How to set up an iPhone for an elderly parent

Do it together, and start from what they use

Most older adults already carry a smartphone. The Pew Research Center found that 78 percent of US adults aged 65 and older owned one in its 2025 survey. What gets in the way is usually the defaults: small type, crowded screens and calls from unknown numbers. Each of those can be changed in Settings.

Plan to do it in person, with the phone in their hands rather than yours. Apple's own guidance for its simplified mode describes a trusted supporter, a family member or caregiver who knows the person, helping to choose the apps and features, and notes that the supporter may need the person's Apple Account password or passcode. Before you change anything, ask which three or four things they actually do on the phone. Apple's simplified mode, for comparison, is built around calls, messages, the camera, photos and music.

If the phone is new, Apple lets you turn on accessibility options during the first setup. On the Quick Start screen you can adjust Display and Text Size, Zoom, VoiceOver and other features before the rest of setup, which means the setup screens themselves are easier to read.

Make everything bigger and easier to read

Text size is the single most useful change. In Apple's iPhone User Guide the path is Settings, then Accessibility, then Display and Text Size, then Larger Text, where a slider sets one text size for all supported apps such as Messages, Mail, Calendar and Settings. Turning on Larger Accessibility Sizes adds bigger steps, and the Bold Text switch on the same screen makes letters heavier. The current guide also offers Text Size and Bold Text under Settings, then Appearance.

Display Zoom enlarges icons and buttons as well as text. Apple's guide puts it under Settings, then Appearance, then Display Zoom, where you choose Larger Text and confirm with Use Zoomed. Apple says this increases the size of interface elements such as icons and buttons, not only text.

Two smaller settings help with buttons that are hard to spot. Show Borders, under Accessibility and Display and Text Size, draws an outline around controls and buttons. A Text Size control can also be added to Control Center, so text can be enlarged inside a single app without going back to Settings.

Set up Medical ID and Emergency SOS

Medical ID lives in the Health app. Apple's steps are to open Health, tap the profile picture, tap Medical ID, then Get Started or Edit, and add conditions, allergies and emergency contacts. Turning on Show When Locked lets first responders open it from the Lock Screen, and turning on Emergency Call lets the iPhone share it automatically during an emergency call, which Apple says works in the US and Canada.

Emergency SOS calls emergency services when the side button and either volume button are held until a countdown ends. Under Settings, then Emergency SOS, you can also turn on Call with 5 Presses, so five quick presses of the side button start the countdown. When the call ends, the iPhone texts the emergency contacts from Medical ID with the phone's location unless the call is cancelled.

Walk your parent through the button press without letting the countdown finish. Apple's guidance is that if an emergency call is made by mistake, the caller should not hang up but wait for a responder and explain that help is not needed. It helps to say this out loud during setup, so an accidental press does not turn into a panic.

Cut down unknown and spam calls

Unwanted calls are often the biggest complaint. In the current iPhone User Guide, the options are under Settings, then Apps, then Phone. Call Screening can be set to Ask Reason for Calling, which answers calls from unknown numbers and asks who is calling before the phone rings, or to Silence, which sends calls from unsaved numbers straight to voicemail and lists them in Recents.

Two filters sit on the same screen. Unknown Callers moves calls from unknown numbers out of the Recents list into their own list, and Spam silences calls that the carrier identifies as potential spam or fraud and sends them to voicemail.

Before turning on Silence, add every number that matters to Contacts: the doctor, the pharmacy, neighbours, the building manager and each family member. Otherwise a legitimate call from an unsaved number will go to voicemail too.

When a normal iPhone is still too much: Assistive Access

Assistive Access is Apple's simplified iPhone mode. Apple describes it as designed for people with cognitive disabilities, with bigger onscreen items and more focused versions of Calls, Camera, Messages, Music, Photos, Magnifier and Apple TV. Items can be shown as an easy-to-read list of rows or a large grid of pictures and icons.

Setup starts at Settings, then Accessibility, then Assistive Access, then Set Up Assistive Access. You choose the apps, the layout and who can call, and set a separate Assistive Access passcode. Leaving the mode means triple-clicking the side button and entering that passcode, and Apple notes that software updates, App Store downloads and most settings changes all require leaving it. An emergency call can still be made by triple-clicking, without the passcode.

It is a large change, so treat it as the next step rather than the first. Many parents only need larger text, a tidier Home Screen and fewer spam calls. Assistive Access suits someone who is confused by the standard iPhone even after those changes.

Helping from a distance, and common mistakes

Once the phone is set up, you do not always need to be in the same room to help. Apple's guide describes remote control during a one-to-one phone call: when your parent shares their screen, you can request control, and if they tap Allow you can tap and type on their iPhone. Both phones need iOS 26 or later, the person asking must be saved in their contacts, and the feature is not currently available in the European Union. Apple warns that whoever has control can open apps, change settings and send messages, so it should only be allowed for people they trust.

The usual mistakes are changing too much in one visit, rearranging a Home Screen they had already learned, and switching on call silencing before the important numbers are saved. Write down the passcode and Apple Account details and keep them somewhere safe that you both know about. Move the few apps they use to the first page, and add a large widget only if it shows something they want to see. To add one, touch and hold the Home Screen background until the icons jiggle, tap the edit control, then Add Widget. NanaFrame, for example, is built around that one large widget: a photo of the grandchildren a parent sends appears on the grandparent's Home Screen, and her side needs no login, no typing and nothing to open.

Frequently asked questions