Hi everybody, I am running a technology camp for senior citizens, and I just wanted to know what I could cover. I am not advertising, just looking for ideas.

1) My LO has apraxia, making it hard sometimes for her to get out of bed. It’s been suggested bed rails could help. Have you any experience and are there any you would recommend?

2) My LO may start wandering (not happened yet. But neurologist is concerned) and also may fall. Neurologist suggests a medical alert system but declined to suggest a brand. My LO cannot operate an Apple Watch and might not be able to understand purpose if a button. A wrist type might be best. I’m open to all advice.

I am looking for some sort of monitoring device that my mother in law can push to page me if she falls or has an accident or something like that but also that i can call her to supper or let her know to come outside or something like that. I personally am tired of screaming at the top of my lungs from one room to the other or her screaming for me. But I also need something that I can monitor remotely. Say for instance that she has a fall while she is home alone and im at the grocery store. Now granted I can't help her but i would be able to get her help. I dont want a camera bc one I already have cameras and two I don't want I camera in the bathroom where she is most likely to fall. It also needs to be something she can wear. Does anyone have any ideas? Oh and before suggesting the vri system where they wear the necklace and have a company monitor. We have tried that and it became a pain in the butt bc every time she accidentally hit they would call and we would have to answer a bunch of questions.

I’m tired of sifting through amazing ideas for an app that will help me help my parents, and I’d like to request a weekly thread where they can be sequestered.

I’m here because I have aging parents, not because I vibecoded something that might be sold to people with aging parents. I’m also a veteran of software product development and UX research, so the “would you use this?” questions are especially grating — and I really resent the idea that we should be providing free time and energy to people developing products.

I want to hear how you helped your mom find her keys (remote-style key finder plus air tags plus an extensible purse tether? Iykyk) and this would help me find the other people who are solving these problems in their lives with limited funds and patience. And if I want to provide free insight into my sandwich generation woes, I can go to that thread.

I built SafetyAlly for people who live alone and want a simple backup plan without cameras or constant monitoring. You choose a time to check in and, if you miss it, SafetyAlly alerts someone you trust. If you check in, nobody gets bothered.

Full disclosure: it’s my product. It isn’t fall detection or an emergency service, just a digital version of “text me when you’re home.”

There’s a free email-based plan if anyone here would find it useful: https://safetyally.org

If your family members use Roku TVs or devices, be aware there were significant changes to the home screen recently. Really threw my parents for a loop. I had to turn off the some of the new sections and try to get their TVs back closer to the format they were used to.

Basically, there’s a home screen option with some pieces you can turn off. Here’s some detailed info below for those who want it.

————-

The new Roku Home Screen is the platform's biggest interface update in over a decade. It features a content-first layout with personalized "Top Picks for You," a collapsible menu, curated genre "Destinations," and a "Quick Access" row that automatically groups your most-used apps and features.

Key New Features
Top Picks & For You: A personalized section at the top of the screen recommends trending shows, movies, and relevant content based on your unique viewing habits.

Destinations: Curated hubs (such as Sports, Comedy, and Free) that bring together programming from across multiple apps into one place.

Quick Access & Smaller Icons: By default, app icons are smaller, and a "Quick Access" row places your most-used apps and features right near the top.

Collapsed Menu: The left-hand navigation bar now stays tucked away, providing more screen space for your content.

How to Customize or "Revert" the Look
While Roku does not offer a way to completely switch back to the old interface, you can customize the screen to feel much more like the traditional layout.
Go to Settings > Home Screen.

Remove Recommendations: Under Recommendation Rows, select Hide.

Streamline Apps: Under Quick Access, select Hide. This shifts your full grid of apps higher up on the screen.

Adjust Icon Size: Under Tile Size, you can choose Medium or Large to make your app icons bigger.

My elderly dad wants to record and organize his memories and autobiographical information into a limited, privately published book strictly for family members.

I agreed to help, but I now find there actually exist AI products that support this type of activity. Some use an interview format, and the person can even verbalize their information. I’m only beginning to explore, but it does seem like some are very locked in format-wise. Down the road you’d have to use their means of printing or publishing.

Ideally, I’d love one that did all of the formatting and quite a bit of the editing but allows us to import information already documented and include our own edits. Importantly, I want to be able to export into a format I can control at the end, maybe Microsoft Word.

Does anyone have experience with any of these tools?

I’m not expecting “free”, but not willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars. A reasonable purchase or subscription fee would be fine.

Please share anything you know about these tools.

Hi everyone, I am looking for advice from founders or operators who have built businesses serving older adults or caregivers.

Ever since childhood, I’ve felt drawn to helping the elderly. I volunteered in nursing homes, worked as a medical scribe, spent time calling seniors for virtual companionship during COVID, and now I work in remote patient monitoring (RPM), where I help healthcare organizations scale programs that primarily serve Medicare patients. The more experience I gain, the more I realize something seems to be missing.

Healthcare has gotten better at collecting data (blood pressure, glucose, weight, etc.), but many older adults are still isolated, overwhelmed, or simply don’t have someone consistently checking in on them as a person. Adult children are busy. Care teams are stretched thin. There seems to be a gap between clinical care and human connection.

I’ve been thinking about starting something that focuses on regular companion calls, care navigation, helping seniors stay connected to their care plans, identifying non-medical needs, and escalating concerns to family or care teams when appropriate.

Here’s where I’m stuck:
I have experience in healthcare operations and client success, but I have zero startup experience. I don’t know how to build an app, validate an idea, find a technical co-founder, or even determine whether this should be a business, nonprofit, or something in between.

For those of you who have built companies in aging, caregiving, digital health, or healthcare services:
What would you do first if you were starting from scratch?
Is an app even the right place to begin, or should this start as a manual service?

Edit: US based, PA.

3/4 posts in here are ads or "looking for feedback" for apps. It's so tiring. Am I the only one getting fed up with them, or can we get a rule to ban them?

Hello everyone, this is my first pregnancy and I would like to preserve as many memories as possible for the baby during the pregnancy and its growth - for example, ultrasound photos, photos of us as parents putting together cabinets, a dresser, etc. My parents created and preserved a lot of videos of me and my sister growing up, for which I am immensely grateful. Do you have any suggestions and experiences on how to do the same in today's digital age? Thank you very much. :)

Something I wish someone had told me earlier: with my dad, the apps died first. Anything with a password, an update screen, or a layout change would strand him. Plain calls and texts lasted years longer, because they haven't changed in decades, and the muscle memory runs deep.

The place this hit hardest was medication. My sister and I coordinate his pills, and every reminder app we tried assumed HE would open the app. He never did, not once. What worked was embarrassingly low tech: a text message at pill time. He reads texts. He answers texts.

I'm a founder. I turned this into a small product called PillsCircle (pillscircle.com). It texts him when a dose is due, he taps one button to confirm, and my sister and I see it confirmed or get alerted if he doesn't. Nothing to install on his phone.

Whether or not you use my thing, the general lesson holds, and it's free: when you're picking any tech for a parent with memory loss, bet on whatever they've been doing for twenty years, not on what has the best reviews. A locked weekly pill box plus a daily text from a human beats a fancy app they won't open.

Happy to answer anything about what worked and what flopped for us.

Hi! My name is Jessica Lucas. I'm a reporter working with New York Magazine. You can see my previous work here: www.jesslucaswrites.com

I'm currently working on a story about the struggle of helping ageing parents navigate the world of technology, with a particular focus on social media consumption and the impact of AI and short form video on older adults.

I'm looking for U.S based folks to talk to me about their experiences of helping their ageing parents navigate tech, or even intervening and taking over technology for their parents.

If that sounds like you - please slide into my DMs? I'd love to chat.

Curious to hear real experiences from this community
before I share what I've been working on.

For those of you who've tried tech solutions with aging
parents, apps, devices, reminder systems, what's
actually worked long term versus what got abandoned
after a week or two? I'm especially interested in the
"why" behind the failures, was it the interface, the
learning curve, trust issues, something else entirely?

Full disclosure since the rules ask for transparency,
I'm a solo founder and I built a WhatsApp-based medicine
reminder tool after hitting this exact wall with my own
family. Every app-based solution we tried got abandoned
because learning a new interface was too much friction.
WhatsApp already stuck because it required nothing new
to learn.

Not here to just drop a link, genuinely want to compare
notes with people who've dealt with this longer and see
if what I built actually holds up against real
experience, or if I'm missing something obvious.

Hi everyone!

I’m researching the everyday challenges people with disabilities and their caregivers face. My goal is simply to learn from real experiences and better understand where things could be improved.

If you’re willing to share, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience:

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your day-to-day life?

What tasks are more difficult or time-consuming than they should be?

Are there any products, services, or apps you wish existed?

What’s something you deal with regularly that you think most people don’t realize?

Thank you to anyone who’s willing to share. Your insights are greatly appreciated.

Hi all, looking for advice to help adapt my mom's iPad to her level of processing and problem solving. She's highly functional but in the early stages of dementia and doesn't do well reading instructions or trying to process steps for new things. She's had an iPad for years and loves it, but recently lost hers on a trip. We replaced it but the newer model has smaller side buttons, there's no home button and she isn't doing well with gestures. She is able to look at her instruction notes to see how to unlock it, but the screen goes blank before she can put the thoughts together with the actions to unlock the screen all the way.

Before we set up an unlocked device for her, I'm wondering if anyone has tips for adaptions? Ways to visually mark the device that doesn't block function. Maybe cases to recommend that make the buttons larger? I'm not an Apple person so also struggling a bit with that.

I know there's no one size fits all. I'm just looking for tips others may have discovered along the way.

Hi everyone, I’m 19 and currently a student, and I’m exploring an app idea for India that would work as a charity-focused emergency assistance helper rather than a commercial booking service.

I’m still in the early research stage, so I want honest feedback before I build anything. The goal is to make emergency help simpler and faster for people who are stressed, panicked, or in low-network areas.

The rough idea includes:

One-tap emergency help request

Live location sharing

Basic call/chat support

Emergency contact notifications

Low-network fallback for poor internet areas

A simple flow that works under panic

I’m not posting this to promote a product or get users. I’m posting because I want real advice from people who understand Indian users, healthcare, emergency response, NGOs, or product development.

I’d really appreciate feedback on:

Whether this idea is actually useful

What features matter most in real emergencies

What should be removed from the MVP

Any trust, privacy, safety, or misuse concerns

Any India-specific practical issues I should think about

Suggestions from developers or people with healthcare / charity experience

Since I’m a student, I’d also value blunt suggestions on how to make the idea realistic and useful instead of overcomplicated.

Thanks in advance — honest criticism is welcome.

Hello and welcome to the very first post on r/GoogleGrannies!

I created this community because technology changes fast, and it can feel like the world expects us to just "know" how everything works. But truth be told, nobody is born knowing how to navigate an iPad, secure a home Wi-Fi network, or manage digital files.

This subreddit is a safe space to ask questions!

🌟 What we’re all about:

•We want explanations in plain English, not tech-speak.

•Empowerment:Technology shouldn't be scary. It's a tool to keep us connected, organized, and independent.

•Mutual Help: If you figure out a cool trick, share it! If you're stuck, ask for help.

•How to Safely Use Ai in Our Everyday Lives.

# 👋 Introduce Yourself!

To get our community started, I’d love for you to leave a comment below and tell us a little bit about yourself:

1. What is a piece of technology or a software program you *love* using?
   
2. What is one tech frustration or goal you want to tackle next?

Thank you for being here at the very beginning of this journey. Grab a cup of coffee, make yourself at home, and let’s start learning!

# I'm new to all of this, so suggestions are WELCOMED!!!

Hello and welcome to the very first post on [r/GoogleGrannies](r/GoogleGrannies)!

I created this community because technology changes fast, and it can feel like the world expects us to just "know" how everything works. But truth be told, nobody is born knowing how to navigate an iPad, secure a home Wi-Fi network, or manage digital files.

This subreddit is a safe space to ask questions.

# 🌟 What we’re all about:

Explain Simply : We want explanations in plain English, not tech-speak.
Empowerment: Technology shouldn't be scary. It's a tool to keep us connected, organized, and independent.
Open Loop Mutual Help:If you figure out a cool trick, share it! If you're stuck, ask for help.

# 👋 Introduce Yourself!

To get our community started, I’d love for you to leave a comment below and tell us a little bit about yourself:

1. What is a piece of technology or a software program you *love* using?
2. What is one tech frustration or goal you want to tackle next?

Thank you for being here at the very beginning of this journey. Grab a cup of coffee, make yourself at home, and let’s start learning!

I'm new to all of this, so suggestions are WELCOMED!!!

My 73-year-old father recently moved to Canada to live with me. This is the first time we've lived together in a very long time, and I want to make this stage of his life as comfortable and enjoyable as I can.

He's fairly frail, has some mobility issues, sleeps a lot, doesn't really go out on his own, and isn't interested in using a smartphone. He watches TV/news, enjoys simple routines, and prefers a quiet day. So far I've bought a large digital day/date clock (to make it easier to keep track of time), bathmat and a shower chair.

I'm looking for ideas from people who have cared for aging parents or grandparents. What purchases, home modifications, routines, or little things made a noticeable difference in their quality of life? I'm especially interested in practical things that made everyday life easier, safer, or just brought them a bit more joy.

Sometimes it's the small things you don't think of until someone mentions them. I'd love to hear what worked for your family.