Other Buying advice for senior (70+)

[nickbelane]

Hello,

I want to buy a new phone for a 70+ y.o. person. She is not at all a tech person, already struggling with video calls. She only uses the phone to answer normal calls or WhatsApp calls nothing else. At the moment she has a Moto 2nd gen. with 8MB (that gets stuck and that it became super slow).

I own an iPhone X, so I am either thinking to give her my 2 years old iPhone X (it works very good), or to buy her an iPhone SE 2nd gen that has a button (or also a 7 if it is a better deal...at the end she will only use it for Facetime calls, no music, no fancy pics, etc.).
I want to get her away from android, as there are very frequent updates on the OS, or apps that with the time stop responding causing issues.

1) Do you think in your own experience the SE can be easier to use because of the touch-id button??
2) Do you think the X will still be supported in the next years?
3) Otherwise what about an iPhone 7?

Any suggestion is appreciated! Thank you.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Remember - any phone you can still enter the code vs. touch or face Id - I think a lot of people might think that easier

 

[JM]

The home button makes things MUCH easier to understand operations throughout iOS.

Stuck? Home button back to home.

I've read some people find the swiping gestures not as intuitive or easy to remember as the home button. I think the iphone became so popular in part because the home button made navigation very simple.

That being said, swiping up to go home is also pretty straightforward and easy to understand.

so it depends on if there's any arthritis issues.

Don't buy her the 7. I have it and it's frustratingly slow and laggy. The SE should last four years or more.

 

[kevink2]

I suspect the 7 will only be supported through iOS 15, so almost 2 years. The X for at least another year after that.

It may depend on how long people will be encouraged to wear masks. FaceID doesn't work with masks, so have to enter in passcode often.

 

[Sam in SoCal]

I don’t know why any senior would buy a small phone. I would get the biggest one available simply because of aging eyes. I don’t wanna squint or smash the phone up to my face when I’m that age. So this idea of smaller being better for seniors because it’s more Manageable is b.s.

 

[kevink2]

There is the zoom option. That, and bigger phone may help for some people. I just tried the zoom for the first time looking now, and it would take a little getting used to.

 

[mrklaw]

- Big screen as possible
- home button is simple and understandable
- consider disabling Touch ID and just having a simple passcode (if they aren’t using banking or other sensitive apps you may not even need a passcode)
- Apple ID maybe use one you have account access to so you can remote lock/find it etc
- maybe the new widgets let you put nice big links to main activities, weather forecast, reminders etc; try an app like widgey to make it more personalised
- Siri Shortcuts on the Home Screen for other common activities like ‘call Bill’ etc

SE is a good option

 

[simps100]

Had a similar situation for my Nan - although in my case she is already fairly familiar with an iPad which helped a lot, after going though multiple phones (mostly android) we finally tried an old iPhone 7 I had laying around and it’s going well.

I setup Touch ID but find the difference between resting finger / pressing the button causes confusion sometimes and 9/10 times just uses the pass code but other than that think she quite likes it.

 

[glenthompson]

We gave my FIL my wife's old 6sPlus. He had been using an older Android phone my BIL gave him and he hated it because it was so different from his iPad. He has been very happy with it. He's 95 and competent but not a techie. He likes the large size.

 

[nickbelane]

Don't buy her the 7. I have it and it's frustratingly slow and laggy. The SE should last four years or more.

It got slow and laggy after upgrading to iOS 14?

 

[JM]

It got slow and laggy after upgrading to iOS 14?

Yes I'm on 14.0.1. It lags opening messages and I can't type for 4 seconds sometimes.

opening phone too sometimes lags.

it reminds me of a cheap android phone

I only get average 3.5 hours of on screen time too whereas on 13 I was getting 5

 

[Taco1933]

My mom and dad are both 70. My dad has my mom’s old 8 but needs a jitterbug. My mom has an iPhone XS. It just depends on the person.

 

[JM]

It got slow and laggy after upgrading to iOS 14?

But if it's a question between spending $400 for SE and $100 on a used 7, then that's a you call. THe quality of life on the SE will be so much better.

 

[Caliber26]

I bought my 78 year old grandma a “renewed” iPhone 7+ last year off Amazon and it’s worked great and came with a 90-day warrantee.

Depending on how her vision is, she might benefit from having a Max/Plus-sized phone.

 

[countryside]

I recently bought an iPhone for 3 different 75+ individuals. I learned a few things:

• If they have not used a home button before, then it will not be hard to teach them to swipe (no muscle memory).
• Buy the Plus/Max size iPhone... I cannot stress this enough. They need and love the bigger size.
• Do not use the Zoom accessibility feature that @kevink2 mentioned. It is too difficult to learn.
• I would look into the restrictions/screen time settings. Sometimes it is best to disable a few features for simplicities sake. i.e. disable the ability to delete apps, delete all stock apps that are not needed, etc.

I understand price is a factor. The SE is great because it will last longer than the 7... but it has a small screen. I strongly encourage you to purchase an iPhone Plus/Max... or give them the X.

 

[baypharm]

I suspect the 7 will only be supported through iOS 15, so almost 2 years. The X for at least another year after that.

It may depend on how long people will be encouraged to wear masks. FaceID doesn't work with masks, so have to enter in passcode often.

Older persons need a larger display telephone

 

[nickbelane]

I bought my 78 year old grandma a “renewed” iPhone 7+ last year off Amazon and it’s worked great and came with a 90-day warrantee.

Depending on how her vision is, she might benefit from having a Max/Plus-sized phone.

So in your case with the iPhone 7 no slow-downs or lagging issues?

 

[Caliber26]

So in your case with the iPhone 7 no slow-downs or lagging issues?

Nope, it’s been running just fine. Even after I updated her phone to iOS 14 I haven’t noticed any issues or slowing down. The only apps she uses are Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and the occasional FaceTime call.

She also has an iPad Air 2 (still on iOS 13 due to storage capacity limitation) and I’m surprised to see how well it performs given its age.

 

[lsh]

My parent is in the 90’s and due to tremors, could no longer operate even a cordless phone. I got him an SE (because it was the cheapest) and a HomePod - when Best Buy had $100 off the Home pod. He can now make and receive calls from the HomePod. I add his usual people to his contacts including things like the bank that he calls to get his balance. I instructed him to not touch the iPhone. I’ve traded in all my other phones or would have re-purposed a used phone.

The only thing so far that I don’t like about it was the ring actually comes thru the iPhone, not the HomePod so the user’s inclination is to go for the iPhone.

I think you need a 6s or newer iphone for all the accessibility features that support the HomEPOD.

He can also get his VM messages from the HomePod. He doesn’t text, but that would be easy too.

He’s in Assisted Living and can do commands and listen from the far ends of his apartment.

Previously we tried Echo but you have to have the app or an echo to call him or for him to call you.

It took him a bit to remember to say ‘hello‘ after he told Siri to answer the call, but he has it down now.

This has brought so much joy to him, especially now during a pandemic where visiting is limited. He tells me every day how wonderful it is - and he’s critical.

Also, good point at hitting the home button to get home. I find inexperienced people accidentally press something and can’t figure out how to get out of it. In general, touch screen is difficult for older people with tremors or vision issues.

 

[poorcody]

My 80-yo mother uses an X. I agree the larger the screen the better.

We have actually found FaceID to be much better than TouchID for her though. Odd problem, her wrinkled finger tips made TouchID not work much of the time (this was not a problem when she was a little younger). FaceID also feels "easier" to use for her (more seamless).

 

[ediks]

i would recommend iphone 8 plus

 

[ukms]

I think this thread demonstrates there is no 'one size fits all' for older users.

My 87yo mother has used iphones since the 4 and she now has a 7+ ...... she's very happy with a combination of that and her iPad although she's tried out an 11 from my wife to check the FaceID and loved it, her next purchase is a 12 once the rush has died down. For her age she is very tech savvy

From experience with other less tech savvy relatives is if they use an ipad then the iphone transition is pretty easy, my MIL previously had an ipad and windows phone combo and she struggled, as soon as she got an iphone she mastered it in minutes.

In answer to your question I'd say the SE is perhaps the way to go, you will then get a fair deal of life out of it in future.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Older persons need a larger display telephone

My older relatives and friends did not receive your survey and half of them disagree with your statement so please don’t spread your incorrect opinions as fact.

 

[bevsb2]

I'm 77 and love tech. I upgrade my iPhone and Apple Watch annually and my iPads and MacBook Pros a little less often. I use Face ID or Touch ID with no difficulty. My vision corrected with glasses is 20/20. However, as much as I like the idea of a smaller phone such as the SE, it is so much easier and more comfortable to read texts, e-mails and webpages on a larger screen with larger fonts. I have an 11Pro and will be upgrading to a 12Pro. I've never wanted or needed a + or Max sized phone and think the size would be awkward for me.

 

[Robbosan]

I'm 77 and love tech. I upgrade my iPhone and Apple Watch annually and my iPads and MacBook Pros a little less often. I use Face ID or Touch ID with no difficulty. My vision corrected with glasses is 20/20. However, as much as I like the idea of a smaller phone such as the SE, it is so much easier and more comfortable to read texts, e-mails and webpages on a larger screen with larger fonts. I have an 11Pro and will be upgrading to a 12Pro. I've never wanted or needed a + or Max sized phone and think the size would be awkward for me.

Love reading posts like this, my mum is 75 and i can't even get her to use TID on her IP8 lol, dad is 80 and still uses a nokia button phone haha. They share a 4G iPad they really like.