Help seniors safely get the most use out of a smartphone - WTOP

2 years ago 45

Abbie Richie helps residents usage their smartphones astatine Friendship Village successful Tempe, Arizona. (Courtesy Senior Savvy)

Adjusting smartphone settings tin beryllium tricky for anyone nether the champion circumstances, and 1 tech specializer who works with seniors has immoderate tips for big children to assistance their parents get their phones successful order.

Is the telephone waiting for a bundle update you’ve been warned about?

“So galore of my clients disregard it,” said Abbie Richie, the CEO and laminitis of the tech enactment institution Senior Savvy.

“They whitethorn look astatine the statement and not spot thing that truly appeals to them. Maybe there’s much emojis, oregon a caller diagnostic that they’re not adjacent accessing oregon attraction about,” she said. “But determination are information patches wrong each azygous bundle update. And for that crushed alone, you privation to thin into the updates.”

Do your parents inactive usage each the apps loaded connected their phones? If not, it’s worthy the clip to find retired and delete arsenic needed.

Apps whitethorn incorporate accusation specified arsenic addresses and birthdays, and they mightiness beryllium susceptible to hacking if idiosyncratic doesn’t person appropriately unafraid passwords.

“Studies amusement america that radical are typically utilizing 1 password crossed 3 accounts. And if 1 of those accounts happens to get hacked into, the hacker volition effort that connected different account,” Richie said.

Security aside, parents mightiness admit their phones conscionable being much user-friendly.

After deleting apps nary longer successful use, those that stay mightiness request to beryllium rearranged, “so that the 1 (they use) the astir are easy accessible,” Richie said.

Is the surface agleam enough, and are items casual to see?

If not, they tin spell nether the mounting for Display and Brightness, for example, and instrumentality vantage of an enactment called Display Zoom.

“It goes from the Standard mounting to the Zoom setting. And what this does is — the text, the font, the apps — it each shows up a small spot larger,” Reggie said.

Smartphones tin beryllium bully tools for wellness and wellness, and Richie recommends radical instrumentality a heavy dive into each the monitoring options and accusation that tin beryllium uploaded for aboriginal notation connected wellness apps, specified arsenic the iPhone’s built-in Health ID.

“Then, I would instrumentality a peek astatine it regularly — to cheque their wellness trends to spot however galore steps they’re taking, to spot if determination are immoderate alerts successful regards to walking steadiness. That is successful the wellness app, and it’s chock-full of truly invaluable accusation that tin besides beryllium shared with a physician,” Richie said.

In addition, a bequest interaction tin beryllium added to a user’s Apple ID. On Android phones, exigency interaction accusation can beryllium added to the fastener screen.

“If thing happens to you — arsenic an older big — you privation to find who tin beryllium your bequest contact, who tin person entree to your instrumentality truthful that they tin crook disconnected definite relationship usage,” she explained.

Does the telephone spell acheronian excessively quickly, prompting too-frequent visits to punch successful a password connected the fastener screen?

“A batch of times, I bash observe that their telephone is going to slumber aft 30 seconds, and that’s precise pesky,” Richie noted of observations made portion helping clients. “And a batch of radical don’t cognize that they tin set that.”

Noting that older adults thin to beryllium accepted learners who similar to instrumentality notes they tin notation backmost to, Richie warns immoderate accusation mightiness request to beryllium revisited repeatedly.

“So brace yourself, and recognize that the adjacent clip you speech to them, you whitethorn person to amusement them again however to upload a photo, however to connect a photograph to a substance message. It’s portion of their learning process, and they volition request for you to repetition the acquisition again,” she said.

Finally, if a telephone is existent connected the model’s latest bundle and it starts being sticky oregon there’s a glitch, conscionable effort turning it disconnected and backmost on.

“When you crook thing disconnected — whether it’s your telephone oregon your machine — it gives it a caller re-start. And rather often, the issue, the glitch, the occupation volition spell distant erstwhile you powerfulness your instrumentality off,” she said.

Kristi King

Kristi King is simply a seasoned newsman who has been moving successful the WTOP newsroom since 1990. She covers everything from breaking quality to user concerns and the latest aesculapian developments.

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