Advice on senior citizen phones

All senior citizen mobile phones have the same goal: excelling in user-friendliness. Despite this, they come in various shapes and sizes, with or without a charging dock. There are candybar phones and flip phones. The latter are useful, as their keys are automatically locked when you close them. This prevents accidental pocket dialing. You can also open or close them to pick up or end a call.

Senior citizen mobile phones excel in their straightforwardness. They're mobile phones without unnecessary bells and whistles, simply meant for calls and texts. You won't find a lot of extra functions, which means the menu stays organized. You can use them with minimal knowledge. Your friends and relatives are just a few clicks away.

displayStraightforward controls go hand in hand with a clearly legible screen. Senior mobile phone displays are as large as possible, and have high contrast. They feature a clearly legible font which can be adjusted in size, so the letters are always recognizable.

Another thing that benefits both seniors as the visually impaired are large and clearly legible buttons. They're often backlit to make them even clearer. This way, you'll always enter the right number and quickly navigate through the menu.

The emergency button may be the most important feature of senior citizen phones. You can use it to reach multiple preset contacts in case of emergency. Tip: make sure to test this function beforehand, so you and the contacts know exactly how it works. They'll usually get an SMS, after which they'll be called one by one until someone picks up. We recommend entering mobile phone numbers, as landline phones often can't receive SMS messages.

Clear notifications are indispensable for a mobile phone for senior citizens and the hearing impaired: a loud ringtone and LED light that flashes in case of incoming calls or messages. This way, you won't miss a single message from your friends and relatives.

Senior citizens and hearing impaired with hearing aids can't take having conversations via mobile phone for granted. Things become a lot easier if your phone is compatible with hearing aids. The majority of senior citizen phones support and can be comfortably used with hearing aids, without shrill or whistling sounds.

A senior citizen mobile phone with a charging dock saves you the frustration of messing around with charging cables. You can give your phone a fixed place to charge, so it's always charged and ready when you leave the house.

Some senior citizen mobile phones have FM radio. Plug in your headphones or earbuds and listen to your favorite radio station wherever you want. Some senior citizen phones have a camera. The number of megapixels is quite low, but you'll always have nice photos of your loved ones in your pocket. There are also senior citizen smartphones. These phones have a simplified operating system and extra large touch buttons, sometimes combined with physical buttons. You can use them for internet and WhatsApp, for example.