My mother has shaky hands – guidance on iPhone accessibility settings?

I kind of wonder if this is the kind of stuff that mostly gets developed and tested at a desk or in a lab.

One particularly troublesome problem with the Phone app is that touching just about anything accidentally initiates a call. That was hell for my mom and I'll bet your mom has it worse.

One thing I always wish the Phone app had was a "confirm" dialog when dialing a number (like what you get when you tap on a phone number external to the Phone app)

on a similar note, I know Tesla's UI is probably tested at a desk where everything is visible and stable, but in a moving car doing things like scrolling through a list of music and selecting is almost impossible.

Consider upgrading size to iPad Mini, while on her phone tell it to share cellular calls to her local WiFi devices.

Then on iPad Mini, use max zoomed UI.

A significant degree of shakiness perceived by the device comes from tentative behaviors while she is trying not to miss small targets. With larger targets, she can point and touch with more confidence due to larger margin for error.

Agree, maybe it'd be better one with Face ID.

I'd suggest give Voice Control a try, it can do swipes, clicks, etc:

Intro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqoXFCCTfm4

Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80AyUCjZYZM

Have you tried Apple’s Shortcuts app? I think it used to be called “Workflow” before Apple acquired them. You can create chains of actions that she uses often and trigger them at the press of a button or even by prompting Siri with a phrase of your choice. It’s kind of like IFTTT for iPhone.

Unless she’s a very savvy 89 year old you’d probably need to set up the different workflows for her but IIRC it will suggest some of your most frequent actions when you launch the app. They also have a gallery of actions you can browse and might find something helpful.

Edit: It looks like they even have an “accessibility” section in the gallery.

What's most interesting to me about this discussion is that most of the participants will, within a few short decades, be needing the UI enhancements we're talking about. It's interesting because until now accessibility is definitely not a mainstream thing, but when all the X'ers and Millennials get to retirement age, it certainly will be.

I've been working on some hardware for my grandmother to help make phone calls. She doesn't really understand much english and the most she knows about tech is pressing a button to turn on the tv. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem as well. Would love to create a one button design that can be remotely managed for our loved ones.

Unfortunately, UI developers as a group simply don't care about the problems of the old and infirm. My dad, who's perfectly fine on a 70s phone, has to use a cellphone in his facility. It's an utter trainwreck, and a few minutes watching this really drives home how awful current UIs really are.

Hey. I saw this on youtube a year ago. It’s not exactly an available solution yet but something to keep an eye on

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/project-emm...

You mentioned Shake to Undo is not a problem, but if it becomes one, you can turn it off: https://9to5mac.com/2019/04/16/shake-to-undo-iphone/

Have you tried speaking to a doctor? You've mentioned age-related conditions but I'm not sure if that's what your mother has?

I have an essential tremor (I'm 34, my mum has the same tremor, and I've had it since I was a child), and it was able to be stopped almost completely with Propranolol, a beta-blocker. I'm not a medical professional, so I'm not sure whether that's a good suggestion for your mother though, so seek professional assistance first.

Has she tried using a stylus? I wonder if grasping something alters her hand stability.

As a side note: I'm optimistic that there will be more solutions to the symptoms of Parkinson (not sure if this is the case for this post but sharing anyways). For example https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/project-emm...

Would a gimbal/stabilizer be helpful here? Or any other hardware solutions?

Of course it wouldn't solve the problem, as you still have the other hand that has to touch buttons. I ask because I recall seeing a "smart" spoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiVQcgmIi08

What I'm about to tell you is of a highly controversial topic, I'll go ahead give you the source first:

Source: 100 and Healthy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb--QxUnEv0&t=1338s The speaker is Dr. Oliverira.

Rosane Oliveira, DVM, PhD, is Founding Director of Integrative Medicine at the University of California Davis School of Medicine with over 20 years of experience as a molecular geneticist and has a special interest in nutritional genetics and genomics

This condition is called Essential Tremors, and it is one of the impacts of increased mTOR and IGF-1 levels that so many of us have from eating too much meat. According to Dr. Oliverirea, as an example, in her presentation she showed that eating 1.5 ounces of chicken per day, increases your chances of getting Essential Tremors by x21!! Wow. Eating meat and diary in excess has consequences and there's a lot of research to back that up.

Unfortunately, it maybe to late for your mother. But, this is for all the other mothers and fathers out there.

Have you tried turning on voice control? That allows you to control the entire screen without holding phone (“show numbers”, “Tap 5”, “Tap 4”, “Text I want to enter”, “Tap send”)

How does she get on with Siri and voice dictation?

A perfect example of the XY problem.

The solution is to stop using iPhones and use something that interfaces with her better.

Big physical buttons is a good start.

Can you show her how to use voice commands for emergencies? I don’t use them, but they may be something helpful.

Doro phones are much better adapted for elderly people.