Tiny font using mail in iOS 10

I thought some would like to know that Microsoft just released (Dec. 7) an update for Outlook for iOS. One feature of the update is the global use of a larger font size. I compared several "tiny font emails" in the native iOS mail client with the same email as displayed in the updated Outlook client. The Outlook email rendered with significantly larger text and was much more readable.

Microsoft Outlook - email and calendar by Microsoft Corporation

https://appsto.re/us/8OwV4.i

Anyway, for what it's worth. Mr. Luigi

Sadly, it didn't work for me - at least on some emails. Others are fine. But the ones that are tiny are from people who's emails were never tiny in the past on iOS 9.

Also, mail from companies or websites that use formatting are now quite small, too. Would love the Safari function to force an email to conform to the iPhone font size to also be available in Mail - you know, the little 4 line icon thing in the web address bit at the top.

Hi Jonno,

Reader functionality (that 4 line thing on the web address block) would be a nice feature for emails too. Having said that, it must be a horrendous coding challenge to do what it seems everyone in this discussion would like. Otherwise, I have to believe Apple would have done it already in its native iOS email client. Right?

What is that? Well...Folks send emails out in all different "flavors," which includes the sender's choice of font size and font style. I use 14 point Verdana as it is very readable. But I have some friends who use, say, 11 point Calibri. Clearly these friends have bionic vision and I celebrate their ability to read such tiny text. But, in no way do I want to read their emails in 11 point Calibri! So, what do I want? I want my email client to render any sent email in MY preferred font style and size. I want that friend's microscopic text to display on my iPhone in 14 point Verdana. For all the computer scientists out there, what is the reason why Apple's email client does NOT do this...for all emails??

I am gobsmacked.

Going out on a limb here, but this could possibly solve the unreadably small text problem in the native mail app.

Theoretically, Apple's native mail client should respond to Dynamic Type functionality. Dynamic Type is a way to globally have your iPhone render text at a user-determined size. It works on most native apps, such as the Apple's Mail app. Some 3rd party developers also employ Dynamic Type.

I have discovered a quirk (bug) in Dynamic Type that may explain why it is not doing its job in all cases. But first, how do you turn on Dynamic Type on your iPhone so you can avail yourself of its ability to enlarge the font in your emails?

1. Go to Settings --> General --> Accessibility --> Larger Text
2. Turn on Larger Accessibility Sizes for bigger font options
3. Drag the slider to select the font size you want. This should theoretically work across the entire set of slider positions...BUT IT DOESN'T!

Here is the problem. If you drag the slider to adjust the size of Dynamic Type it will have NO EFFECT unless you set it to the location shown below, or further to the right. At least, that's the story on my iPhone 6s+. If I move the slider one "notch" further to the left than shown, the size of the font JUMPS down to those excruciating tiny sizes.

So, you may be able to once again enjoy large, readable text in the native mail app by employing Dynamic Type as instructed above and moving the slider to the position in my screen shot below.

BTW, if you want to make your text even MORE READABLE:

Go to Settings > General > Accessibility to make the text bold, increase the contrast, or invert the colors on your screen.

Cheers, Mr. Luigi

Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. All my emails are still very tiny.

I have erased my iPhone 6 and configured as "new iPhone". Set up only 1 email account. I open the offensive email directly from the original sender, and still the same stupid tiny font problem!!!. I disable/enabled "mail as threads" or whatever is the name of the so called "solution", and still no improvement. So, don't do a full iPhone reset, it does not solve this problem. Let's hope that iOS 10.2, due today, fixes this. Anybody is brave enough to test it and feedback please?

THE NEW UPDATE WORKS!!!!! 🙂

I don't see the update yet on my phone. I'm so glad it worked for you. I'm afraid to try it! Thanks for your feedback.

You're right. I don't have to switch to that Google phone.

Juse one glitch that was mentioned above that I noticed. You need to have the size setting set to two clicks past the midpoint. If it is any smaller, it goes back to the tiny font.

Sad to report ios 10.2 still has not solved the issue for me!!!. What did do you do?

When you set the font size, make sure you go two clicks past the midpoint setting. Anything lower will default back to the tiny unreadable font.

Heads-Up:

My post above regarding using Dynamic Type and going two clicks past the mid-point only works after you have updated your iPhone to iOS 10.2 (released on Dec. 12, 2016).

I just took a chance and did the 10.2 update - it worked!!!!!! Everything is back to normal. They must have fixed the issue, at least for me. If you haven't updated, give it a try - anything is better than the way it was.

Totally worked for me too. I'm also 2 notches of text up from the default position.

Thanks to JBNLawyer and Dclearyea for posting 🙂