Mobile Apps for Seniors: A Huge and Underestimated Market

The population of our planet is becoming older, and according to UNO estimations, the number of people aged 60+ will reach more than 2 billion people by 2050. For developed Western countries this trend is especially relevant.

Seniors of the modern world need technological solutions in a variety of areas; from health monitoring, to retirement savings planning. More and more companies are actively working on creating apps specifically for those over 60 years old, and investors show great interest in such projects.

Let us get to the bottom of the problem and see what the main types of mobile apps are available for senior citizens and why you should invest in their development.

Why the Audience of Seniors Is an Underestimated Market

In the US, the EU, and other developed countries, senior citizens are increasingly becoming an important audience for the business. They are financially secure, have a lot of free time, and have already shifted off the burden of being parents.

According to a Pew Research Center, 74% of people aged 50 to 64, and 42% of people over 65, own smart phones. More and more users, including those in the 60+ category, use apps for all areas of life. Startups that cover different areas of senior citizens’ lives have been launched all over the world.

In 2018, the global product and service market for senior people exceeded $436 billion. According to forecasts, the global financial solvency of people aged 60 will reach $15 trillion by 2020.

The natural transition of users from the middle-aged to advanced age entails the emergence of new needs from apps. A wide range of affordable smart phones and tablets stimulates the growth of this high-potential market.

Developers have recently increased their interest in this audience. Nevertheless, in almost all mobile app categories for the senior generation, competition is currently quite low. This is a giant and still underestimated market.

Main app categories for senior people

We can highlight five main categories of apps which are potentially most in demand among seniors: safety, health, reminder systems, leisure, and communication.

In practically all of these areas, it is difficult to find apps designated for seniors. The products available on the market are generally not targeted to such an audience and are not adapted to be used by them.

Based on expert opinion and market research, we can highlight several of the current most used categories of apps for seniors:

1. Paramedical. These include solutions like reminders for taking medications; medication guides, disease symptom monitoring systems, remote doctor advice, taking care for the nearest relative.
2. Adaptive. They are designed for an audience with hearing, eyesight, and other disorders.
3. Informational. These are social services or leisure information for seniors.
4. Entertaining. This category includes apps for psychological discharge, memory training, and cognitive abilities improvement.

There is a large class of solutions which monitor the health status of seniors. As a rule, the objective is to urgently inform relatives and social services about emergencies, such as a fall, long absence of movement, and other suspicious anomalies in standard human behavior.

Tips for Developing Mobile Apps for Senior Citizens

You understand now that it is a really promising niche market, and perhaps you already have the idea of mobile startup focused on such an audience.

However, you have to understand that there are several difficulties in developing mobile apps for senior citizens. Here are a few tips that will come in handy when working on such a project:

• Ensure that the font used is large enough and easy to read;
• Use a higher contrast between text and background, as users may experience difficulties in color perception;
• Use versatile and simple symbols as icons;
• Interactive elements (menus, buttons) should be large enough to be easily tapped with a finger;
• Reduce the number of scenarios when you need to enter additional text or fill out forms;
• It should be as simple as possible to control the app. Avoid complicated navigation and gestures.

These tips will make it easier for you to successfully implement this type of product.

Let us summarize

The more seniors there are and the more they use technology, the more developers, investors, and technology corporations will pay attention to this market.

In the near future, the population which is now actively using digital products will become older. As soon as products and services become just everyday products, the positioning “for seniors” will become irrelevant. What we mean is that the fine tuning of the principle “mobile bank for seniors” will no longer be necessary because all customers will have sufficient user experience.

On the other hand, the possibility of creating niche products for senior people that correlate with some features of this age group (e.g. poor eyesight or the necessity to manage retirement savings) is relevant now and will be in demand in future.

If you have a product idea focused on this market, write to us and we will help you make it a reality.