There could be some kind of compatibility mode or options for elderly people. It's quite simple what is needed (I have no idea how simple it is to implement it though), as elderly people usually like it simple.
Features in short titles:
1)Persistent, non-dismissible pop-up notification, that stays centered on the screen until the user takes an action.
2)Simplified app's homescreen, with past doses logs.
3)Longer notification sound.
1) The first thing, is with the notification.
Elderly usually struggle or forget to draw down the notification drawer in order to find the notification and hit "taken", "dismissed" or "snooze".
So, as a compatibility option, the notification should be big, on the center of the screen, always visible, on locked screen and when the screen unlocks as well, maybe as a "draw over other apps" kind of notification. Persistent and visible on every screen, untill the user hits one of the three options. Also, the three options should all be as buttons, and not one of them bundled with the "swipe" gesture. There should be no "swipe" gesture actually. The notification should persist any gesture, or on-screen button, like the home/recent/back buttons, if possible.
2) The second thing is with the MedTimer homescreen.
Elderly people, usually, are not able to comprehend the symbols, or all the options given in the app. The main thing they want from the app, is to tell them if they took that pill at 6:00, or not, because they are not sure.
So, the first screen appearing when MedTimer app is open, should be a simple, big-lettered screen with a board simply saying "medicine_name", 6:00 dose, taken/skipped/- etc.(I through of adding the time taken, but there is probably no need for that, as the app will take care of the rest of the program and delay the rest doses, if set in interval reminder for example, or following dose/medicine). As simple as it can get. Also the content on the screen should as simple text as possible, without the risk of pressing something that opens a menu, or something, that would confuse the user.
Actually the second/middle view of the "Analysis" tab is pretty close at what I have in mind, with a bit more refined ui, bigger letters and bigger spaces between the logs, maybe with semi-transparent colored medications, you get the idea.
*( I just now explored the app's widgets and they pretty much cover the "second thing's" functionality, so it would make sense to implement it the way I described, only if it is frequent for the widget not to be possible to be used at the home screen. I am not familiar with the most popular smartphone UI's, since I always use a specific launcher myself, so I cannot have an opinion. Therefore, I leave the comment as it was.)
3) A third thing that would be useful, but I don't know if it can already be achieved with some workaround, would be, instead of having a short notification sound every X minutes, to have a longer notification sound (e.g. 30 seconds-1 minute), making it closer to the smartphone's alarm function. It will serve better for the elderly, as it is often some hearing loss comes with age, and they are not always close/engaged with their phones, so a simple short-notification sound, could easily be missed.
All these could be enabled as a "mode" through a simple option with a toggle in the app's settings, under the name "Compatibility mode for elderly people" for example.
The rest of the app's functions, options, reminders, schedules etc., would ofcourse be set by some helping person, that is fully fluent with the smartphone usage.
There could be some kind of compatibility mode or options for elderly people. It's quite simple what is needed (I have no idea how simple it is to implement it though), as elderly people usually like it simple.
Features in short titles:
1)Persistent, non-dismissible pop-up notification, that stays centered on the screen until the user takes an action.
2)Simplified app's homescreen, with past doses logs.
3)Longer notification sound.
1) The first thing, is with the notification.
Elderly usually struggle or forget to draw down the notification drawer in order to find the notification and hit "taken", "dismissed" or "snooze".
So, as a compatibility option, the notification should be big, on the center of the screen, always visible, on locked screen and when the screen unlocks as well, maybe as a "draw over other apps" kind of notification. Persistent and visible on every screen, untill the user hits one of the three options. Also, the three options should all be as buttons, and not one of them bundled with the "swipe" gesture. There should be no "swipe" gesture actually. The notification should persist any gesture, or on-screen button, like the home/recent/back buttons, if possible.
2) The second thing is with the MedTimer homescreen.
Elderly people, usually, are not able to comprehend the symbols, or all the options given in the app. The main thing they want from the app, is to tell them if they took that pill at 6:00, or not, because they are not sure.
So, the first screen appearing when MedTimer app is open, should be a simple, big-lettered screen with a board simply saying "medicine_name", 6:00 dose, taken/skipped/- etc.(I through of adding the time taken, but there is probably no need for that, as the app will take care of the rest of the program and delay the rest doses, if set in interval reminder for example, or following dose/medicine). As simple as it can get. Also the content on the screen should as simple text as possible, without the risk of pressing something that opens a menu, or something, that would confuse the user.
Actually the second/middle view of the "Analysis" tab is pretty close at what I have in mind, with a bit more refined ui, bigger letters and bigger spaces between the logs, maybe with semi-transparent colored medications, you get the idea.
*( I just now explored the app's widgets and they pretty much cover the "second thing's" functionality, so it would make sense to implement it the way I described, only if it is frequent for the widget not to be possible to be used at the home screen. I am not familiar with the most popular smartphone UI's, since I always use a specific launcher myself, so I cannot have an opinion. Therefore, I leave the comment as it was.)
3) A third thing that would be useful, but I don't know if it can already be achieved with some workaround, would be, instead of having a short notification sound every X minutes, to have a longer notification sound (e.g. 30 seconds-1 minute), making it closer to the smartphone's alarm function. It will serve better for the elderly, as it is often some hearing loss comes with age, and they are not always close/engaged with their phones, so a simple short-notification sound, could easily be missed.
All these could be enabled as a "mode" through a simple option with a toggle in the app's settings, under the name "Compatibility mode for elderly people" for example.
The rest of the app's functions, options, reminders, schedules etc., would ofcourse be set by some helping person, that is fully fluent with the smartphone usage.