another feather in the cap of the great update that is iOS 14 ?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Awesome Avatar
73 months ago
Awesome! And arguably more useful then the squeeze gesture on Android phones.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RA1N1 Avatar
73 months ago
Ok, I am mind-blown by this feature. thumbs up Apple ?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)