Developing a Simple and Intuitive Smartphone Launcher for the Elderly using Flutter

Most seniors struggle with the usage of smartphones and other new technologies on a day to day basis. Having a smartphone and being able to use it effectively can be of great help to these elders. But, oftentimes they are unable to make use of it properly given the fact that some of the steps included in the usage may induce confusion and complexity. With age, some people may experience a decline in cognition and therefore find it hard to learn and adapt to new things and technology. The older generations have a comparatively smaller baseline with technology than the newer ones. So, they find it increasingly complicated to adapt to the rapidly changing environments, technologies and trends. The paper talks about the stages and steps involved in the development and analysis of an Android launcher that provides a platform that makes it easier for them to learn and use the basic features of their smartphone. A working Android launcher app that minimises the usage complexity in basic features such as App Menu, Contacts, Emergency calling and adds a Medicine checklist feature was developed using Flutter. The launcher was given to 15 elderly volunteers from the same demographic for usability testing and their feedback was collected. The feedback suggests that the created launcher was more likely to be adopted than conventional Android launchers. The results indicate that design choices addressing specific problems of the elderly can help improve the adoption rates and shorten the digital gap.