4 Of The Most Useful Gadgets For Seniors (Besides Phones)

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Technology makes life easier for everyone, including the elderly or people with certain disabilities. Tech companies do their best to make their technology accessible to as many people as possible. Take Apple for instance — it adds various accessibility features to the iPhone so that most buyers can understand the user interface, go through settings, and even customize their devices to make them easier to use. A great example is the Assistive Access feature that makes it much easier to use the iPhone. Still, a phone isn't the only gadget seniors should be using — gadgets like smartwatches, smart speakers, and robot vacuums can also prove very useful.

I grew up with my grandmother teaching me how to use a computer, and now that she's 82 years old, I still see her getting along with technology. She loves the iPad mini to play cards, to watch YouTube videos, and even FaceTime me. I've seen many seniors with an Apple Watch, not only because they're still very active, but because this is also a powerful tool to check their health in real time. Here are some of the most useful gadgets for seniors, and they can also be useful for everyone, whether they're 20 or 80.

The Apple Watch, and other smartwatches in general, might be one of the most useful gadgets for seniors. After all, Apple Watches have various safety features, including alerts for low and high heart rates at rest, ECG support, blood oxygen monitoring, in addition to fall and crash detection. The Apple Watch is also a great incentive for people to stay active, as it reminds them to get up for at least a minute every hour, and assess how they're feeling throughout the day.

When Apple released the first Apple Watch SE, the company marketed this product as the perfect device for both young and old users, as you could set up a Cellular model for someone else, meaning they could have access to messages and calls through the watch, without requiring them to own an iPhone. Besides that, it made it much easier to locate these family members, see their activity data that day, how well they slept, and so on.

That said, the Apple Watch can be a great ally, whether the senior is very active and likes to take advantage of the latest technology, or if they don't care that much, but understand that this little gadget can be a great tool for those living alone.

The larger display on a tablet makes it the perfect device for anyone who wants bigger text on a screen or more room to see what's being displayed. A tablet can be a great companion for video consumption, playing casual games, communicating with people through WhatsApp and FaceTime, and even writing with a stylus.

Besides that, a good tablet can be cheaper than a computer or a phone, which makes it the perfect hybrid technology for those who spend a lot of time at home. One of the greatest perks of owning a tablet is the ability to read the news and access social media on a fairly large display. Speaking from personal experience with my grandmother, I feel like she spends a lot more time on her iPad mini than on the iPhone SE 3 for the tasks mentioned above. What also makes a tablet a great technology is that it's more straightforward than a computer, and its UI closely resembles the one on a smartphone. So, for example, if you have an iPhone, an iPad looks like a bigger version of your smartphone, and the same applies to Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets.

It's also possible to level up the tablet with accessories, such as e-ink-like screen protectors for better readability, a stylus, a keyboard, and other accessories. Combining a great battery life with a bigger display, a tablet is definitely a must-have for seniors.

Over the years, I've tested many robot vacuums and found them to be a useful addition to my home. If they can be handy for someone like me who is always on the go, imagine their usefulness for someone who can't or doesn't want to keep using a proper vacuum or mop to have their homes tidy.

Roborock, just like many other players, offers robot vacuums that require little to no maintenance. For example, you can get a model like the S8 MaxV Ultra that gets water straight from the plumbing, so you don't need to keep adding clean water for mopping or cleaning the robot.

Many newer models are smart enough to identify different floor layouts and can be set up to start working at a specific time of the day, or even by voice command. With that, you can make sure your house is well cleaned without worrying about doing the hard work alone. Companies have robots that go from a few hundred dollars to several hundred dollars, depending on the budget and a person's needs.

Having a Google-based assistant, Alexa on an Amazon Echo, or even an AI companion through smart speakers can be a nice addition for seniors. They can interact with such devices by asking everyday questions like whether it's going to rain, check their notifications, play a radio station, set an alarm, explain something, or even play games with them.

With AI-powered versions of Alexa and Google Assistant, these personal assistants are smarter than ever, meaning that they can gather real-time information, and also perform tasks for you like remind you to take a medication, playing music, or making a phone call without the phone around. These smart speakers are usually very easy to set up, and once they're connected to the internet, you just need to say their wake-word to start using them.

Besides that, users can access additional features on their smartphone apps, like enabling different skills, deleting chats, linking a third-party account like a music platform, a favorite podcast app, and more. These smart speakers can also integrate with other security devices, which can be great for people to monitor their homes by asking questions to the assistant.