How to best help an elderly Mom with her Apple devices and account

Have a look at https://support.apple.com/119854

This article describes a number of age related features for Family Sharing. If they meet your needs then one possibility (particularly if she is starting to become cognitively challenged) would be to convert her account to a child account. Many features can then be done from your device via Family Sharing, though a few may still require actual physical access to her device.

Read this support article about changing an adult Apple Account to a child account —> https://support.apple.com/124146

Other relevant articles:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102617#agevaries

https://support.apple.com/HT204164

gadavil wrote:

For Family Sharing I would pay the fees and add her. Would it save content (like photos and email) from her devices only and not interfere with mine? Does she keep her Apple ID/account log in etc?

How to set up Family Sharing on your iPhone or iPad – Apple Support

"With Family Sharing, you and up to five family members can share access to Apple services like iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV, and more — without sharing an Apple Account. You can even help locate each other’s missing devices, share your location, and manage a child's device with Screen Time and parental controls."

Share iCloud+ with your Family Sharing group – Apple Community

"When you share an iCloud+ subscription, everyone in the Family Sharing group uses their own Apple Account on their device. That way your photos, documents, and other information stay private, even though you're sharing access to the service. You simply share the features and space available in iCloud+ with your family members, so you only have one plan to manage."

So yes, she would keep her own account, and her content would not interfere with yours. (Assuming you have enough iCloud+ space that no backups or synchronizations get halted for running out of space.)

I’ve tried doing this.

You might try Assistive Access on iPhone and iPad, but the passcode and the account and the mail and the rest will all be an effort to maintain, and — if my experience here is any guide — will all get tangled. No equivalent to this on macOS..

And the scam emails and texts and calls, oh my is that not fun to deal with.

Best bad option I’ve met is supervising the devices, probably with Apple Configurator app, but that’s still a project.

Supervising gives you control of the settings, accounts, contacts, app store, and most other details.

Stuff I had ongoing issues with: changes to mail settings. Changes to device settings. Spam and all sorts of scams.

Ensure Time Machine is running in the iMac too, either to local storage or to a NAS box located somewhere else on the local network away from obviousness.

Bringing the Apple Account into Family Sharing might appropriate too, as that can provide some sharing functions, such as iCloud storage, and sharing photos and such, and Find My. Family Sharing does not share everything.

Joining Family Sharing is necessary if you age-restrict, but deliberately mis-setting the age to a youngster likely summons age-related verification and access issues. I wouldn’t mis-set, as I’d expect about as many problems with parental controls as benefits. Or more.

One minor thing that did help with the email scams and email rubbish was a set of macOS mail rules that immediately deleted any messages with any attachments arriving from unknown senders. Things didn’t quite get to the point of dropping all messages from unknown senders, but it was definitely headed there. Here are things the

That iMac can help here with things that the other devices can’t, not the least of which are continuously-available mail rules, and well past what is available using iCloud mail rules or shortcuts.

Some of what Apple has available: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/features/?cognitive

And whatever you try here will be frustrating and contentious.

I too was the “technology and business manager” for my elderly mom, so I understand your challenges.

(My sister - a Registered Nurse - thankfully served as the “medical, health, and well-being manager”)

Have you established her as separate local user account — complete with her credentials — on your Mac ?

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/new-user-or-group-setup-mh15191/mac

i

gadavil wrote:

For Family Sharing I would pay the fees and add her. Would it save content (like photos and email) from her devices only and not interfere with mine? Does she keep her Apple ID/account log in etc?

Read this article to learn how to share iCloud+ with your family --> https://support.apple.com/108783

It would be like a house. You would pay for the house but she would have her own "room" (storage space). However, all the rooms have moveable walls that would move to fit the space that each person needs. If you had a 2TB plan you would share the 2TB, each using as much space as you need until you had reached the limit.

You would not see each other's stuff unless you specifically shared it.

Yes, she would log into her account normally. With her having a child account you would set up Parental Controls to limit some of the things she could do. She might also encounter some age limit things but unless she is big into adult web sites it probably wouldn't make any difference.

Read about how to use Screen Time on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, in this Support article --> https://support.apple.com/HT208982

With Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time, you can block or limit specific apps and features. Details are provided in the article: "Use parental controls on your child's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch" —> https://support.apple.com/105121

Set up parental controls with Family Sharing on iPhone --> https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/set-up-parental-controls-iph00ba7d632/ios

Chattanoogan wrote:

Have you established her as separate local user account — complete with her credentials — on your Mac ?

I believe gadavil said the mother lived some distance away so there is probably not much point in setting up an account on gadavil's computer. However, it would be a good idea to make gadadvil an administrator on the mother's computer so the mother is in a regular account where less damage could be done.

Apple Remote Desktop, used to remotely view another computer (like her iMac) and help with issues. In the past, Iit couldn't open apps, but helps to see their screen and guide.

For Family Sharing I would pay the fees and add her. Would it save content (like photos and email) from her devices only and not interfere with mine? Does she keep her Apple ID/account log in etc?

Also - what about Apple Remote -- I can use on her iMac? Looking for multiple ideas.

I'm not familiar with that product except as something that is used with AppleTV.

Re: “… I'm not familiar with that product … “

OP omitted the “third” word of the title.

See more info here:

https://support.apple.com/guide/remote-desktop/welcome/mac

Do you possess and use a Mac yourself ?

Yes, more than one at my own home - for years. So has Mom, but her memory is not great now and she gets easily frustrated with steps to receive an authentication code and use text on her iPhone

Your opinion is noted.