How-To

How to Change Text Color on iPhone

By Brian Burgess

Updated December 7, 2023

There are many ways to customize your iPhone via settings or third-party apps, including the ability to change text color. This guide explains how.

The iPhone’s user interface is straightforward, with text colors complimenting the backgrounds. Whether it’s the standard light UI out of the box or after enabling dark mode, the text color remains constant throughout the interface.

However, there may come a time when you want to change the text color on your iPhone. The good news is it’s possible to change the text color for iOS and colors in specific apps.

Whether you want to change text color across your iPhone or enjoy a text color change in a single app, we’ll show you how below.

How to Change Text Color on iPhone

The most straightforward way to change the text color of the UI throughout your iPhone experience is to invert colors on iPhone.

The Classic Invert option reverses all colors on your iPhone—including text. To invert colors on iPhone, use these steps.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
3. Toggle the Classic or Smart Invert setting on or off.
   

Note: Either option will switch the text from white to black, as seen in the example below. Keep in mind it also reverses all colors on your screen.

The Invert option is suitable for users who have difficulty seeing the standard color themes or if they want a new look. Another helpful feature is creating an Accessibility shortcut to turn it on or off more easily.

How to Change Text Color in iPhone Apps

In addition to changing text color throughout the user experience, you can change text color on iPhone apps. This will depend on the app you’re using, so make sure to check out the app’s settings before you proceed.

For example, you can change text color in word processing apps like Pages or Microsoft Word. To change text color in Pages on iPhone, follow these steps.

1. Launch the Pages app on your iPhone, and create and open a new or existing document.
2. Ensure you are in Edit Mode by tapping the Edit button at the top.
3. Highlight a piece of text you want to change the color of and tap the paintbrush icon.
4. When the Text box comes up, tap the Text Color option from the menu.
5. Choose the color you want to use for the selected text.
6. The text you selected will change its color to the one you chose.

Once you have the basics of changing the text color of your documents in Pages, you can explore the text color options more to format them exactly how you want.

How to Change iMessage Color on iPhone

If you want to spice things up with your text messages, you can change the iMessage color on your iPhone.

To change the iMessage color of the text bubbles, an excellent option is to use the Color Text Bubbles in the iMessage app. It allows you to change up the chat bubble color, font, font color, and font size.

The app is free to download and includes in-app purchases for more iMessage customization options.

How to Change Text Color in Mail App on iPhone

You can easily change the text color of your mail apps while composing your messages. For example, changing text color can help emphasize specific parts of your email message.

To change email text color on iPhone:

1. Open the Mail app and compose a new message.
2. Highlight the text you want to change the color of and tap the format button (Aa) from the options bar.
3. When the Format options appear, tap the color palette icon.
4. Choose the color you want to use from the palette, and the highlighted text will change.
5. Close out the text formatting menus and if everything looks good, send your message off.

How to Change Subtitle Text Color on an iPhone

If you rely on subtitles for your video watching, you can change its text color via the Accessibility options menu. To change subtitle text color on iPhone, follow these steps.

1. Open Settings.
2. Swipe down the menu and select the Accessibility option.
3. Scroll down to the Hearing section and tap Subtitles & Captioning.
4. Tap Style on the Subtitles & Captioning section.
5. Tap Create New Style at the bottom of the list.
   Note: You can view your new style on the preview screen above the menus.
6. Now you can choose different font styles, sizes, colors, background opacity, and more. Tap the Color option under the Text section to change it.
7. Choose the color you want to use from the list for the subtitle color.

This section provides a lot of experimentation for the look of subtitles since there are several settings to adjust. Have some fun and make your subtitles the best for your needs.

How to Change the Text Color on the iPhone Lock Screen

Another aspect of changing text color on an iPhone is on the lock screen. Since Apple introduced widgets on the iPhone, there are far more customization options for your lock screen.

To change the text color on the lock screen on your iPhone, follow these steps.

1. Tap and hold the Lock Screen until the Customize button appears.
2. Next, tap the Customize button and choose the Lock Screen option.
3. Tap the clock or other widget on your iPhone, and the Font & Color menu will appear. Choose the color you want to change the text on your lock screen.
4. For more color options, swipe the color options to the left and choose the palette icon. Select the color to which you want to change the text—you can view how it will look in real-time.
5. Once you decide on a color for your text, tap the Done button at the top right corner of the screen.

Customizing Your iPhone

Whether it’s within the OS itself or individual apps, there are many ways to change text color on iPhone to get the look and feel you want. Also, as iOS continues to mature, more customization options are being added. However, if iOS doesn’t have a customization setting, you can usually find an app to meet your needs. If you need more fonts, look at how to install custom fonts on your iPhone.

Text isn’t the only thing you can change, either. For example, if you’re unhappy with new iOS features, you might want to remove the search button on the home screen. Or, to change things up, you can add a different wallpaper on the home and lock screen.