Choosing a Phone for an Older Relative

Big button and simple phones, hearing aid compatibility, emergency features and setup

A phone bought for an older relative is frequently the wrong phone, because it is chosen for what it can do rather than for what they will use. Starting from their actual needs changes the answer.

Ask what they want it for

Calls and texts only, or calls plus photographs of grandchildren, or full internet use. Many people are perfectly comfortable with a smartphone and find a simplified phone patronising, and others find a smartphone genuinely unusable.

The right answer is theirs rather than yours.

What a simple phone does well

Large physical buttons with real travel and a tactile click, a bright high-contrast screen, loud clear audio, and a battery lasting days rather than hours.

Physical buttons matter for anyone with reduced dexterity, tremor or poor eyesight, where a touchscreen is genuinely difficult.

Hearing aid compatibility

Look for an M and T rating, commonly M3 or M4 and T3 or T4. The T rating indicates a telecoil connection, which lets a hearing aid pick up the call directly and cuts out background noise.

This matters enormously and is easy to overlook.

Emergency features

An SOS button calling preset numbers in sequence is genuinely useful for someone living alone. Check whether it also sends a text with a location.

It is not a substitute for a monitored personal alarm, which connects to a response centre rather than to relatives who may not answer.

Network and coverage

Older networks are being switched off in many countries, so check the phone supports current networks and that it will work where they live. Coverage indoors matters more than headline speed.

Care alarms and fall detection

A monitored personal alarm connects to a response centre staffed around the clock, which is a different proposition from a phone calling a relative who may be asleep or abroad.

For anyone living alone who has fallen before, that monitored connection is usually the more useful purchase.

Cost

A basic pay-as-you-go tariff suits someone making a few calls a week and avoids paying monthly for data they will never use. Check whether the credit expires.

Teaching it

Write the steps for the three things they will actually do — answering, calling a saved contact, and charging — on a card kept beside the phone. Demonstrating once is rarely enough.

Check in a week later and fix whatever has drifted rather than assuming it is working.

Set it up for them

Store key contacts, set the ringtone loud, turn the screen brightness up, and write the important numbers on a card kept with the phone.

Show them once, then again a week later.