The entrance to the elderly model of mobile phone applications is hard to find

How can APP be more intimate to adapt to aging?

　　Intern reporter Lu Yang

　　How to help the elderly to bridge the "digital gap" with the mobile Internet era?

Baidu, Didi, Himalaya and many other apps have launched the "big character model" or "elderly model", extending an olive branch to the elderly to embrace mobile internet.

However, the reporter's investigation found that the utilization rate of the age-appropriate function is still very low, and some elderly people give up because they can't find the entrance.

How can APP be transformed to get closer to the hearts of the elderly?

Many users suggest that opening manual voice or video guidance may really help the elderly use these convenient services.

　　It is also understood that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued on April 7 the "General Design Specifications for Ageing Internet Websites" and "General Design Specifications for Mobile Internet Applications (APP) for Ageing General Designs", which set out the standards that need to be met for the old version of the interface and the old version of the APP. Regulations.

According to the requirements of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, commonly used apps involving social communication, news information, search, transportation, financial services, life shopping, medical and health and other fields must take the lead in completing the ageing transformation before the end of September this year.

Some apps first launched an old-fashioned model

　　Data shows that there are currently about 274 million elderly households using mobile phones in my country, of which only about 134 million elderly households use smartphones to access the Internet.

This means that there may be nearly 140 million elderly people in the country who use mobile phones but do not surf the Internet, and they are "silent people" on the Internet.

How to help the elderly "break the silence"?

Many APPs have begun to explore suitable aging.

　　The reporter experienced several APPs and found that they have different ways to enter the age-appropriate function entrance.

Himalaya has launched a large-character model, and the old people’s favorite resources such as opera, opera, health care, and audio books are presented to the elderly in the form of modules.

There are no advertisements, no pop-up windows, and simple functions, which saves effort and worry.

Baidu directly developed an APP called "Baidu Big Character Edition", which was screened and optimized for the needs of the elderly.

The "big print version" not only has modules such as information retrieval and radio companionship, but also integrates functions such as taking pictures and recognizing pictures and calculating pensions, which is closer to the life needs of the elderly.

Alipay has launched a "warm ocean special line" for the elderly, which solves the problems encountered by the elderly in using the APP by opening one-key inbound calls directly to the manual fast channel.

　　These apps were installed in Uncle Yang’s mobile phone, but Uncle Yang still felt distressed: “I rarely use these functions. My child just taught me how to open the elderly mode of this APP. The other APP is different. Finally, I still don't know how to use it."

The entrance of suitable aging function is hard to find

　　When people are accustomed to travel lightly without their wallets, mobile internet has become a stumbling block for many silver-haired people to enjoy the convenience of life.

　　On the 12th, the reporter ran into Aunt Liu who was about to beckon to stop the taxi near Deshengmen. She had been waiting on the side of the road for more than half an hour.

When the reporter asked Aunt Liu whether a taxi-hailing software was installed on her phone, Aunt Liu said: "My son gave me a Didi, but I don't know how to use it. I'm afraid it will cost more if I click the wrong one." Aunt Liu didn't know about the old function, and beckoning to the roadside to take a taxi was still her first choice.

The reporter found that in order to open the "care mode" of the Didi Travel app, you first need to click on the avatar of the villain in the upper left corner of the screen. This step makes many elderly people who are not familiar with Internet logos have trouble. "Without text, neither do I Know what this sign means." Aunt Liu said.

The reporter noticed that users also need to find "Settings" in a row of small buttons in the Didi Travel APP, and then carefully check the text in the list to see the words "Care Mode" on the fourth line.

　　"I've seen my child adjust the large-character mode to me, and clicked on the small screen three or four times. The position of the click is different every time. I can remember it." Uncle Yang was also troubled by finding the entrance to the app's age-appropriate function.

Take Himalaya as an example. If you want to open the big print mode, you need to click the account, mode, and big print mode before you can enter.

The reporter then experienced the Unicom mobile phone business hall APP. To open the "care mode", you also need to go through the three steps of clicking mine, setting, and care mode, and the "setting" button has no text description, only a gear-like icon. For the elderly who are not familiar with the language of the Internet, it is difficult to distinguish this as a symbol of "setting".

App ageing functions need to be fine-tuned

　　"It would be much better if you can prompt whether you need to enter the'big print mode' when you download the APP." "It's best to put it in a prominent position on the homepage, you can click it to open it. Or you can set up artificial voice in a conspicuous position Or the button of video guidance, you can ask for help at any time." "Is there a standardized way to open the old version?" During the reporter's interview, many elderly people made suggestions for the aging APP.

　　In an interview with reporters, Zhang Xin, associate professor of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences of Peking University, said: "Many of the current results of adaptation for aging are considering the needs of the elderly from the perspective of young people, without paying attention to what the elderly really need." Xin said that the APP transformation to increase the font size and increase the voice is only a superficial understanding of the needs of the elderly. To truly help the elderly cross the "digital divide", we need to pay attention to the deep-seated psychological needs of the elderly.

Zhang Xin used WeChat as an example. Young people are more inclined to teach the elderly to pay and send red envelopes, while the function that the elderly most want to understand is to share photos and text.

He suggested that relevant APPs should understand the needs of elderly users, pay attention to the fine adjustment of functions, reduce the elderly's fear of new technologies, and increase the willingness of the elderly to use them.

　　The reporter was informed that, according to the new regulations of the "General Design Specification for Mobile Internet Applications (APP) Suitable for Ageing", the homepage of mobile applications with an old version of the interface embedded must have a significant entry, support switching to the old version, or give a significant switch when entering for the first time Prompt, and provide the "Elder Edition" entry in the "Settings".