Having trouble using your iPhone? Here are some helpful tips to make your life easier
iPhones are extremely user friendly, making them a great option for smartphone option for elderly folks. But there are some options to make them even more accessible and easier to use.
1. Using the Display Zoom
If your eyesight isn’t quite what it used to be, chances are you’ve had trouble reading your iPhone. Luckily, there is an option to make many aspects of your phone larger.
How to use the Display Zoom:
- Go into the Settings and open Display & Brightness
- Scroll down to the Display Zoom option, and select View
- Select the Zoomed option and then tap the Set button in the top right corner
- Confirm your selection by tapping Use Zoomed
If you want to change the settings back, just repeat the process but select Standard instead of Zoomed.
2. Adjust the Text Size
Increasing the text size is a little different from just using the display zoom. This will help make everything easier to read.
How to adjust the text size:
- Go into the Settings and tap Accessibility
- Tap Display & Text Size
- Tap the Larger Text option
- Now adjust the slider on the bottom to a size that works for you
If you need the text even larger, you can tap the Larger Accessibility Sizes option for even more size options.
3. Using Speech Selection
Would you prefer to have certain text read aloud to you? Then you can just enable the Speak Selection function.
How to turn on speak selection:
- Go into the Settings and tap Accessibility
- Tap Spoken Content
- Tap the Speak Selection button
Now when you highlight text, you will see an option to have the highlighted text spoken to you. You can also adjust the voice, and voice speed. If you’re having trouble highlighting text, you can also enable Speak Screen, which will read out all the text on your screen when you swipe down from the top using two fingers.
4. Increase the Ringer Volume and turn on LED Alerts
If you’re hard foe haring, it’s a good idea to increase the overall ringer volume so you know when your phone is being called.
How to increase the ringer volume:
- Go into Settings and tap Sounds & Haptics
- From here you can adjust the Ringer and Alerts slider
You can also disable Change with Buttons. This will allow the ringer to stay at the selected volume and allow the buttons only to change the volume level for media, such as music or videos.
You can also make your phone vibrate by toggling the buttons under the Vibrate section.
If you’d like to make your phone screen flash when receiving calls or notifications, you can follow these steps:
- Go into Settings and tap Accessibility
- Select Audio/Visual
- At the bottom, turn on LED Flash for Alerts
This can help provide a visual cue that your phone has an incoming alert.
5. Turn on Find My
If you frequently misplace your phone in your home, enabling Find My can be a helpful tool.
How to turn on Find My:
- Go into Settings and select your name at the top
- Tap Find My
- Turn Find my iPhone on
6. Optimize Your Contact Favorites
If you have a few contacts who you communicate with frequently, it might be a good idea to enable them as favorites so you can access these contacts with greater ease.
How to make certain contacts Favorites:
- Go into the phone app
- Tap the Favorites button on the bottom of the screen
- Tap the Plus button in the top left corner
- No select the contacts you communicate with frequently
Now when you open up your Phone app, just select the Favorites button on the bottom and any names you’ve selected will appear here.
7. Utilize the Medical ID function
Did you know you can set up a digital medical identification card within your iPhone? This can help let medical professionals such as paramedics or doctors know your medical condition in the event of an emergency where you’re unable to communicate.
How to set up your Medical ID:
- Open up the health app
- Follow the prompts
- Then tap medical ID and then tap Edit
Be sure to turn on Show When Locked, so that this information can be access by medical professionals if you are unable unlock the phone yourself.
8. Emergency SOS Feature
If you’re in an emergency, you can alert emergency services and your pre-selected emergency contacts in your phone to let them know you’re in trouble.
If you’re using an iPhone 7 or earlier, you can tap the side or top button five times rapidly. This will activate the Emergency SOS feature. If you’re using an iPhone 8 or later, you can hold one of the volume buttons along with the side buttons for a few seconds to activate the Emergency SOS feature.
Once activated, you’ll need to drag the slider (if using an iPhone 8 or later, you can continue holding the buttons) to actually contact your region’s emergency services. This will also provide your pre-selected emergency contacts with your location and a notification that you’re in need.
How to adjust your Emergency SOS options:
- Go into Settings and tap Emergency SOS
- From here you can select the options to your liking
- You can also select your emergency contacts using the Health app if you haven’t already
9. Siri Voice Dial
Siri’s voice commands can make using your phone a breeze. If you’d like Siri to be able to make call from the lock screen, then you should enable Voice Dial.
To enable Voice Dial:
- Go into Settings and select Face ID & Passcode
- Type in Your Passcode
- Turn on the Voice Dial Button
This will allow you to ask Siri to make calls while your phone is still locked.
10. Clean Up Your Home Screen
If your phone feels cluttered and messy, maybe it’s time to move some of those apps around and group them together. If you press and hold down on the home screen for a moment all of the icons will start to jiggle. From here, you’ll be able to select certain icons and drag them to the spots you want them to be.
You can also drag one icon over another to create a folder for the icons to share. This allows you to group icons together into different categories. You can even change the name of the folders.
With these tips you should be able to use your iPhone to the fullest.
Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/iphone-for-seniors-tweaks/