How to show big text on your phone screen, full screen

When do you need big text on the screen?

To say something across a room without shouting: a number for a waiter, YES or NO to a friend at the back of a hall, a meeting point, THANK YOU through a car window, or a quiet message in a library or a hospital corridor. Flashing something like TABLE 12 at a waiter across a noisy restaurant works better than waving an arm. You want a few words, as big as possible, and nothing else on the screen.

This is a sign on your screen, not a system setting. If you want bigger text everywhere on your iPhone, that is the Display and Text Size setting in iOS, and LED Banner does not change it.

Show a big message full screen, step by step

1. Tap New Banner on the Create tab.
2. In Text, type your words in Message and drag Size up. It goes from 40 to 300 pt.
3. Choose Bold or Black under Weight. Bold in this app draws a heavy weight, and Black is the thickest.
4. If the word is almost wide enough, tighten Letter Spacing (it goes down to -5) to squeeze it in.
5. In LED, pick None under LED Style for plain, crisp letters, or keep Classic for glowing dots.
6. In Motion, set Loop to None. The text stops moving and sits in the center.
7. Tap Full Screen and turn the phone sideways.

How big can the letters be before they get cut off?

With Loop set to None, the text is centered, so any part wider than the screen disappears off both edges. The example below uses the word CONCERT in the System font on a 6.1-inch iPhone in landscape, which is 852 pt wide. At Size 120 it measures about 544 pt, and the width grows in proportion to Size.

The rule of thumb: the fewer letters, the bigger you can go. Three or four letters can use the full 300 pt; a long word or a sentence needs a smaller Size, or has to scroll.

Still or scrolling?

• Still (None) suits one or two words: the reader sees everything at once.
• Scrolling (Loop) is the answer when the message is longer than the screen at the size you want. Keep Speed low so each letter stays visible for several seconds.
• Bounce moves the text across and back, handy when you want movement to catch the eye but the words are short.

Make it easier to read

• White or a bright Quick Colors swatch on Pure Black gives the strongest contrast.
• Avoid busy looks such as Rainbow for important information like a number or a name.
• The full-screen sign sets brightness to maximum, but no app can go beyond what your screen can do. Direct sunlight makes any screen hard to read.
• An iPad gives you bigger letters for the same words.

What it does not do

The text is always a single line; long text does not wrap onto a second one. The full-screen view is landscape only, and there are three fonts: System, SF Rounded and SF Mono.

Questions and answers

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