Setting up an older parent’s phone: the complete checklist

A few well-chosen settings, done once and for all, change everything for an older parent. Allow an hour, do it with them rather than for them, and write down what you changed.

Seeing and hearing

Enlarge the text and the display in the screen or accessibility settings.
Raise the brightness, and leave the screen on longer before it turns off.
Set a loud ringtone and vibration, and check that silent mode is not left on.
Turn on reading aloud if their eyesight is declining.

Simplifying

Remove unnecessary apps from the home screen, or uninstall them.
Turn off notifications for apps that do not need them.
Replace the home screen with a simplified app with big cards, if the icons remain an obstacle.
Choose a simple unlock: fingerprint or face, rather than a long code. Write down the backup code somewhere safe.

Contacts

Save relatives with their photo and a simple name: “Mary”, “Doctor Martin”.
Put the most important ones in favorites.

Safety

Fill in the emergency card: medication, allergies, person to contact. It can be read without unlocking the phone.
Turn on unwanted call filtering in the Phone app.
Protect purchases in Google Play with a confirmation step, to avoid a subscription taken out by mistake.
Turn on automatic backup of photos and contacts.
Let updates install automatically, at night.

And afterwards

Check in from time to time: a setting changed by mistake, an app installed unintentionally, an update that moved everything around. And remind them that you are only a call away.

FA6LIT makes it easy!