How to Prepare an iPhone for Elderly

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Some people simply struggle with smartphones, sometimes due to advanced age or lack of tech experience, but with a few adjustments, you can make phone use simpler for older people. You can set up an iPhone 14 or budget Android phone for your parents or grandparents so they can use it safely by using these tips for setting up a smartphone for the elderly. Pick only the advice that seems applicable to and helpful for your loved one because everyone is different.

You want to set up an iPhone for a senior citizen who is dear to your heart, your parent, or your grandparent. We made the decision to get my mom an iPhone for our family. Since she could make phone calls just fine without an iPhone 14 pro, she didn’t actually “need” one. Yet we desired for her to possess an iPhone. Since we are a couple of hours apart, calling was insufficient. Because our kids are growing up far too quickly, we wanted Mom to be as involved as possible. We mentioned below are the ways to Prepare an iPhone for Elderly.

Ways to Prepare an iPhone for Elderly

Truly use Siri as your personal assistant

There’s a reason Siri is referred to as a virtual personal assistant. It can assist you in carrying out a variety of tasks without you ever having to lift your phone. It’s especially helpful for senior users who aren’t yet comfortable using iOS. It can send texts on your behalf, alert you to calls and email notifications, search your emails, and so on.

First, set up the “Listen for ‘Hey, Siri’” command from Settings

Then, Siri & Search so that you can summon it simply by saying “Hey, Siri.”

Tab on Two, toggle “Allow Siri When Locked,” which lets you use it without every time unlocking your iPhone.

Lastly, turn on “Voice Dial” from Settings > Face ID & Passcode to allow Siri to call someone from the lockscreen.

Enlarge your iPhone content

Another adjustment you should make is to enlarge the software content for users who have trouble reading on a small iPhone screen. You can enlarge everything on Apple, including the keyboard and text.

Head over to Settings.

Then, tab on Display & Brightness

Go to the Text Size to adjust the text sizes across the entire iPhone software.

To improve readability even further, you can enable “Bold Text.”

Next, scroll down to the bottom of the “Display & Brightness” page

Then hit “Display Zoom.” Switch to “Larger Text” to automatically enlarge every element of your iPhone, such as the controls, icons, on-screen keyboard, and text.

Set up medical data and SOS

In an emergency, an iPhone might just save your life. Before giving the phone to your parent or another elderly user, you must configure these features in order for them to work.

Go to Settings

Then, choose Health > Medical ID

After that, tap “Create Medical ID.”

Make sure the “Show When Locked” option is enabled

Then, hit “Next” when you’re done.

Flash LED for alerts

For people with hearing impairments, the iPhone also has a hidden feature that can flash the LEDs on the back of the device whenever a call comes in.

You can enable it from Settings

Then go to the Accessibility

Tab on Audio/Visual

Select LED Flash for Alerts.

Final Words

We hope you like our article on how to Prepare an iPhone for Elderly. Elderly users are frequently the least comfortable with iPhone because of factors such as small text, complexity of the user interface (UI), or simply the interface’s propensity to change with each new OS update. However, iPhone designers take older users into account, so you can satisfy their needs with a few simple adjustments.