One of the iPhone’s many accessibility features is what Apple calls “Magnifying Glass,” which uses the smartphone’s cameras to magnify and identify objects in the world around you. For World Accessibility Awareness Day in May this year, Apple introduced Magnifier to Mac, paving the way for more places where the assistive tool can be used, like classrooms or work environments where you may have already pulled out a MacBook.
Magnifier requires macOS 26 Tahoe and can work with a built-in webcam, a connected third-party camera, or an iPhone via Apple’s Continuity feature. Provided your MacBook can run Apple’s latest software update, it’s a natural choice for zooming in on a whiteboard in the back of a large conference room or taking a closer look at documents sitting on a desk in front of you. You can use the app both to capture an individual image that you want to refer to later or to analyze text in a live video stream. But where to start? Here’s how to set up and use Magnifier on your Mac.
How to use the magnifying glass to identify and view text
A MacBook using Magnifier and a connected iPhone to identify and format text in a book. (Apple)
Magnifier’s most powerful feature uses the MacBook’s machine learning capabilities to identify, display, and format text captured by your camera. This works with the text your camera can see in the room around you and the items it captures through the Desk View feature in macOS. For example, to display documents on your desktop:
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Click on the Camera section in the Magnifier menu bar, then select your Desktop View Camera in the drop-down menu.
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Click on the Drive icon (a simple illustration of a document) at the top right of your Magnifier window.
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Click on the sidebar menu icon to access text formatting settings.
Apple gives you options to change the color, font, and background of the text identified by the magnifying glass, among other customization options. If you prefer to capture distant text, you can position a webcam or iPhone camera in front of you and switch to it via the Camera section in the Magnifier menu bar.
You can also listen to any text identified by Magnifier by clicking the button Play button in the upper right corner of Magnifier reader mode. By clicking on the Pause button will pause playback, by clicking on the Move forward Or Skip Back Buttons skip lines of text, and if you want to adjust the reading speed, you can click the button 1x button and choose a speed from the drop-down menu.
How to use the Magnifier to zoom in on yourself
The magnifying glass can identify text, but it also functions as a way to get a magnified view of your own face. (Ian Carlos Campbell for Engadget)
By default, Magnifier uses your MacBook’s built-in webcam, which means you’ll see a view of yourself and anything behind you if no other camera is selected. This may not be usual for seeing distant text, but it’s handy if you’re putting on makeup, putting on contacts, or doing anything else where you need a detailed view of your face.
In my testing, using Magnifier worked best with my MacBook’s built-in webcam or an iPhone. When I tried using a third-party webcam from Logitech, my live camera feed was noticeably slow. Your mileage may vary, but if you’re having trouble with your own webcam, it’s worth trying your built-in webcam to see if it helps. You can switch between cameras and zoom in on your camera feed in the Magnifier app:
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From the top menu bar, select Camera then click on the camera you want to use from the drop-down menu.
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To use the cursor at the top center of the Magnifier window to zoom in on yourself.
You can see a live feed of your magnified view in the main Magnifier window. If you click on the Camera button In the bottom left corner of the app, you can also take a photo to review later. Any photos you capture will appear in the left sidebar menu of Magnifier. By clicking on them, you can view them, zoom in on them and adjust their visual appearance (Brightness, Contrast and other visual parameters) via the icon Picture section in the Magnifier menu bar.
