Ace apps for older people
In our experience, older people have been quick to adopt tablets and mobile devices so we decided to compile a little list of apps for this age group that we think they’d like – some of which were even recommended by our clients.
LEARNING/ENTERTAINMENT
Luminosity
Luminosity is an app ‘designed to challenge core cognitive functions’. It features daily ‘brain game’ training sessions that claim to improve concentration, memory, problem solving skills and processing speed. Despite the fact that the validity of this claim appears to be contradictory (study one, study two) many people think it’s a fun and engaging app.
https://www.lumosity.com/
Goodreads
Books can be discovered and shared using this app. It allows users to rate and review recently read books, give or get personalised recommendations, join reading challenges or discussion groups and explore what your friends are reading. One of our clients said they’ve found some wonderful new reads via this app that they wouldn’t have known about otherwise.
https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/80-does-goodreads-have-mobile-apps
WEATHER
BBC Weather
BBC Weather is incredibly easy to use with all information available at a glance. It’s great for the less technically-minded and while it doesn’t provide as much detail as other apps, the pay off is that you have the option to turn off location accuracy (for privacy and security’s sake) and have the app display the weather for the nearest town instead.
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bbc-weather/id649420946
Dark Sky
According to their website, Dark Sky is ‘the most accurate source of hyperlocal weather information’. It has minute-by-minute forecasts, is visually stunning and incredibly slick. The downside for many is it’s annual subscription fee of £2.99.
https://darksky.net/app
HEALTH
Medisafe Medication Reminder
It appears that lot of medication reminder apps have come and gone but Medisafe has remained and is still usually one of the most recommended. This app allows you to set reminders, track your prescriptions, create multiple profiles and view drug interaction warnings.
https://www.medisafeapp.com/
Pocket Physio
This is an easy-to-use app by Care UK for anyone wanting to prepare for or recover from surgeries that are more common among older people such as hip, knee, foot or hand surgery. It provides workout plans with videos, advice, precautions, exercises, pain management and recommended techniques.
http://www.careukhealthcare.com/pocketphysio
ADAPTIVE AIDS
Eye Reader (Apple) / Magnifier (Android)
Both of these apps are unique reading magnifiers that will enlarge the object your phone is pointing at once the program is launched. Eye Reader will also help enable you to read small print in dark places – like a menu in a dimly-lit restaurant. One of our clients finds this sort of app invaluable, saying she’s used it to view the instructions on bottles that are too small to read but too important not to read.
Message Dictation
This isn’t actually an app but we thought we’d include it here because a helpful bit of software that now comes pre-installed on phones and tablets. Touch screen keyboards can be small and cumbersome for many older people so being able to just voice an email, text or note can be a life changer for some.
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