Apple's iPhone setup wizard is good, but it is designed for someone setting up their own phone. When you are setting up a phone for another person, several of its defaults are wrong, and a few critical settings never get asked about at all. This is the checklist I use whenever I set up an iPhone for one of my students.

Before you start

You will need, on the table in front of you:

• The new iPhone, charged to at least 50%
• The Wi-Fi password, written down
• An email address for the new Apple ID (a fresh Gmail works well — avoid a work email)
• The senior's mobile number (the new one, from the carrier)
• A second device — your own phone — to receive a verification code if needed
• About 45 uninterrupted minutes. Setup is not the place to multitask.

Sit beside the user, not across from them. Hand them the phone for every tap when possible — muscle memory only forms when their finger does the tapping, not yours.

Walking through Apple's setup wizard

Power on. Slide up. Pick English. Pick the country. When asked about Quick Start, choose Set Up Without Another Device unless you are transferring from an old iPhone in the same household. Quick Start copies settings from your phone, which is rarely what you want — the senior's preferences will be different.

Connect to Wi-Fi. Skip "Move from Android." When you reach Face ID, decide together: Face ID is a gift to most seniors (no typing, no remembering), but anyone who frequently wears a mask or sleeps in a recliner with reading glasses may prefer a passcode. You can always add it later.

For the passcode, choose Passcode Options → 4-Digit Numeric Code. The default 6-digit code is more secure but introduces a real frustration cost. Pair it with Face ID and the 4-digit code is fine.

The eight settings the wizard skips

After the wizard finishes and the home screen appears, open Settings and change these in order:

1. Display & Brightness → Text Size: drag to the largest comfortable size. Then turn on Bold Text.
2. Display & Brightness → Display Zoom → Larger Text: this scales icons and buttons across the whole system. Requires a restart.
3. Sounds & Haptics → Ringtone: pick something distinctive — Old Phone or Crystals work well — and set the slider to maximum. Also turn on Vibrate on Ring and Vibrate on Silent.
4. Phone → Silence Unknown Callers: on. This is the single biggest robocall reduction you can make. Calls from numbers not in Contacts will go straight to voicemail.
5. Phone → Announce Calls → Always: Siri will speak the caller's name when the phone rings.
6. Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap: set Double Tap to "Home Screen." This rescues anyone who accidentally swipes into a strange app.
7. Accessibility → Touch → Reachability: on. Lets the user pull the top of the screen down with a swipe near the bottom — essential on the Plus and Pro Max sizes.
8. Emergency SOS → Call with Hold and Release: on. Demonstrate the gesture (hold the side button and either volume button). Add an emergency contact in the Health app at the same time.

Adding contacts the right way

Type contacts in by hand. Importing from another phone or a Google account is faster but inherits years of half-finished entries the senior will never recognize. Aim for fewer than 30 contacts, all with full names ("Sarah – Daughter") and a photo. The Phone app's Favorites tab is where they will actually live; pin the four or five most-called people there.

Should you turn on Assistive Access?

Assistive Access (Settings → Accessibility → Assistive Access) replaces the entire home screen with five enormous buttons: Calls, Messages, Camera, Photos, Music. It is extraordinary for users with cognitive challenges or first-time users who feel overwhelmed by the standard interface. It is overkill for most.

If you are not sure, leave it off for the first month. It can be turned on later, and turning it on after the user has had a chance to fail at the standard interface makes the simplification feel like a kindness rather than a demotion.

What to do in the first week

Plan one short check-in call every day for the first seven days. Five minutes is enough. Ask one open question — "what's been confusing?" — and resist the urge to fix everything on the first call. Most first-week issues are about confidence, not technology.

For week two, send our guide to making text bigger and our scam-text walkthrough. Both are written for the senior to read on their own.