Learn how to have the AssistiveTouch button appear and disappear quickly on your iPhone or iPad screen, without having to toggle it from deep into iOS accessibility settings.

Since my iDB work involves taking numerous screenshots every day, pressing the side and volume buttons isn’t always comfortable, especially when my iPhone is flat on the table. And things are even more inconvenient on my massive iPad Pro.

Therefore, I have assigned AssistiveTouch to take screenshots with a single tap and use it every day. However, after my daily iDB work is done, I don’t really want a button floating on my phone screen. It’s unnecessary and disturbing even when the button opacity is set low in AssistiveTouch settings.

To address this, I have created a simple automation that enables AssistiveTouch right when I start my morning work, and disables it automatically in the evening when I log off. I will tell you about this, and some additional ways you can consider.

Use iOS automation to automatically enable or disable AssistiveTouch

1) Open the Shortcuts app, go to the Automation tab, and tap the New Automation button or the plus (+) icon.

2) I have set AssistiveTouch to activate automatically at 8 AM, which is when I start my iDB work. If you want the same, tap Time of Day.

Or, you can select Arrive, and then set the location to your office, and that’s when AssistiveTouch will be activated.

Or you can map this automation to CarPlay so it triggers when you leave for your office.

Yet another option is to tie it to your Work Focus, provided you use it.

For this tutorial, I’m selecting ‘Time of Day.’

3) Set the time of day as appropriate, choose a repeat schedule, and then tap Run Immediately so the automation doesn’t require your confirmation. After that, tap Next.

4) Tap Create New Shortcut from the top.

5) Use the Search Actions box to find and add the ‘Set AssistiveTouch‘ action.

6) Leave it as ‘Turn AssistiveTouch On‘ and tap the checkmark icon. You have now successfully set your iPhone to automatically activate AssistiveTouch at a particular time of the day.

Now, build another automation that turns it off automatically.

7) Tap the plus button in the Automation tab, select your condition (like Time of Day), add the details (don’t forget to tap Run Immediately), and then tap Create New Shortcut.

8) Find and add the ‘Set AssistiveTouch‘ action again.

9) Tap ‘On’ so it changes to ‘Off‘ and save it.

You have successfully built a second automation that deactivates AssistiveTouch when the set condition is met.

Other ways to quickly show and hide the AssistiveTouch button

These are additional ways to enable or disable AssistiveTouch without going to the Settings app.

Ask Siri: Invoke Siri and say “Activate AssistiveTouch” or “Turn off AssistiveTouch.”

Add a Home Screen shortcut: Create a simple Siri shortcut and add it to your Home Screen. Then, you can toggle AssistiveTouch on and off with one tap right from the Home Screen. See the screenshots below for help.

Add to Control Center: Customize your iPhone or iPad Control Center and add the AssistiveTouch button to it.

Assign to Back Tap: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap > Single or Double Tap and select AssistiveTouch. Going forward, just tap the back of your iPhone once or twice (where the Apple logo is) to toggle AssistiveTouch on and off.

Assign to Action button: If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or later, go to Settings > Action Button, swipe to Accessibility, then tap Choose a Feature, and select AssistiveTouch. From now on, just press and hold the Action button to activate or deactivate AssistiveTouch.

What do you use AssistiveTouch most for?

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2026/06/03/toggle-ios-assistivetouch-quickly/