How to make a smartphone easier for an elderly person

By James editorial team, Golan Europe S.L. · Published 1 November 2026 · 7 min read

To make a smartphone easier for an elderly person, change three things: what they see, what they have to tap, and what can reach them. Make the text and icons bigger, cut the home screen down to a few apps, and turn on settings that filter unknown calls. Then teach one task at a time, with them holding the phone. Most of this takes an afternoon and costs nothing.

Start with what they want the phone for

Ask your parent what they want to do, not what the phone can do. The list is often short: calls, photos of the grandchildren, messages, the weather, maybe the radio.

Write that list down. Every change you make should serve it. If an app or feature is not on the list, it can go off the main screen.

Also watch them use the phone for a few minutes. Do they squint? Do they hit the wrong button? Do they get lost after one wrong tap? A research review found that older people often like smartphones and tablets. It also found that confidence with technology, and phones that do not suit older eyes and hands, often get in the way^[1]. The aim is to remove those barriers.

Make everything bigger and clearer

Bigger text is the quickest win. Both main phone systems make it easy.

On an iPhone, Apple's guide gives these steps^[2]:

• Open the Settings app, tap Appearance, then Text Size. Drag the slider to the right.
• In the same place, turn on Bold Text.
• To make the whole screen larger, tap Appearance, then Display Zoom, and choose Larger Text.
• For even bigger text and more contrast, go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Display & Text Size.

On an Android phone, Google's guide says^[3]:

• Open the Settings app and search for Font size. Move the slider to the right.
• Search for Display size to make icons and buttons bigger too.
• For bold text, go to Accessibility, then Display size and text, and turn on Bold text.

Google notes that the font size can go up to 200%, and that some apps ignore the setting^[3]. Menus can look a little different on each make of phone. If you cannot find something, use the search bar at the top of Settings.

A few more things help with eyesight:

• Turn the screen brightness up, or turn off auto-brightness if the screen keeps dimming.
• Choose a plain wallpaper, so icons stand out.
• Make the screen stay on longer before it locks, so it does not go dark mid-task.

Use a simpler home screen

A crowded home screen is the main reason many older people feel lost. Cut it down.

iPhone: Apple offers a simplified layout for someone with a cognitive disability, called Assistive Access. You choose a few core apps and they appear as large buttons. You find it under cognitive features in Settings, then Accessibility^[4]. It is a big change, so try it together first.

Android: many phones have a built-in "easy" or "simple" mode with large icons, often in the Display or Home screen settings. You can also install a simple home screen app, called a launcher, from the Play Store. These replace the normal screen with a few big tiles.

If you prefer the normal layout, you can still tidy it:

1. Put the four to six most-used apps on the first screen.
2. Move everything else to a second screen or a folder called "Other".
3. Delete apps they never use, including games and trial apps.
4. Add photos to contacts, so they tap a face, not a name.
5. Put favourite contacts or a speed-dial widget on the home screen.

Tune sound, touch and voice

Hearing and hand problems make phones hard too. The accessibility settings cover much more than text^[4][5].

• Louder ringer and vibration. Choose a clear ringtone and turn vibration on, so a call is felt in a pocket.
• Captions. iPhone can show live captions of speech, and Android has Live Caption, which puts spoken words on the screen^[4][5].
• Hearing aids. Many hearing aids can pair directly with the phone^[4][5].
• Hear the screen. Both systems can read text aloud. Android has Select to Speak; iPhone has a built-in screen reader^[4][5].
• Control by voice. Android's Voice Access lets you open apps and write messages by voice^[5]. iPhone can be controlled with spoken commands too^[4].
• Steadier touch. iPhone has options so the phone responds best to your touch^[4]. A phone stand or a grippy case helps shaky hands.

For a closer look at talking to a phone, see our guide to voice assistants for elderly people.

Add emergency details

Make sure the phone can help if something goes wrong.

• Save "ICE" contacts. Add one or two "In case of emergency" contacts with clear names, such as "ICE Daughter Anna".
• Set up emergency information. On iPhone, Medical ID lives in the Health app and can show allergies, conditions and emergency contacts on the lock screen. Most Android phones have a similar emergency information page; search "emergency" in Settings.
• Write the emergency number on the card you keep with the phone: 999 or 112 in the UK, 112 in Ireland, 911 in the US, 000 in Australia. Most phones can call it even when locked.
• Keep it charged. Put the charger in one fixed spot, such as by the bed.

Turn on scam protection

Older people are a common target for scam calls and texts. A few settings cut the risk a lot.

• Filter unknown callers. Both systems have options to screen, silence or filter calls from numbers not in contacts. On iPhone this is in the Phone section of Settings. On Android, look in the Phone app's settings; the names differ by phone. Check first that doctors' surgeries and family are saved as contacts.
• Install updates. The UK National Cyber Security Centre says updates contain vital security fixes. It also recommends turning on 2-step verification and using a strong, separate password for email^[6].
• Use a screen lock they can manage, such as a fingerprint or face unlock, with a PIN written down somewhere safe at home.

Most of all, agree one simple rule: "If anyone asks for money, codes or passwords, hang up and call me." Our guide on phone scams targeting elderly people has more detail.

Teach one task at a time

How you teach matters as much as the settings.

• Let them hold the phone. Sit beside them, not across. Do not grab it to "just quickly" fix something.
• One task per session. Today, answering and ending a call. Next time, sending a photo.
• Use their words. "The green button", not "accept". "The camera picture", not "the camera app icon".
• Write it down. A small card with numbered steps in large print, kept with the phone.
• Repeat. Do the same task again a few days later. Praise what goes well.
• Expect mistakes. Show them the "go back" or home button, so a wrong tap is never a disaster.

Pick one family member as the main helper, so your parent knows whom to ask. Before any big change, such as Assistive Access or a new launcher, tell them what will look different.

Some older people find talking easier than tapping. James is an AI voice companion that runs in the browser of any phone, with nothing to install. With the camera on, which only happens when the person turns it on, he can read a letter or a label aloud. You can read how James helps people with low vision.

This article in other languages: EspañolРусскийDeutschFrançaisעברית