iOS 14 Adds Accessibility Feature for Tapping on the iPhone to Perform Actions - MacRumors
Skip to Content

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

Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Thursday July 30, 2026 6:12 am PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Month With These 12 New Features

Sunday August 2, 2026 7:21 pm PDT by
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max should be launching next month. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, ...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Sunday August 2, 2026 7:32 pm PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...

Top Rated Comments

QuarterSwede Avatar
80 months ago
Super cool!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
80 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
80 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)
80 months ago
Interesting... wonder if it works with a case on...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Awesome Avatar
80 months ago
Awesome! And arguably more useful then the squeeze gesture on Android phones.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RA1N1 Avatar
80 months ago
Ok, I am mind-blown by this feature. thumbs up Apple 👍
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)