10 Android options I taught my dad and mom to make use of, and you must too

I used to be exhibiting my dad a few Android options on his cellphone lately, and never for the primary time. You might need had this revelation already, however I noticed there’s a lot we do unthinkingly on our units which may nonetheless be alien to the generations above us. I’m not precisely younger myself as a millennial, however I’ve grown up within the digital age, which implies I’ve picked up new methods as they’ve come on the scene. Writing about them for a residing helps quite a bit, too.

However for my dad and mom, these little Android options appear like magic at instances, and a few of them can truly be game-changers. I’ve needed to information them via a few the information greater than as soon as, however they’ve adopted lots of them since. They’ve even impressed their pals with their newfound fashionable wizardry now and again.

Listed here are essentially the most helpful Android options I taught my dad and mom to make use of. A few of them could be value exhibiting yours, too.

Okay, technically that’s two issues, however you possibly can see what I’m getting at. Combining the 2 is utilizing your Android cellphone to pay for stuff, and that’s what issues.

I hardly carry a pockets as of late as a result of I can faucet my cellphone just about in all places. Just lately, I received my dad arrange with Google Pockets, and I wasn’t certain how it could go. He had the standard questions on the way it works, whether or not it’s safe, and so forth.

Quick-forward a couple of weeks, and he’s truly utilizing it on the grocery store and eating places. He nonetheless retains not less than one card on him “simply in case,” however he’s surprisingly enthusiastic each time somebody asks him about it. If we are able to get our people to make use of Google Pockets frequently, it’s one much less factor for them to recollect to seize as they go away the home, and that may be fairly an enormous deal as they get on in years.

This was a fast win. I confirmed my dad and mom how they might cease their telephones from buzzing late at night time or whereas attempting to chill out. With a single faucet within the Fast Settings panel, they’ll now use Do Not Disturb to silence notifications and calls.

It doesn’t take rather a lot to wake them up, and in contrast to me, they’ll in all probability assume most cellphone noises are vital. This stops the WhatsApp teams chiming away at bedtime or the rip-off calls sending them working in from the backyard.

I confirmed them how one can make exceptions, in fact, so if a member of the family or a selection different contact calls, it comes via. However in any other case, the cellphone stays quiet. I haven’t bothered instructing them Modes and Routines but — you don’t want Work Mode a lot once you’re retired.

Sending recordsdata has sometimes been a headache for my dad and mom, normally involving an unwieldy electronic mail attachment. Fast Share takes all of the ache out of it. It’s constructed into Android, and with simply a few faucets within the share menu, they’ll now ship movies, paperwork, or no matter else instantly to a different close by system.

For them, it’s lastly a straightforward approach to swap footage with pals or seize one thing from me while not having a step-by-step tutorial. Watching a photograph simply seem on their display nonetheless seems like a formidable little trick.

This can be a basic hidden shortcut that even a few of my pals have by no means picked up on, however when you study it, you by no means look again. On most Android telephones, a fast double-press of the ability button immediately opens the digicam, even from the lock display.

I confirmed my dad and mom this throughout a household vacation, and it caught. As an alternative of fumbling via the unlock course of, they might launch the digicam in a second. I additionally identified that the quantity buttons work as a shutter, which solved their behavior of awkwardly holding the cellphone in a single hand and poking on the display with the opposite. By the latter levels of the journey, my dad was whipping out the digicam like an murderer’s blade.

This one took a little bit of establishing and was positively the one which freaked my mother out essentially the most. Regardless that it was only some years in the past, it’s straightforward to overlook how mind-blowing it was once we first talked to an LLM. If we felt like that as techy sorts, you possibly can think about what it does to a boomer.

I needed to present my dad and mom the alternative ways to activate Gemini and encourage them to start out a chat, however they might shortly noticed how helpful it may very well be. For me, the easiest way to get them on board was to point out them one thing I’d discovered it genuinely helpful for. I as soon as informed Gemini what little produce was in my fridge, and it gave me a fantastic recipe. I received my mother to ask the app the identical factor, and she or he was greater than a little bit impressed.

I’ll be sincere, they nonetheless default to Googling issues more often than not, however I’m slowly working them over to the wonders of AI.

This one’s only for enjoyable, however I ship GIFs and stickers within the household chat on a regular basis, so I assumed it could be good for them to know how one can reciprocate. I confirmed my dad and mom how one can convey up GIFs in Gboard, and abruptly, they’d an countless provide of foolish animations to drop into chats.

They wasted no time practising, and whereas they won’t have the total grasp of meme tradition but, it’s positively modified the household chat. It’s not essentially the most important of Android options, and I sometimes remorse instructing them, but it surely’s a fast approach to give your dad and mom the sensation they’re speaking in your degree.

I do know you could be studying this and considering I’m repeatedly stating the plain, however that’s the purpose. It usually doesn’t matter if an icon like GIF is correct in entrance of their faces — some older individuals might both be a little bit nervous or simply incurious about exploring their system. That doesn’t imply they received’t respect the additional information as soon as they’ve it.

Numerous older individuals both don’t notice they’ve Google Lens on their telephones, or they’ve heard of it however don’t understand how straightforward it’s to make use of. After I confirmed my dad, I opened Google, tapped the little digicam icon within the search bar, and pointed it at a flower in his beloved backyard. Inside a second, it popped up with the precise identify of the plant.

I additionally confirmed him Circle to Search alone cellphone. He thought that was an honest tip as effectively, however he was a lot keener on Lens. I’m guessing that’s as a result of the generations earlier than ours stare at their telephones a lot much less, however are simply as inquisitive about what one thing within the IRL world could be.

Since I don’t reside close to my dad and mom, I get a name from time to time asking for tech help. As an alternative of attempting to explain an answer verbally each time, I confirmed them how one can use display sharing in Google Meet. Throughout a name, they now know to only faucet the share button within the three-dots menu, and I can see precisely what’s on their display.

In actuality, I normally find yourself sharing my display as an alternative to stroll them via a setting or two, however now they know how one can flip it round in the event that they’re nonetheless caught. It’s not one of many Android options they use usually, however after they do, it makes troubleshooting a lot faster.

My people already know how one can open Google Maps and lookup locations. They’ll even get and observe instructions on the app, however that’s about so far as they’ve gone with it. You’ll understand how far more the app can do, and two options particularly had been notably value instructing to my dad and mom.

The primary is offline maps. They’re eager ramblers, so I confirmed them how one can obtain the world round their strolling spots that don’t at all times have the most effective sign. The second is reside location sharing, which implies they’ll ship me a hyperlink so I can see in the event that they’re on monitor. That’s been useful when assembly up, but additionally reassuring after they’re driving someplace new.

That is the one one of many Android options on this listing that I don’t use myself, but it surely’s been surprisingly useful for my dad, whose listening to isn’t fairly what it was once. Stay Captions routinely places subtitles on no matter’s taking part in on the cellphone, be it a YouTube video or a cellphone name. It additionally all works on-device, so it’s not gobbling knowledge.

I confirmed him how one can flip it on by urgent the quantity button and tapping the little caption icon that seems. As soon as enabled, a small field pops up on the display with real-time textual content of no matter’s being mentioned. It’s not good, but it surely’s fast, correct sufficient, and has made watching movies or following calls rather a lot simpler for him.