More and more older people are willing to use new technologies to keep in touch with their loved ones. However, mobile apps are not always so intuitive, as the developers believe. And things get even more complicated when users aren’t digital natives.
How to make WhatsApp easier for older people to use
Luckily we can make our elders a little easier, when we make certain settings that we use to improve the view of the respective WhatsApp screen. Here are the top tricks to make using the messaging platform as easy as possible.
Increase the font size
Change the font size in WhatsApp to make it look better
One of the main barriers for older people is the small font size on the screen. However, on Android, you can increase the font size through the device’s settings menu or through WhatsApp itself. Just follow these steps:
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon and select Settings.
- Tap Chats.
- Go to Font Size and choose Large.
- If that’s not enough, look for text size in the device settings menu.
Put the important chats at the top
Pin chats of favorite contacts with the pin icon
WhatsApp allows us to pin the most important contacts to the top so we can access them faster and always have them at hand. For older people, pinning conversations with close family members, emergency contacts, or even emergency services would be ideal. To do that, simply do the following:
- Press and hold your finger on the chat you want to pin in the app’s main menu.
- Tap the pin icon at the top of the screen.
Add quick access to the most important contacts
As mentioned earlier, WhatsApp also allows you to create shortcuts to your favorite contacts on the device’s desktop. It’s that easy:
- Hold your finger on the contact.
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon.
- Select Create Shortcut and grant the appropriate system permissions.
Turn on automatic updates
Automatic updates give us the peace of mind that we always have the latest updates
When an app isn’t working properly, it’s often because we do not have the latest version installed. To avoid this problem and save older people a headache, it is advisable to always keep the app up to date by keeping the automatic updates turned on. And this is how it works:
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Tap on the avatar that appears in the top bar and select Settings.
- Tap on the network settings and check the “Automatically update apps” box.
- Choose whether you want to update them on any network or only over Wi-Fi.
Put the WhatsApp icon in a visible place on your desktop
The clearer the phone’s interface, the easier it is to use. In order to make it easier for the elderly to use, it is advisable to leaving only the essential symbols and to place the WhatsApp icon in a prominent place.
Enable automatic downloads
Enable automatic downloads to download photos, videos, audio, and documents
To make WhatsApp easier to use, you can also enable automatic file downloads, including photos, videos, audios, and documents. This carries the risk of the device’s memory filling up too quickly, but it makes operation much easier. That’s how it’s done:
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon and select Settings.
- Go to Storage & Data.
- Go to Download on mobile data or Download on Wi-Fi (or both) and select all options.
Prevent WhatsApp downloads from being confused with your other photos
By hiding WhatsApp files, the photos will not mix with those in the gallery
If you turn on automatic downloading of WhatsApp content, your phone’s gallery will likely fill up with pictures and videos that you don’t want to mix with your family photos. To the separate the two file typesjust follow these steps:
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon and select Settings.
- Go to Chats.
- Uncheck the Media file visibility box.
Configure privacy settings
In the WhatsApp privacy menu, you can choose which users are allowed to see personal data
It is advisable to adjust the privacy settings so that the personal data is only visible to your own contacts are. That’s how it’s done:
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon and select Account.
- Go to privacy settings.
- Select My Contacts from all the options under Who can see my personal information.
Enable backups
Google Drive allows us to save a free backup of our WhatsApp account
WhatsApp backups can be used to save messages, photos, videos and anything else that one has received or sent. So that nothing is lost, it is advisable to activate daily backups via the Gmail email account. To do this, follow the steps below:
- From the main menu, tap the three dots icon and select Settings.
- Go to Chats and look for Backup.
- Tap Save to Google Drive and select Daily.