modern life, smart phones have become one of the essential tools. Young people are inseparable from their work and life, and the elderly are also beginning to popularize smart phones. Every time I go home, I believe many friends will encounter such a situation: the elders hold hands and ask us how to use the functions of the smartphone.
Due to age, the elders’ ability to learn new things is far less than ours, and they cannot quickly master the functions of smart phones.
However, with the rapid development of the mobile Internet, the elderly also desire the convenience brought by smart phones. For example, smart phones pay utility bills online, video calls with distant children and grandchildren, and check the latest information online. As the saying goes, old-fashioned mobile phones with simple functions are increasingly difficult to meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of elderly friends. Xiao Hei knows Mr. D, a mobile phone salesperson. He told Xiao Hei that many elderly people don't like feature phones and they buy smart phones, but many old people can't use them after buying them.
"An old man came to the store a few days ago. This customer did not buy a mobile phone in our store, but bought it elsewhere. The reason for coming to me is because the new mobile phone does not have an enlarged font. The desktop icons are small and can’t be seen clearly. I guided this old man, who is nearly 60 years old, on the basic operation of smart phones based on professional principles.” Mr.
D told Xiaohei in the conversation that smart phone consumers are basically divided into three parts. Groups of people: The first type is young people under the age of 35. This type of people is the fastest to be familiar with smart phones and can master the basic operations of smart phones in one day; the second type is around 35-50 years old. Most of these people are Have a basic understanding of mobile phones, but the response speed and proficiency are quite different, and basically there are many questions. Follow-ups are often asked on WeChat ; the last category belongs to our parents’ generation, who is older, for mobile phone operation Difficulties are even harder. If you have any questions, you can ask directly in the store. It takes up a lot of time each time, but it doesn't work if you don't receive it. Mr. D especially hopes that there will be some tutorials to guide the elderly to learn to use smart phones in an all-round way, so as to reduce their front-line sales burden.
Elderly people are eager to learn how to operate smart phones, and even look for mobile phone sales to learn how to use them. As a junior, it is very necessary for to help the elders with smart phone related settings and teach them some simple methods of use.
iPhone Hidden elderly functions
Many people think that the iPhone is expensive and the operation is more complicated, and the elderly generally don't use it. Nowadays, with the acceleration of the replacement of smart phones, many young people give their retired old iPhones to their parents and elders, and the elderly are gradually using iPhones.
In the system function settings, the iPhone does not have a specially set old model mode, nor does it provide any third-party platform with the authority to change the system. If you want the elderly to use the iPhone better, they can only use patience and care to study the hidden elderly mode of the iOS system. For example, enlarge fonts, handwriting input keyboard, close some unused applications, location sharing, data restriction, etc.
zoom in on the phone screen
trees want to be quiet but windy, children want to support but not to wait, the memory and vision of the elderly have declined, the biggest problem encountered in daily use of smart phones is font size. In fact, the iPhone font settings can fully meet the requirements of large fonts for the elderly. Go to Settings-Display and Brightness-Text Size, drag the font size slider to the right to a suitable position, and then go to Settings-Auxiliary Function, underline to find and touch a larger font, and turn on the switch. The screen can only accommodate 40-50 Chinese characters at most, which is very suitable for elderly people to read.
In addition to fonts, you can also use the enlarged view to make the phone interface clearer. The opening method is also very simple. Find the view in Settings-Display and Brightness and select the enlarged version. However, this feature has a certain risk of use. After Xiaohei's mobile phone is upgraded to iOS 14, the Liu Haiping mobile phone will have problems. The APP interface can only display a part of the screen, and a large part of the upper and lower ends are black. For mobile phones upgraded to iOS 14 system, it is best not to use this feature.
▲ The zoomed-in view is prone to display errors.
Traffic and application
Old people go online, the most useful is to open video. Xiao Hei knows an old man in his 60s who lives in the countryside with his wife. He used to use a feature phone. When the epidemic broke out this year, children and grandchildren were unable to go home due to quarantine. They used their neighbors’ smartphones to open WeChat video chats. Since then, the old man has been talking about smart phones every day, wanting to see his grandson on the phone.
As we all know, smart phones need internet to get online. The elderly who have a wireless network at home can say that they can start video at any time when connected to WiFi. Those elderly who do not have a wireless network can only use mobile data to surf the Internet. At this time, juniors need to choose a suitable package for the elderly. Some of the friends around Xiaohei open a big card for the elderly. Tencent apps are free of data, and WeChat can open videos as much as possible. There are also some who open a high-traffic package card by themselves, and then issue a secondary card to the elders, so that not only do not have to worry about excessive traffic, but also save the elders from paying the phone bill.
Now the iPhone has a "caring" function. When the WiFi signal is poor, the phone prompts whether to use cellular mobile data. Many elderly people don't know what it means. Clicking to use mobile data often uses the data beyond the standard. Here you need to make specific adjustments to the mobile phones of the elderly. For example, video applications such as iQiyi that consume a lot of data can set the wireless data to "WLAN" in the settings to disable the cellular network Internet access function.
In addition, the iOS system has many built-in applications that the elderly cannot use, such as books, music, and wallets. Some applications can be directly uninstalled to hide them, while the rest can go to access restrictions to hide them to avoid confusion for the elderly due to their use. Or accidental touch causes other problems. The software commonly used by the elderly is no more than phone calls, text messages, and WeChat. We can place these software in the Dock of the iPhone for easy opening.
Shared location
When the elderly are at home or out alone, younger generations are always worried about their safety. If the younger generation and the elderly use iPhones, you can use the "Find My Friends" function on your mobile to view and understand the current location of the other party. Open the settings in the elderly mobile phone, find "Find" in Apple ID, will find my iPhone, find the network, and send the last location all open, and click "Share my location" at the same time. After setting
, turn on the iPhone’s “airdrop” function, and after searching for the other party’s iPhone, add it. After is added successfully, there will be options for sharing time on the screen, "Share for one hour", "Share until today", "Always share", we can choose according to our needs.
Of course, when an elderly person suddenly leaves home, he can also check the location through the website. Visit the website iCloud.com on your computer and open Find My iPhone. After logging in with your Apple ID, select the device you want to find in the device list. Your device is at the top of the list, and family members’ devices are below it, and Show its location on a map.
Android phone settings
Compared with iPhone phones, the proportion of elderly people using Android phones is larger, and the skills of using Android phones are more meaningful to the elderly. However, unlike the iOS system, which is closed and independent, the Android system is free and open source, and numerous branches have been derived, such as MIUI of , Xiaomi , EMUI of Huawei, and hydrogen OS of OnePlus. Almost every mobile phone brand has its own unique customized Android system.
Simple Desktop
It is difficult to make specific tutorials due to the inconsistent settings of various Android systems. However, the open source of the Android system has one advantage, that is, more room for expansion, and various mobile phone manufacturers will find ways to customize the needs of users. For example, Huawei mobile phones , have a simple mode for the elderly, open it in the settings, and immediately enter a system with larger fonts, larger icons, and simpler use. can directly realize many functions suitable for the elderly without hands-on operation. I have to say that this function of the Huawei system is quite fragrant.
other than Huawei mobile phones, Xiaomi, OPPO, Brands such as vivo have successively launched their own simple mode/elderly mode, the functions are generally the same, and they are all modes that are convenient for the elderly. The
simple mode basically allows the elderly to use the mobile phone comfortably, but it also has disadvantages. In the simple mode of Huawei mobile phones, the APP location cannot be moved. Except for WeChat, all third-party applications are placed in a folder and cannot be moved or edited. To some extent, is a bit anti-human and completely limits the operating space of the desktop screen.
If you, like Xiaohei, can’t stand the different experience brought by the official simple mode, you can also choose the elderly mode provided by a third party. As mentioned earlier, the Android system is open source, as long as you dare to think and do, you can modify the system and make it look like you like. In the app store, there are many desktop apps that provide simple modes, such as BIG Launcher, minimalist desktop and so on.
Xiaohei tried to download the minimalist desktop, the layout is indeed much better than the official simple mode. Similar to the design of the WP system, the APP icons are particularly eye-catching, and the desktop icons are also very mobile. However, Xiaohei never expected that the third-party software was still locked in a folder and could not be moved at all. In contrast to , the minimalist desktop is not as easy to use as the official simple mode.
file synchronization
minimalist desktop has another advantage, you can enjoy the address book, cloud photo album and other functions. Indeed, the address book and photo album are commonly used functions, and once the phone is lost, you may never find it again. In view of this, Xiaohei suggests to install a network disk application on the mobile phone of the elderly, and set up the automatic synchronization function, so that you are not afraid that the address book and photos will not be found. Of course, the iPhone has iCloud, which can automatically synchronize photos and address books. There is no need to install a backup network disk here.
to advertise
Nowadays, most mobile apps have startup page advertisements, which is unavoidable even for iPhones. iPhone is a closed system that is not easy to handle. Android devices can choose to download apps that block advertisements, such as light startup, which can block most of the APP startup page advertisements.
Elderly people generally don't know the startup page advertisement, and they are easy to accidentally touch and download messy apps. Lightly starting this kind of apps can speed up the app startup speed and avoid accidental touches by the elders. It is good to download one.
Android phones have a large operating space, so you can download third-party tools to your convenience. The iOS system is thoughtful, can control the location of the elderly at any time, and can also prevent the elderly from downloading junk content such as virus apps.
No matter which system phone the elderly use, the skill function can only solve the temporary needs, the most important thing is patience and company. Spend more time with the elderly, patiently explain a small function of the smart phone, don't be bored or think that the elderly are stupid, this is the best answer for the elderly to use the smart phone well.
