S/O: Which smartphone FEATURES and/or APPS does your senior parent/relative actually USE?

[RegGuheert]

Thanks for all the amazing help in the other thread I posted regarding a smartphone for Mom! :hurray:

 

Based on that thread, I decided that it might be interesting to try to understand what kinds of features and/or apps *might* be interesting to my mother and mother-in-law so that I can best configure their phones to allow them to get the most use out of them.  I'm also interested in understanding how seniors learn (or not) how to use these devices.  Many of the ideas in the polls came out of posts in the other thread.

 

Here are some ideas on how to complete the polls:

- Please DO NOT check items just because they used it once while you were there helping.  The goal is to learn what seniors ACTUALLY use (or not).

- Please be sure to check ALL options that apply, even if some may seem to overlap.

- If you are thinking of more than one senior relative, please just complete the poll for ALL of the different things that the different individuals use.

- If you feel that YOU are that senior relative, feel free to complete the poll and tell us about you.

 

Hopefully I didn't leave off any commonly-used features or apps.  If I did, please let me know right away and I will try to fix it, but if many people have already responded I may just leave it so that the poll doesn't get messed up.

 

Hopefully we can all get ideas how to help our relatives get more enjoyment out of their devices!

[elegantlion]

My mom has an iphone, which my sister provided. She will make and receive calls and take pictures. She rarely takes it with her when we're out. she uses no other apps besides that. She doesn't text because she has arthritis in her fingers, so it makes typing on a tiny keyboard awkward. She has no desire to learn more. She has a regular computer, which she uses much more. We also still have a landline, which is how she prefers to talk to others. 

[MysteryJen]

My mil uses uber frequently and I know she tells her friends about it. She is at the age (82) where many of her friends have stopped driving and their kids (understandably concerned about the future) are doing quite controlling things like selling the house, insisting on moving closer to them, etc. MIL thinks that technology can be used to increase her independence and when she is going to be late or have to drive at night, she takes an Uber.

[LifeLovePassion]

A weather app, she tried a couple and picked the one she liked best.

 

Chrome browser

 

Solitaire game app

Edited July 11, 2017 by LifeLovePassion

[Cinder]

My mom has an iPhone which she reluctantly bought a couple years ago when she lost her "dumb" phone. At first she used it to watch sports videos but not knowing about WiFi, she ended up with extra data charges. She may have sent a text once--on purpose--but she really has no interest in texting so hasn't learned more nor has she even tried it a second time.

 

Mom only uses her phone for making and receiving calls. She has no interest in learning the phone's capabilities. She wishes she'd replaced her old phone with another dumb phone.

[Miss Tick]

I couldn't "half-check" She has used the Maps program on her own at last once. However, well after the fact I realized that she must not have turned on location services, so she didn't show up on the map. She was using it like a technologically advanced, extremely difficult to read paper map.

 

I think she installed a sudoku app.

[JudoMom]

My MIL, who is 87ish and taught herself to use a computer 20 years ago, really struggles with her iPhone. She uses it for calls and she sometimes texts, but she often accidentally calls when she was trying to text so it is not in any way intuitive for her. None of the 5 children or their spouses have had the fortitude to try and teach her anything else.

[AmandaVT]

My parents are both tech-happy, dad more than mom, so they use their phones for a lot. 

 

My mom loves social media and games on her phone. She has a coloring app, words with friends, FB, snapchat, and a bunch of others. 

 

Dad uses whatever he finds interesting and has taught me about a number of apps. One of my favorites that he showed me is a star gazing app - point your phone at the sky and it'll identify stars and constellations. 

 

 

[Lanny]

I am a "Senior Citizen"...  I was the last one in the house to get a Smart phone. I had always used Dumb phones. I liked to send SMS Text messages and my favorite Dumb phone was a Nokia 6800 Messaging Device with a Full QWERTY keyboard.   I  very rarely take photos, so the Camera is something I rarely use.  The other 4 phones in the house (3 Motorolas and 1 Lenovo ) (Lenovo owns Motorola Mobility) are more upscale, with much better cameras).

 

I have found that I am using it for fewer phone calls, and spending much of my time with Apps:  WhatsApp, Twitter, Tapatalk for WTM, magicApp, FoxNews, I have the free version of Open Camera installed, ,my Samsung is Rooted and I have Titanium Backup Pro installed (my wife had purchased a license and she wasn't using it, after she bought a new phone,  and they transferred the license to me), Speedtest for checking Line Speed, I have File Manager by ASUS, Call Blocker, Virgin Mobile (we are on Virgin Mobile Colombia which is an MVNO that runs on the Movistar network), Gmail.

 

The Apps I use most frequently are: WhatsApp, Tapatalk for use here on WTM, Fox News, and Gboard for messages

 

I purchased a book, Android phones for Dummies. that was very helpful and I've read it 2 or 3 times.

 

I am not "an expert" with Android now, but I am much more competent than I was when I first was handed my first Android phone  early in February 2016 (a Motorola Moto that I unexpectedly gave to DIL 2 months later) and did not have a clue about how to do anything basic, like answer an incomming phone call in the store, when the Motorola man called me to test it...

 

I would NEVER go back to a Dumb phone. There are so many things a SMART phone can do that I like to do.

 

Oh,  Google Maps or Waze, for Navigation, are very cool.  

[JudoMom]

My parents are 69, and they use their smartphones quite a bit. Texting (my mom uses the voice to text feature), calling, words with Friends, Facebook, and I don't know what else. There's a pretty big difference between my 69 year old parents and 87 year old MIL.

[vonfirmath]

My Dad (born 1945) was the first one in our extended family to have a smart phone.  I am not sure he uses it for games and I know he doesn't use it for movies. But he calls it his brain. He texts, Facebooks (mostly just to read and post encouraging comments on his friends' posts), reads and replies to email (including lists for ham radio he is on). He has Facetimed with my kids a few times, though I don't think he uses that part regularly. He does regularly pull in a third phone number in a conversation.  If he thinks of something he needs, he pulls out his phone and adds it to the a list and then looks at that list at the grocery store.  He also has another list of things that need to get done when working on a project.  I do not know what app he uses for this.  He does a lot of shopping online and I'm pretty sure he reads Kindle books or maybe it is just on the web browser? He reads a lot. I'm just not sure what form it is in.  He listens to music and occasionally streams radio shows online (esp when he's on wifi)  He was also the first person in our family to have GPS and has occasionally used the GPS part of his phone when it is not convenient/available to use the whole GPS set up.  He has some ham radio app he uses as well.  And he takes lots of pictures on his phone when he doesn't have his camera around. (But he carries his camera a lot still)

 

My mother also has a smart phone, but she doesn't use it as fully.  She has a solitaire game on there she plays some (And more often lets the grandkids play on her phone). She reads on Facebook, makes a lot of phone calls (Even using the Bluetooth in her call to chat with her sister on her way to and from work -- but I'm pretty sure my dad set it up for her.)  She texts back and forth, including pictures, but I'm not sure she could do Facetime if my dad wasn't there to help out.  She can get her email and respond.

 

In our company, our sheet metal supervisor used to be a  senior adult and he had a duct program he was very fond of that helped him with determining unknowns when making ductwork.  All of our guys on the field, no matter the age, use a testing program for recording data when duct tests are performed, then send the information to the shop to record.

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by vonfirmath

[Lady Florida.]

FIL who is 90 has a bare bones smart phone. He uses it to make and receive phone calls and occasionally for maps, though he has a stand-alone gps in his car. Dh or his sister or one of the grandkids have tried to show him how to do more with it but he's not interested. I kind of agree with him - there really isn't anything he needs to do on a smart phone.

 

I have to add that he's not computer illiterate. The man was using computers in the late 70s and early 80s when most people thought they were a novelty, and he used to spend time on some of the old message boards. He's researched family genealogy and to keep up with his stocks and other financial investments, as well as to email family. He's on facebook though he sometimes get confused over whether he's posting on his own wall or someone else's. He went from using the earliest versions of dos to Windows XP, He stayed with XP until that particular computer gave out and he was forced to upgrade, but Windows 8 and then 10 are stumping him. Anything that looks like an app throws him off. <- And that, I think, is why smart phones are a problem for him. Plus the small screen on 90 yo eyes. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Farrar]

This looks radically different for my mother and parents-in-law than it does for my grandmother. My parents group is in their late 60's and now early 70's. My grandmother is approaching 90.

 

My parents use their phones a great deal, use many features on them, figure them out on their own, use various apps, maps, text often, use social media, etc. My mother has a tablet and games on it quite often actually. She's all up into Clash of Clans and has been for ages.

 

I think the Boomers that I know are basically decent with smartphone technology. They're not as good at it as us younger folks and sometimes there are tricks that I know that they don't. I've talked my mom through fixing a couple of bugs over the years with her smartphone and tablet. But I've also done that with people my age a couple of times.

 

On the other hand, my grandmother also has had a smartphone for awhile. She can make and receive calls. Make and receive Facetime calls. And she can receive texts, including texts with pictures, but not send them. That's IT. We tried to show her some other features she might find useful, but really, it was a miracle we got her to do all that. And she doesn't know how to do that stuff very well. She needed a lot of support to figure all that out. And I think that's normal for her generation.

[Lady Florida.]

 

 

I think the Boomers that I know are basically decent with smartphone technology. They're not as good at it as us younger folks and sometimes there are tricks that I know that they don't. I've talked my mom through fixing a couple of bugs over the years with her smartphone and tablet. 

 

 

As a boomer myself, though younger than your parents, I have to agree. I can do a lot with my smart phone. However, when I first got a Samsung Galaxy I spent a few months learning all the cool things it could do. Ds (17 at the time) got one from us for Christmas a few months after I got mine. Within a week he showed me things it could do that I hadn't figured out in the 3+ months I had mine. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (if he was alive) are my age, so people my age really don't have the excuse of saying we're "too old" for technology. However, those who grew up with technology as a normal part of life will naturally have an easier time with it.

 

I hope if I'm still around at 90, that I'm like FIL in my post above, and at least willing to use some technology and to try learning what I can. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Guest]

The 70 something gen in my extended fam don't use any features other than speed dial, set up by a dc. The two things standing in.their way are vision and fake nails. They aren't willing to use and carry around the correct eyewear, and the women aren't giving up the nail salon visits. The phone is only used when summoning a minion to fix a broken down vehicleor they have locked their keys in the vehicle..they will not look up any number, such as tow truck or mall security.

Edited July 11, 2017 by Heigh Ho

[Lanny]

One App that I love, but usually forget that I have on my phone and don't use, is Google Play Music.  My wife has a subscription to that and she put it on my phone too.  I can listen to whatever I want. Say "beach boys" and I have a selection of their Music. The same for Barbra Streisand or Juan Luis Guerra (my favorite singer) or whoever. Classical Music, just say that and I have a selection.  That's much more stable than trying to listen to Radio Stations or other Streaming and I can listen to exactly what I want to listen to at the moment.  

[LifeLovePassion]

Gramma also uses the OK Google feature on her Samsung Galaxy 7. We chose that one since we had Galaxy s4's at the time and could easily help since it was similar.

[Crimson Wife]

The generation in the family that are seniors are Baby Boomers (oldest are early 70's) and at least somewhat tech-savvy. I think my answers would be different if we still had older seniors in the family.

[Mimm]

My parents aren't quite seniors but getting close. My mother has the latest smart phones and uses it constantly to communicate, take and send pictures, do the majority of her shopping, etc. We use our smart phones pretty much similarly.

 

My father acts like his smart phone is confusing and intimidating and like he can't be expected to understand it because he's "old." He and my mother are not yet 60 and they are less than a year apart in age.

 

I admit to having little patience with older people who were adults while all this technology was exploding onto the market, acting like they are too old to learn how to use it. I get if you were 80 or something when smart phones were first invented... I guess. But I've had 40 year old moms say, "I'm not sure how it works. I'm sure our kids could figure it out right? haha" Um, no, I know how to use technology just as well if not better than my kids. They might be more aware of what's popular among teens and I'm not saying they know nothing that I don't know, but we're both equally competent. New things are always confusing till you figure them out. That's all you have to do. Try to figure them out. Look up information to your questions. The information is always out there.

 

The part that confuses me is televisions. I never had cable or dish or whatever. So when I sit down in front of someone's entertainment center and they have three remotes, and a playstation and an xbox and other stuff I can't identify, and I have no idea how to put on a movie for their kids... Yes, I'm confused. But I don't act like I can't learn it. Just that I haven't yet.

[Caroline]

My parents are 77 and my DMIL is 73. They all have smart phones and iPads. They all text, make phone calls, use the camera feature, email, Facebook, FaceTime, and use the activity app. And solitaire. They all play solitaire.

 

My DMIL uses her iPad to watch a live safari cam every morning. In addition, she texts on both her phone and iPad, plays Words with Friends, is on Facebook, plays solitaire, and takes pictures and videos.

 

My parents have fitbits that they connect to their phones and watch their steps. In fact, my mom makes my dad hold her hand without the Fitbit so she doesn't lose steps.

 

My dad loves his weather apps. He has the location of all his kids and grandkids programmed in so it alerts him any time any of us have inclimate weather. And then he texts us all to let us know that there is a tornado watch in Kansas or nasty rain in Galway, or snow at my sister's lake house.

 

My mom likes the TouchNote app to send postcards to friends and family.

 

They both love Amazon. My DMIL doesn't use Amazon.

 

They do connect them to their car so they can call us hands free when traveling. However, my mom does all the button pushing while my dad is driving. My mom doesn't use the phone at all while she is driving. But if they are on one of their cross country jaunts, we call them and chat.

 

I think last week my sister taught them to use audible and they are now listening to audio books while driving down the east coast.

[Sarah CB]

My answers were all over the board because I was thinking about 2-3 senior parents.

 

My fil is 84 and uses his iPhone and iPad a ton. He does his emails, sends and receives texts, calls, etc. He's still a realtor (!!) and a lot of his work is done on the devices. He also uses it for social media, for surfing the net, GPS, photos, etc. He's an avid user. 

 

Dh introduced him to the device and then he took off from there. One of my kids showed him Instagram. I think the kids might have set him up on Facebook about a decade ago, too.

 

Mil is not an intuitive user. I would be surprised if she used her phone for anything besides texting and calling. We've tried *countless* times to get her to use Facebook - I think she might have heard something dangerous about FB and is avoiding it but not telling us. Anyway, not really sure how much she uses it but likely not much.

 

My mother is only 64, so not a senior. She has taken a class at an apple related store. She gets help from my dh when needed or from my sister. She's a pretty avid user and is confident with her devices once she gets over the initial learning curve.

[Daria]

My mother uses it to take pictures.  I believe she then takes it to the photo store and asks the "nice young man" there to get the pictures off and put them on a CD for her. 

 

She also sometimes uses it to make or place calls.  But only when this has been prearranged.  She doesn't keep it on most of the time, or bring it with her when she leaves the house.

 

The other day she asked me to teach her how to use Uber, but then it turned out not to be charged so she still doesn't know.  

[Janeway]

I did not answer because my grandma, who was in her 90's, was pretty much using everything on the list and then some and I am short on time. I just wanted to comment that my grandma also had an app that showed obituaries so she could keep up with which one of her friends died that day or week. 

[historically accurate]

I didn't vote. It looks different depending on what person you are talking about.

 

My mother, age 67, has a dumb phone. She has no desire for a smartphone since she refuses to even text. She has a laptop on which she plays a game similar to Candy Crush, buys things off of ebay, and reads email. She did just buy a car that has navigation although she still asks me to use my phone navigation when I drive with her. I think she's getting better about using it because she hasn't called me to ask an address in a while; she used to do that while driving a lot. 

 

My MIL, age 78ish, has a smart phone - she is on our Cricket plan. She calls, texts, takes pictures, uses MyFitnessPal for food tracking, and occasionally uses the navigation feature.

 

My FIL, age 82ish, has a phone, but he can't hear it, and he has early dementia, so I don't think he uses it much. In fact, I don't know that I've ever seen him use it in the almost 20 years I've known him. I'm not even sure if it's a smartphone or not. He wears it on his belt as part of his get dressed routine. 

 

Edit: My mom never learned computers at work (factory worker) and maybe because of that, she has been very hesitant to embrace technology. She was 55+ before she got her first computer. My MIL, on the other hand, was a secretary for 30 years, so she watched computers come into the workplace and worked on them from day 1. My FIL was an accountant and wore a pager every day (once they came into being) and now he wears his phone.

Edited July 11, 2017 by beckyjo

[Lady Florida.]

My parents aren't quite seniors but getting close. My mother has the latest smart phones and uses it constantly to communicate, take and send pictures, do the majority of her shopping, etc. We use our smart phones pretty much similarly.

 

My father acts like his smart phone is confusing and intimidating and like he can't be expected to understand it because he's "old." He and my mother are not yet 60 and they are less than a year apart in age.

 

I admit to having little patience with older people who were adults while all this technology was exploding onto the market, acting like they are too old to learn how to use it. 

 

This is one of my big pet peeves. I have little patience with many of my peers. The people you are talking about are my age, give or take some years. We've seen all this technology come to be. I keep insisting it's a personality thing, not an age thing (up to a point of course, but not so much for Baby Boomers). The difference between your mother and father and how they view/use technology helps prove my point.

[RegGuheert]

I just wanted to comment that my grandma also had an app that showed obituaries so she could keep up with which one of her friends died that day or week. 

O.K. That's my favorite app suggestion in this thread! :thumbup:

 

My Mom might be interested in that app, but that sounds like a MUST HAVE for my sister.  She goes to more funerals than anyone I know. :tongue_smilie:

 

Do you know which app she used?  I see the following ones:

 

iOS: Funeral/Obits

 

Android: Funeral/Obits, Obituary

 

Neither of those apps have great reviews.

 

Thanks!

[Rachel]

The older people in my family are drastically different in how they use their phones.

 

My grandfather, 83, uses a smart phone just like me. He's always been tech savvy. He probably knows and has tried more apps than me.

 

My grandmother, 86, has a fancy Android smartphone. She uses it for calls, texts, and FB. She has tried Pinterest and a few other apps but FB seems to be the only one she has really figured out. She has always been anti technology until my mom got her this phone. While she is capable of texting and does from time to time, she very well may call me and tell me she got my text. Or not reply to my text for months because that's how long it took her to figure it she had a text.

 

My husband's grandma has a dumb phone. We joke that it is a one way phone, she carries it in her purse and only uses it when she needs to use it. She can make and receive calls and texts. However, it is not a reliable way to get in touch with her unless she is traveling. My FIL is the exact same way although he does have a smart phone and will use it to take pictures sometimes.

[Guest]

We got my Mom hooked on podcasts to get her off the AM radio during the election, so besides the Candy Crush app that's her most used app. :) She keeps her phone in her purse which is annoying so text isn't an effective way to get a hold of her unless she's out and about. We still have to call the landline if she's home. But it's a huge improvement over my Dad who keeps his phone always turned off and in his glove compartment. Smoke signal would be a more effective version of communication with him.

 

My MIL is far more into texting, but I think it's because she doesn't like talking to people much IRL and it gives her an out. ;)

[Guest]

I answered not for my own mother but for my bff's mil. She's 80.

 

She was the one who used UBER when all the rest of us callled a taxi. Her bill was $30. Ours was $80.

[RegGuheert]

At first she used it to watch sports videos but not knowing about WiFi, she ended up with extra data charges.

This is something we do not have to worry about.  Our plan has unlimited data with no penalties.  After 4GB, it slows to 128 kbps, which is still usable for many things (and faster than what Mom had before).  She's never used anywhere near 4GB in a month before, so I'm not concerned with her hitting the slowdown anytime soon.  This data is not shared, either, so there is no concern about us "stealing" data from each other.