grandma phone

The grandma phone

A handful of apps, nothing to get lost in, nothing to accidentally install. Set up once, stays put.

Who it fits

Parents and grandparents who mainly need calls, FaceTime, photos of the grandkids, and messages
Anyone who keeps ending up in settings screens they did not mean to open, or with apps they do not remember installing
Families doing remote tech support who want fewer ways for the phone to drift

Phone, Messages, FaceTime, Photos, the camera, Music, Mail if wanted. It stays their iPhone; everything familiar keeps working normally.

The App Store, the browser and its scam links, password popups, and every screen that exists only to get lost in.

Apple's Assistive Access is the free alternative for pure simplicity, with real trade-offs (Wallet, voicemail, notifications); the comparison page covers when each fits
The two combine well: a supervised phone can run Assistive Access on top, large icons with no way back to the full phone
With the cloud tier, battery and last-seen will be visible at a glance, so you can help without driving over. Never messages, never location without consent