The iPhone's ease of use makes it a great choice for older folks who want a smartphone, and there are plenty of options to make iOS easier to use and more accessible. Whether you're setting up a phone for your great uncle (or you're the great uncle!) we have a pile of great tips to share.

1. Consider Enabling Assistive Access

Assistive Access is a feature introduced in iOS 17 that greatly simplifies the iOS experience. While designed for people with cognitive disabilities, it's also a good choice for seniors who only need to use the essential functions of their devices.

iPhone on the Assistive Access Home Screen
Raghav Sethi/MakeUseOf

A trusted person can set up Assistive Access to show only the apps that their loved one needs, which then run in a simplified format. This might be too drastic a step for tech-savvy seniors, but it's worth a look if the user doesn't want to be overwhelmed with apps and menus they won't use anyway.

See our guide to Assistive Access on iPhone to learn more.

2. Use Display Zoom

Most people's eyesight declines with age. To combat this, you can enable Display Zoom (on the iPhone SE 2, or iPhone XR and later) to magnify the screen:

  1. Open Settings and select Display & Brightness.
  2. Scroll down and tap Display Zoom.
  3. On the next menu, select Larger Text. A few simple previews to illustrate the differences.
  4. Tap Done to confirm your choice, then accept the prompt to restart your iPhone and apply the change.

3. Increase the Text Size

While Display Zoom makes everything on the screen larger, you can also increase text sizes to improve overall readability:

  1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size (under the Vision heading).
  2. Select Larger Text.
  3. Adjust the slider to choose your desired text size.
  4. If the largest option isn't enough, enable the Larger Accessibility Sizes slider at the top to show even bigger levels.

While on the topic of text, you may wish to enable the Bold Text slider on the Display & Text Size page to help text stand out.

4. Turn Up the Ringer Volume and Enable LED Alert Flashes

For a senior who is hard of hearing, it makes sense to boost the ringer volume so they don't miss calls and other alerts.

Head to Settings > Sounds & Haptics and adjust the Ringtone and Alerts slider to set your preferred volume. You may want to disable the Change with Buttons slider; with it turned off, the physical volume buttons will only change the volume for media (like music and games). With it enabled, it's easy to accidentally turn the ringer volume all the way down.

Make sure the selected Ringtone and other alerts are clear and distinct. To further reduce the chance of missing calls, it's a good idea to choose Always Play under Haptics so the phone vibrates for all alerts.

Finally, it can help to turn on the LED Flash for Alerts feature, which gives a visual cue for incoming alerts by flashing the camera. To do this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual (under the Hearing header). Tap LED Flash for Alerts and enable the slider of the same name. You can choose whether it should also display when the phone is unlocked or in silent mode.

5. Try Live Captions

While in beta at the time of writing, Live Captions is a blessing for anyone who struggles with hearing speech clearly. It turns all spoken dialogue into text on the screen in real-time.

To use it, head to Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions (under Hearing) and enable the Live Captions slider. This will immediately show a toolbar for the feature at the bottom of the screen; choose Appearance to customize it. Tap the toolbar to show its buttons, which allow you to change its size or pause transcription. You can also drag the toolbar around as you see fit.

When it says Listening, the feature is waiting for speech playing on your device (from YouTube or a podcasts app, for example) and will transcribe it. Tap the Mic button to switch its function to transcribe speech around you.

You may also wish to enable the Live Captions in FaceTime slider to keep this active in FaceTime calls.

6. Configure Favorite Contacts

Your iPhone's Favorites list makes it easy to keep your frequent contacts just a few taps away. This makes the iPhone more senior-friendly since it saves them the trouble of scrolling through their contact list all the time.

Here's how to add all important contacts to your Favorites on your iPhone:

  1. Open the Phone app.
  2. Select Favorites from the bottom bar.
  3. Tap the Plus icon at the top-right corner to bring up your contacts list.
  4. Select a contact to add to your favorites, then choose what type of entry to add for them. It's best to pick the method of contact you use most frequently for that person (calling, messaging, etc.).
  5. Repeat the process for each Favorite you want to add. Use the Edit button at the top-left if you need to remove contacts from favorites or want to rearrange them.

While you're looking at this, it's a good idea to organize your loved one's iPhone contact list so it's not bogged down with outdated entries.

7. Set Up Medical ID

Inside your iPhone's Health app is Medical ID, which functions like a digital medical identification tag. This lets paramedics know of existing health conditions that need immediate attention, medications you take, and similar. It's particularly useful in cases where the device owner is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate.

Set up Medical ID on your iPhone by opening the Health App, tapping your profile picture at the top-right, and choosing Medical ID > Edit. Aside from medical information, it's wise to add some Emergency Contacts as well. These people will be notified if you ever use your iPhone's Emergency SOS feature; it also allows paramedics to contact your loved ones if you can't provide their information.

At the bottom, ensure that Show When Locked is enabled, which makes your information available for anyone to see on the lock screen in case of emergency.

8. Configure Emergency SOS

The Emergency SOS feature on your iPhone alerts emergency services and your emergency contacts when you're in trouble. While this is an iPhone feature everyone should set up, it's especially important for the elderly.

Emergency SOS is available on the normal iPhone power-off screen. Drag the Emergency SOS slider and your phone will contact the emergency number for your region, then reach out to your emergency contacts with your location.

You should also configure the Emergency SOS shortcuts:

  1. Go to Settings > Emergency SOS.
  2. Enable Call with Hold and Release to contact emergency services by holding the Side and either Volume button for several seconds. (Keep holding them once the power screen appears.)
  3. On an iPhone 8 or later, you can also enable Call with 5 Button Presses if you like. This is the default shortcut for iPhone 7 and earlier.
  4. Depending on your iPhone model, you may be able to enable Call After Severe Crash and see information about satellite emergency contact.
  5. Ensure that you have added Emergency Contacts in the Health app. You'll see them here and can tap the shortcut link to add more or edit the existing ones.

By default, both Emergency SOS shortcuts will play an alarm sound when they start their countdown. If you don't want this, enable Call Quietly.

9. Enable Voice Dial for Siri

Siri's voice commands let you cut down on physical interactions with the phone, which is a great way to simplify an iPhone for the elderly. Enabling Voice Dial grants Siri the ability to make calls from lock screen:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode, depending on your device.
  3. Confirm your current passcode to continue.
  4. Enable the Voice Dial slider.

For more ways Siri can help your loved one, take a look at the best Siri commands you should know and explore its options at Settings > Siri & Search.

10. Simplify the Home Screen

Chances are that if you're setting up an iPhone for an elderly person, they don't need access to all the apps on the device. It's thus a good idea to do some housekeeping on the Home Screen, such as:

With these tweaks, an iPhone becomes even easier to use for the elderly. We've focused on generally useful tweaks here, but it's also worth exploring all iPhone accessibility options at Settings > Accessibility for options applicable to your loved one. You'll find many more specific options to help with hearing, vision, motor, and other concerns.