Senior-Friendly Apps for Daily Use

The world of smartphones and tablet devices might appear to be a young person’s game, but it shouldn’t be so. While it is no secret that the Millenial generation (as well as the up and coming Generation Z) are certainly the target market when it comes to the majority of app publishers, there are many apps that the older citizen can make use of.

From reading their favourite books, watching their favourite television shows and listening to their favourite artists, as well as a touch of brain training, there are apps aplenty for the older generation. Here, we take a look at five of the best apps for the elder user of technology.

Lumosity

Keeping our brains in top condition is important no matter your age, so as you reach senior age it certainly becomes more important. Lumosity is a fantastic brain training app that challenges the user mentally through various games and challenges. If there is a specific area that you want to brush up on, whether that be mathematics, science or language amongst others, you can take on tailored workouts.

The app is designed to be used for just a few minutes a day, so not much time at all needs to be dedicated to Lumosity. It’s perfect to use when you have a cup of tea or coffee and a few minutes to spare. Lumosity is a free app available on Apple and Android devices, as well as available to use on the desktop if that is more to the user’s liking.

Kindle

As far as e-books go, there is no better app than Amazon’s Kindle app. Various other apps and shops are available that provide an online library of e-books, but the Kindle app is probably the most user-friendly for those that may not consider themselves to be hugely tech-savvy.

Amazon often makes various titles free to download, while paid publications can be sampled with the user reading the first chapter or so allowing them to decide whether they wish to purchase the title. Additionally, with most people having an Amazon account – or at least knowing someone who does – it makes sense to download an app that hooks up with it.

Netflix

One of the most popular apps on the market, Netflix has grown into a behemoth in the world of online streaming. While its main competitor, Amazon Prime, offers a lot of fantastic content for a similar fee, Netflix continues to grow not only its listing of your favourite shows and films, but also its own exclusive content.

Various subscription packages are available, depending on how many devices you wish to use the service on and the quality of stream (HD or SD). Netflix does not just cater to a younger audience, with a wide variety of content that will appeal to anyone regardless of demographics. Additionally, Netflix’s algorithm will automatically alter the interface to show content that the user is most likely to be interested in based on their watch list.

Spotify

Over time, those CDs and records gather dust and likely won’t work as well as they did when they were first purchased. Not only that, depending on the size of your collection, it can be a lot of space that could otherwise be used for something else. For example, if you were to move into a care home like those here, you would have to be prudent with your belongings.

Spotify is a fantastic piece of software for anyone that loves music, so pretty much everyone. Very much the Netflix of the music streaming world, Spotify features artists from all generations, meaning that no matter how well aged your music taste is, you will be sure to find it here. With a user interface that is exceptionally easy to use and a simple search function that displays matches that are ready to play, you certainly don’t need to be a tech-wiz for this.

Words With Friends

Finally, one of our favourite apps is Words With Friends. The perfect combination of social networking and brain training. This is essentially Scrabble that you can play with friends online (with the ability to hook up to Facebook) or by entering a game with anyone anywhere in the world.

There is no time limit to each move, so you can come in and out of your game as much as you please without any worry. You can have multiple games on the go, too, so don’t feel that you cannot enter into a game with one friend because you have one in procession already.