You’re an older adult. You’re well educated. And you’re tech-savvy. You represent a growing generation of seniors who are embracing mobile technology at a fast pace. According to Pew Research, nearly 42% or 4 in 10 seniors now own a smartphone, a number that has doubled since 2013. Interestingly, affluent and educated younger seniors own and use various technologies at the same rate as adults under the age of 65.
While high-end smart devices and apps are typically marketed to teens and young adults, there’s a silver (pun intended!) lining for seniors. In general, the plethora of smartphone apps work just as well for all ages. While the best apps for seniors aren’t designed specifically for older adults, they have features that make daily life easier for all ages. Here’s our list of our favorite apps (most free, and some requiring a small fee or subscription) that will provide local information and entertainment on the go, keep track of your health, manage medications and much more.
Health and Wellness
WebMD Maintain a healthy diet and wellness routine with the features and content provided on this app. You can set targets and get weekly insights into your eating and exercise habits.
Senior Savings – This app tracks discounts and sales. Use it to tell you which stores, hotels, restaurants and retail outlets offer senior discounts.
GoodRx – Use this app to compare prices on medical prescriptions. It purports to check more than 70,000 pharmacies nationwide to help you find the lowest local prices.
Pillboxie – Helps you with remembering to take medications, especially if you take different meds on different days. You can make a customized pillbox and set medication reminders to take the right pill at the scheduled time.
Pillbox – Identify pills by color and shape, get info on side effects and set medication reminders.
Blood Pressure Monitor or Blood Pressure Companion – Many seniors use a blood pressure monitor on a daily basis. These mobile apps can help track blood pressure, weight, and other vitals and share them with your doctor.
Red Panic Button – This app is an emergency alert system you access on your phone. It sends a message to a designated list of people, telling them you need help and providing your location as well.
Everyday Life
Epicurious – One of the best apps for seniors who love to cook. It offers thousands of free recipes to try, along with reviews, cooking tips and pictures from other cooking enthusiasts.
Mint – A personal finance app that syncs your bank accounts into one place, sets spending budgets and tracks your spending habits.
Find My iPhone You won’t lose track of your iPhone with this app. If you misplace it or it’s stolen, this app will help you locate it.
Find My Car We’ve all done it. Parked our car and forgotten the parking spot. This app uses Google maps to find your vehicle.
Life360 Let your family know you’ve arrived safely at your destination with this app. It uses GPS tracking to show where family members are as they attend school, travel and head home.
Be My Eyes or EyeReader – Hard-to-read restaurant menu? Fine print on a document? Be My Eyes connects you with a volunteer for free visual assistance. Eye Reader provides light and magnifies what you’re looking at so it’s easier to see.
Make It Big – No need to squint at tiny buttons and text. This app allows you to enlarge buttons and text on iPads and iPhones.
Entertainment
Lumosity Science-backed puzzles and games that will improve your reasoning, critical thinking and reaction times. Help delay the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other dementias with daily brain games.
WordBrain A free app that helps you stay sharp and keep your brain active. The puzzles start easy and get progressively harder as you go.
Words with Friend Another word game app that’s similar to Scrabble and can be played with friends and family no matter where they live.
Apple Books and Amazon Kindle These free apps allow you to download books, magazines and other reading material. You can also download sample pages to see if you like a book before reading all of it.
Librivox When reading becomes difficult, great stories are still within reach. This app has thousands of audiobooks free for anyone to listen to on a range of devices.
Castro, Podcast Addict, The Podcast App Listen to podcasts that cover every imaginable topic. Try one of these apps to see which suits your interests best.
Old Time Radio 24 Take a trip down memory lane with music from the 1920s to the 1950s. This app also broadcasts TV shows from that period.
Spotify, Tidal, Pandora These mobile apps provide music through your smartphone or other device. Dial up your favorite songs, discover new artists and find out what the kids are listening to.
Communication
Tapestry Social media for seniors who don’t want to join Facebook. Allows sharing messages, photos and videos with family in a spam and ad-free environment.
Simple Social Manage all your social media accounts in one place. It’s easy to navigate and drains less battery power from your smartphone. There’s a substantial subscription fee for this service.
Skype, Zoom, FaceTime You’ve probably already heard of these apps that help you connect with other people through voice and/or video. Try them if you haven’t yet.
Like the idea of a senior living community where your neighbors are enthusiastic and open-minded about everything life has to offer? We’d love to tell you more about Sedgebrook, where you’ll find more to like and much to do. Learn more about our amenities, activities and events by contacting us.
