Grandma's High Score: A Beginner's Guide to Setting Up a Safe Gaming Hub for the Senior in Your Life

My aunt Carol is 74, lives outside Tulsa, and currently holds the family record in a solitaire app that she will absolutely tell you about at Thanksgiving whether you ask or not. Getting her there took about forty-five minutes of setup on my part — most of which was making sure she couldn't accidentally spend $9.99 on a "coin bundle" or get talked into a "free trial" that quietly renews forever.

If you're setting up a phone for a parent or grandparent this year, here's the playbook I now use every time.

Step 1: Get the Account Situation Right Before Anything Else

A lot of seniors share an Apple ID or Google account with a spouse, or worse, are logged into an adult child's old account. That causes chaos — wrong payment methods, weird recommendations, purchases charged to the wrong card.

Set up a fresh account in their own name, with their own email, and their own payment method if you want one attached at all. Honestly? Consider not attaching one. On iPhone, you can skip adding a payment method during setup by choosing "None." On Android, you can create a Google account without a card. If they ever want to buy something, you can add a method later, or better, add a gift card balance with a hard spending cap.

Step 2: Kill One-Tap Purchasing

This is the single most important setting. Both platforms make spending money as frictionless as possible, which is great for twenty-somethings and dangerous for anyone who didn't grow up with in-app purchases.

On iPhone: Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Turn restrictions on, tap iTunes & App Store Purchases, and set In-app Purchases to "Don't Allow." You can also set "Require Password" to always ask — and under Password Settings, choose to require it for every purchase rather than relying on Face ID, which can misfire on older users holding the phone at an angle.

On Android: Open the Play Store, tap the profile icon, go to Settings > Authentication, and select "Authentication required for all purchases" — not just the default that skips the prompt for short windows. For a stricter setup, use Google Play's Family Library and parental controls to require a PIN for purchases.

Test it yourself. Open a game, tap the biggest shiny coin pack, and confirm it demands a password. If it doesn't, go back and fix it.

Step 3: Hunt Down Subscription Traps

Many puzzle and word games aimed at older players push "free trials" that convert to $7.99-a-week subscriptions. On iPhone, check Settings > your name > Subscriptions and cancel anything unfamiliar. On Android, check the Play Store profile > Payments & subscriptions.

While you're at it, turn on email receipts so purchases get sent to an address you or another family member can see. It's not snooping — it's a smoke detector.

Step 4: Teach the Lookalike Scam in One Sentence

Seniors are prime targets for counterfeit apps that mimic popular games, then harvest logins or push aggressive ads. Give them one rule they can repeat: check the developer name and the review count before installing anything. A real solitaire app has tens of thousands of reviews; the fake one has 14 and a developer name like "Games Studio Ltd 2024."

Better yet, install everything yourself and leave the App Store or Play Store app signed in but rarely used. If they want a new game, they can text you the name.

A Vetted Starter List: Genuinely Free Games

These are titles I've set up for family members that play well without spending a dime, have huge legitimate install bases, and don't shove purchases in your face every thirty seconds:

• Solitaire by MobilityWare — the classic, with an offline mode and a clear dev name
• Wordscapes — relaxing word puzzles, generous with hints, no subscription pressure
• New York Times Games — Wordle, Connections, and friends; a subscription exists but the daily puzzles are free
• Microsoft Solitaire Collection — free, no ads mid-game, from a company with a real address
• Jigsaw Puzzle by MobilityWare or Magic Jigsaw Puzzles — for the puzzle-table crowd
• Chess by Chess.com — free play against the computer at adjustable difficulty

Start with two or three. A cluttered home screen is its own barrier.

Step 5: The Final Walkthrough

Before handing the phone back, do a two-minute tour: show them where their games live, demonstrate that purchases are locked ("you can't accidentally spend money — I made sure"), and write your phone number on a sticky note inside the case for questions.

Then let them play. Carol's solitaire streak is now the stuff of family legend, her money is exactly where she left it, and the only thing she's subscribed to is the Sunday paper. That's the goal.