How to Change the Color of Text on iPhone

Changing text color on an iPhone isn't a single universal setting — it depends entirely on where you're trying to change it. The answer looks different depending on whether you're working inside an email, a note, a document, or tweaking system-wide display settings. Here's a clear breakdown of what's actually possible and where.

Why There's No Single "Text Color" Setting on iPhone

iOS doesn't have a global text color option the way a desktop operating system might. Instead, text color is controlled at the app level — each app handles formatting independently. Apple's own apps like Mail, Notes, and Pages each have their own formatting toolbars, and third-party apps like Gmail or Google Docs bring their own tools too.

That said, there are system-level display settings that affect how all text appears on screen — they just work differently than most people expect.

Changing Text Color in iPhone Apps 🎨

In the Mail App (Compose Window)

When composing an email in Apple's built-in Mail app:

1. Type your text, then select it by pressing and holding
2. Tap the right arrow in the popup menu to reveal more options
3. Tap Format (on some iOS versions, look for BIU or a formatting icon)
4. On the formatting bar that appears above the keyboard, look for the Aa icon or a colored underline
5. Tap the color picker to choose a font color

This feature became more accessible in iOS 16 and later, where the rich text formatting bar is more prominent in Mail. On older iOS versions, formatting options may be more limited or buried.

In Notes

Apple Notes supports text color formatting in a limited way:

• Select your text
• Tap the Format button (the Aa icon) in the toolbar
• Notes primarily offers highlight colors rather than font color changes
• For full text color control in Notes, the options are more restricted compared to a dedicated word processor

In Pages (Apple's Word Processor)

Pages offers the most complete text color control of Apple's native apps:

1. Select the text you want to change
2. Tap the paintbrush icon in the top toolbar
3. Go to Text > Text Color
4. Choose from preset colors or use the full color wheel

Pages behaves much closer to a desktop word processor in this regard.

In Third-Party Apps (Gmail, Google Docs, Outlook)

• Gmail on iPhone supports text color through its formatting toolbar — tap the A with a colored bar in the compose toolbar
• Google Docs offers a full text color picker under the formatting options (the A with underline icon)
• Microsoft Outlook and Word also include text color tools in their respective formatting ribbons

The availability and location of these controls shifts with app updates, so the exact tap path can change between versions.

System-Wide Display Options That Affect Text Appearance

If your goal isn't document formatting but rather making all text on your iPhone easier to read, iOS has several accessibility settings that change how text looks across the entire system:

These aren't technically "text color" changes in the formatting sense — they're display-layer adjustments that sit on top of everything. Classic Invert and Color Filters can dramatically change how text looks, which is useful for accessibility but not for producing a formatted document with colored headings.

The Variables That Determine Your Options

What's actually available to you depends on several factors:

• iOS version — Formatting tools in Mail and Notes have expanded significantly in iOS 16 and iOS 17. Older versions offer less.
• The specific app you're using — Native Apple apps, productivity suites, and third-party email clients each handle formatting independently.
• Whether you're composing vs. viewing — You can only change text color when creating or editing content, not when reading received messages.
• The document or email format — Plain text emails don't support color formatting at all. Only HTML/rich text emails can carry color styling.
• Your use case — Accessibility-driven color changes (via display settings) work everywhere but aren't targeted. App-level formatting is precise but only applies within that app.

Different Situations, Different Results 📱

Someone adjusting text color for a work document in Pages has full color-wheel access and precise control. Someone trying to send a colorful marketing email through Apple Mail has moderate formatting options that depend on their iOS version. Someone wanting all on-screen text to appear differently for vision reasons will find the accessibility display settings far more useful than per-app formatting.

And someone on an older iPhone running iOS 14 will have noticeably fewer in-app formatting options than someone on a current device with iOS 17 or later.

The right approach — and what's even technically available — shifts considerably based on which of these situations describes you, which app sits at the center of your workflow, and what you're actually trying to accomplish with the color change.