Text | This kind of APP tailored for the elderly was originally intended to make it easier for the elderly to operate smartphones, but it has unexpectedly gained the favor of many young people.

text | , an APP tailored for the elderly, was originally intended to make it easier for the elderly to operate smartphones, but it has unexpectedly gained the favor of many young people.

What they fell in love with was obviously not the obviously larger font in the "older-friendly version" of the APP, but an extremely simple interactive experience.

Video APP that turns on the "elder mode"

There are more and more types of APPs nowadays, but most of them seem to be getting more and more "heavy". Downloading an APP can easily cost more than 100 megabytes. There are all kinds of fancy functions in the software, but if you think about it carefully, in fact, many people have never clicked on many functions, and the most commonly used ones are just a few core functions.

Therefore, when more APPs are keen to design more entrances to push diverse information, attract more click views from users, and even induce users to consume in various pop-up advertisements, an is simple enough but just right. The senior version APP that can meet the core needs of users has naturally entered the hearts of young people.

The elder version of a certain map software

Especially now that people are deeply tied to intelligent algorithms, this kind of APP that is purely "simple and easy to use" gives users a sense of security. Reading through the news, it is not difficult to find that some software violates regulations and excessively collects users' interests, hobbies, online traces and other private data, thereby inducing consumption.

The "Universal Design Specifications for Mobile Internet Applications (APPs) for Aging" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology clearly requires: "Advertising content and plug-ins are strictly prohibited in the age-appropriate interface and individual age-appropriate APPs, and advertisements or temporary ads cannot appear randomly. "Advertising pop-ups" and "prohibited inducing buttons".

Young people fall in love with the senior version of the app, precisely because this type of software does not have so many "routines" and does not have useless and time-consuming interaction pain points. The logic behind is that many software seem to have rich functions, but are actually complicated and redundant, and deviate from the main core functions that users originally only wanted to get when downloading the software. Therefore, from the perspective of software product positioning, developers still need to think more carefully about the real needs of target users and seek a balance between professional and popular settings.

Volunteers teach trainees the basic functions of smartphones. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shao Rui

The pop-up marketing and jump links that many people criticize are actually also the needs of some Internet companies to maintain operating costs. Even if it is not realistic to eliminate in a short time, enterprises should also see the increasing demands of users for the simplicity of network software. believes that the original intention of many software designs is to attract more users and find ways to improve user stickiness. In this regard, there is still a long way to go to make mobile network software more user-friendly.

In fact, young users’ pursuit of “age-friendly” APPs is essentially their pursuit of “humanity-friendly” APPs. A series of problems in , such as the proliferation of advertisements, complex functions, and induced clicks, should be dealt with in a more standardized manner, giving users a more refreshing and intuitive interface, and making the human-computer interaction experience more humane.

Users’ trade-off between the normal mode and the aging-friendly mode, or even their preference for the aging-friendly mode, should become a phenomenon worthy of reflection in the industry. Each user of can actually be regarded as a "product manager" with more universal design requirements. For , users' pursuits and preferences should be paid more attention to, and the functionality of the software should also be improved in the direction of user preferences.