Your experience with apps made specifically with older users in mind.

I do not know about the phone app, but my daughter got her father apple AirPods and when he wore those, she said that he could hear what she said on the phone, and he also spoke clearer when he spoke to her; so that is a possibility.

If you get your mom a Fitbit that is also a phone, it can connect with her phone and whatever google app works for sharing location with each other. I LOVE my Apple Watch !
It is an alarm should I fall and need help, and can even call emergency service if i passed out and could not call for help myself, @David St John . Once you set it up for her, basically all she has to do is wear the watch and charge it up at night.

The hospital here has an app called HealtheLife, and any time I go to any of the doctors offices that use the hospital, it all goes into my records and I can access it from the app. I think that most doctors have an online portal that works this way, if you ask your doctor about it, or look on their website.

I am 78, so not far from my 80’s, and was “raised” by 3 kids who all love technology; and when I asked a question about why something was not working for me, the first response was , “Did you Google it, Mom ?”
So, I learned to look and try to figure things out before asking for help from the kids, and I really enjoy my phone, ipads, and apple watch because they add a lot to my life.
This is interesting "It is an alarm should I fall and need help, and can even call emergency service if i passed out and could not call for help myself" - at the moment she wears a device around her neck that she can activate a speaker to call for help if she has a fall. The limitations of course are that it's tied to her accommodation and it's of no help if she can't speak. Will definitely look into this.

She has gotten pretty good at Googling I have to say ... whenever a doctor prescribes something she always checks out the medication and side effects which is really great.
 

The smartphone is another "tool". It is like having a computer you can carry around. I got one for the first time a couple months ago. I am 71, so compared to your Mom I am a youngster. :) I like it. I watch tik-tok shorts which are very entertaining and easy to navigate. I just put on Zoom to use for my Peripheral Neuropathy support group
( they average of thirty people ) which is a godsent. I like the talk to the phone ability. I ask google all kinds of things. Curious? ask your smartphone! :) It has also nudged me closer to a lot of friends and family because of the texting ability. I stay in "touch" more. I think if your Mom likes it, she will keep exploring and might ask you (or the phone ) for an app(lication)/program. She might be comfortable with it or not. I have tried several apps that were not for me so I removed them. Maybe there are some "games" she has played in the past that she could play on the phone. I am not much of a game player so I haven't dowloaded any. But I see elderly people playing word games, puzzles, card games, etc.
Good Luck. Our world is changing ever so fast it is very hard to keep up. We must try though. :)
thanks @Paco Dennis . The communication side of things has been fun. She just uses the messenger but it lets her send thoughtful messages in between calls to friends and family. And she love emojis :) !
 
The is quite interesting @kburra. I hadn't seen nor heard of the magnifying feature. As a slightly related feature I know we have bumped up the text size on mum's phone but, again, not straightforward to find. Could do with like a swiss army knife app or widget that has most used / useful features on easy location.
iu
 

I'm 65 and I'm always glad I have my iPhone 11. I sometimes make calls and send/receive texts on it. But I use it most often to listen to the music that I've stored on it. I wear my AirPods at the gym and if I'm listening to something upbeat I work out that much harder and walk that much faster on the treadmill. I frequently play word games on it. I check the stock market, my Visa balance and sometimes buy movie tickets with it. I always store movie tickets, tickets for plays and theater tickets in the Apple Wallet because many sites won't allow you to print tickets any longer. I've been forced to learn all the features.

My car is 7 years old but it has wired Apple CarPlay so I sometimes use Google Maps to find places. I also listen to music from my iPhone in my car. Funny thing is, I never ever used Apple Car Play in my car when I was working. I only discovered how useful it is after I retired. I've discovered lots of new technology since I've retired, since I have nothing but time on my hands.

When my mother was in her 80's I bought her a Jitterbug phone because it was so easy to use. She refused to use it, so if I wanted to call her I always had to call her landline.
 
I'm 88 and have a Samsung S21 Smart Phone. I only use it to use their health app to track all my health indicators. I wear a Samsung smart watch which collects my blood oxygen levels, counts my miles walked each day and measures my sleep variables. It did show once that my blood oxygen had dropped to 70%. If it ever reached 60%, I'd be dead. Even down to 70% it causes death of brain cells which could lead to dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and DEATH.

That motivated me to buy some Oxygen Cylinders. However, if the Oxygen drops while I sleep, how could I even get to the Oxygen Cylinders?

We have to face the fact that one way or another we ALL die in time.
 
For me, having a smartwatch like the Apple Watch is just the best thing ever ! I like having the largest phone I can because everything is easier to see and read, but with the Apple Watch, the phone can mostly just be in my purse and I can answer phones on the watch and never miss calls.
I like that my family always knows where i am at, in case of emergencies.
It monitors so many health functions, like pulse and oxygen level, even when I am sleeping. My heart rate was going down into the low 40’s at night and occasionally into the 30’s, and i could tell that from the sleep monitoring app, and was able to let my doctor know before it got worse.
When I was having afib, that showed up , too. And if my blood oxygen drops, I have a complete record of all of that.

The fall alert vibrates when the watch senses that I might have fallen, and I can respond and say that I am okay, or that I need help. If I passed out, and did not answer that I was okay, the watch/phone would call 911 and also my emergency contacts, and send gps so they could find me fast.
I can make calls by just telling the watch who to call, which saves time in an emergency.

Once the watch and phone are paired, it is just a matter of the person wearing it and charging it up at night. Since I usually wear mine to bed, I charge it in the evening when I am just relaxing and reading a book on my kindle app.
I think that every senior should have a smart watch; but if they can’t work a smartphone, then it might be hard for them to use.
 
Last weekend, I pulled out the old HDD and installed a new 2TB SSD. I have to add the apps yet. Little at a time, but I will get there. It was either that or shell out for a new system, which will happen in a few years anyway. Best Buy had these on sale for a great price.
 
I'm 65 and I'm always glad I have my iPhone 11. I sometimes make calls and send/receive texts on it. But I use it most often to listen to the music that I've stored on it. I wear my AirPods at the gym and if I'm listening to something upbeat I work out that much harder and walk that much faster on the treadmill. I frequently play word games on it. I check the stock market, my Visa balance and sometimes buy movie tickets with it. I always store movie tickets, tickets for plays and theater tickets in the Apple Wallet because many sites won't allow you to print tickets any longer. I've been forced to learn all the features.

My car is 7 years old but it has wired Apple CarPlay so I sometimes use Google Maps to find places. I also listen to music from my iPhone in my car. Funny thing is, I never ever used Apple Car Play in my car when I was working. I only discovered how useful it is after I retired. I've discovered lots of new technology since I've retired, since I have nothing but time on my hands.

When my mother was in her 80's I bought her a Jitterbug phone because it was so easy to use. She refused to use it, so if I wanted to call her I always had to call her landline.
Sounds like you've found a nice balance with your day-to-day tech.
 
I'm 88 and have a Samsung S21 Smart Phone. I only use it to use their health app to track all my health indicators. I wear a Samsung smart watch which collects my blood oxygen levels, counts my miles walked each day and measures my sleep variables. It did show once that my blood oxygen had dropped to 70%. If it ever reached 60%, I'd be dead. Even down to 70% it causes death of brain cells which could lead to dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and DEATH.

That motivated me to buy some Oxygen Cylinders. However, if the Oxygen drops while I sleep, how could I even get to the Oxygen Cylinders?

We have to face the fact that one way or another we ALL die in time.
Depending on your situation of course but could your watch alert a neighbour or relative? @Happyflowerlady made some good notes earlier about the Apple watch and I have been looking into it for mum. I'm guessing the Samsung watch will have plenty of similar capabilities like triggering an alarm and vibrating to help rouse you when, possibly, the oxygen levels starting getting too low.
 
For me, having a smartwatch like the Apple Watch is just the best thing ever ! I like having the largest phone I can because everything is easier to see and read, but with the Apple Watch, the phone can mostly just be in my purse and I can answer phones on the watch and never miss calls.
I like that my family always knows where i am at, in case of emergencies.
It monitors so many health functions, like pulse and oxygen level, even when I am sleeping. My heart rate was going down into the low 40’s at night and occasionally into the 30’s, and i could tell that from the sleep monitoring app, and was able to let my doctor know before it got worse.
When I was having afib, that showed up , too. And if my blood oxygen drops, I have a complete record of all of that.

The fall alert vibrates when the watch senses that I might have fallen, and I can respond and say that I am okay, or that I need help. If I passed out, and did not answer that I was okay, the watch/phone would call 911 and also my emergency contacts, and send gps so they could find me fast.
I can make calls by just telling the watch who to call, which saves time in an emergency.

Once the watch and phone are paired, it is just a matter of the person wearing it and charging it up at night. Since I usually wear mine to bed, I charge it in the evening when I am just relaxing and reading a book on my kindle app.
I think that every senior should have a smart watch; but if they can’t work a smartphone, then it might be hard for them to use.
This has been really helpful @Happyflowerlady . I looked into it over the weekend in some depth and went through it with mum and she is excited about what the watch can offer.
 
My Samsung Smart Watch combined with my Samsung Smart Phone really monitor all my health data. I record that data as it happens in OneNote. Then I send it to my Geriatrician once per week. If he detects problems, he can take the proper action on my behalf.

By the way, my Geriatrician and his Nurse Practitioner alternate every 2 months to visit me. I am 88. I was in Vitas Hospice for 3 weeks during October, 2018.
 


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