TUAW's Holiday Gift Guide: 10 iPad apps for seniors

Our favorite Wall Street analyst, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, called the iPad "the Mac of the masses" in a weekend analysis of how the iPad was selling in the pre-Christmas shopping runup. That was based on an unscientific observation that the iPad was apparently making inroads among demographics that normally don't buy Macs.

If my personal observations are any indication, there's a lot of interest in the iPad among senior citizens. Many of the older folks I've talked to are fascinated by the device and find it to be perfect for their internet usage — email, web browsing, looking at pictures, reading books and watching videos. It's incredibly easy to use, it's fast, it's non-threatening and there's no need to worry about malware.

Given these friendly attributes, I'd speculate that we'll see a lot of older people getting iPads as Christmas gifts this year. If you're one of the people who will be on the giving end of one of these holiday transactions, here are some ideas for senior-friendly iPad apps that you might want to pre-install on your gift before you wrap it up.

Crosswords (US$9.99) — Like the gentleman in the graphic above, some seniors love doing the daily crossword puzzle in their local newspaper. But why do just one crossword puzzle a day when you can download a bunch from newspapers around the world? Crosswords is a Game Center app so your grandparents can see how their iPad-toting friends in retirement communities far and wide are doing. Puzzles are available from a varied group of sources from the Wall Street Journal, King Features Crosswords and the New York Times (subscription required) to the Onion A.V. Club crossword. This is one app that's sure to get a lot of use by the puzzle fans.

WebMD for iPad (Free) — As much as I'd hate to admit it, health seems to be a preoccupation with seniors. Heck, I'm only 53 and I find myself peeking at WebMD on a regular basis. The free WebMD app is a wealth of information for the health-concerned (or obsessed), with a symptom checker, a directory of medical conditions, a complete list of drugs and treatments (including side effects, precautions and interactions with other drugs), First Aid information for a variety of conditions, and complete listings of hospitals, physicians, and pharmacies.

Track & Share – Daily Life Tracker, Journal, Todo ($2.99) — I've known a few seniors who retired and really couldn't cope with not going to work every day. One way for seniors to keep up a great attitude, set and reach goals and otherwise keep happy is to track how their life is going. Track & Share is a relatively new app that tracks such things as mood, expressions of gratitude, contacting friends, weight, cravings, you name it. Once the information has been entered into Track & Share, it can be analyzed on charts that can make your favorite senior citizen feel good about making progress towards some goal, see how personal happiness may be affected by external factors and more. The best thing? All of this data can be shared with others, which is important if you want to keep track of how your parents or grandparents are doing.

Skype (Free) — Keeping in touch with the kids and grandkids can be a lot more fun if you can call 'em from that high-tech, futuristic slab of metal and glass. Until the iPad 2 brings the Jetsonian feature set of video calling to iPad users, Skype is a great way to keep in touch with other people worldwide. The app, of course, is just an iPhone app and doesn't look that great on an iPad, but at least it works.

Flight Status Pro – with TripIt ($8.99) — Does your favorite senior like to travel? If so, get 'em a copy of Flight Status Pro with TripIt. They can plan trips through any travel service, send the itinerary information to TripIt by forwarding the confirmation emails to the service and then call up trip information at any time using the app. If they want to see if their flight is on time, or what time the grandkids are going to arrive at the airport, they can check out the status of any flight worldwide.

AARP The Magazine App (Free) — Believe it or not, AARP The Magazine has the largest circulation in the world. The American Association of Retired Persons has released a free app that makes the magazine available to read on an iPad. The app not only has the latest issue, but it also allows readers to clip and share their favorite stories (yes, now your parents can send you even more annoying emails). Articles have built-in links to web features and special offers, and articles can be searched by subject, headline or other criteria. Only one problem — the app consistently gets poor ratings from users. On the plus side, you can use it as an example to show Grandma how to delete apps from her iPad.

Silver Surf (Free) — No, this has nothing to do with the Silver Surfer, but everything to do with those tiny buttons and menus in Mobile Safari. Silver Surf is a free web browser designed with large navigation buttons, dynamic text zoom, high contrast viewing and other features for those with failing eyesight. As one App Store customer put it, "It's free, but I would pay for it."

While it's not exactly an app, do remember that you can set up many accessibility features for seniors who might have eyesight issues, such as cataracts, macular degeneration or glaucoma. All of these setting are located under Settings > General > Accessibility. The settings include VoiceOver for reading text on the iPad screen aloud, Zoom for zooming in on details, large text and white on black lettering for higher contrast.

Everyday Golf Coach HD ($6.99) — Are any of the seniors in your life avid golfers? If so, they might enjoy this app, which is designed to help any golfer improve his or her game. There are 32 built-in training videos by a PGA Professional, but the most helpful tool might be the built-in SwingAnalyser. You import videos of your golf swing and get tips on what you're doing wrong (or right).

MobileMe Gallery (Free) — Want the parents or grandparents to share in your photos? There's a wonderful way to do that, and it's free from Apple. The MobileMe Gallery app lets your favorite senior subscribe to your MobileMe Gallery and look at your albums. If you're on a trip and want to keep someone up to date on what you're doing, you can share your iPhone photos to MobileMe with a tap. Within seconds, they can be viewed from Grandpa's iPad.

Motion Doctor ($14.99) — A lot of the aches and pains of aging can be reduced or eliminated through physical therapy. Motion Doctor includes instructions for 60 exercises and stretches for various parts of the body, with high-quality video demonstrating all of the techniques. The video is built into the app, so there's no need to have a working internet connection to view them. Designed by a physical therapist, the app also includes a way to search for licensed PTs by state in the U.S.

That's our list of 10 apps that may be appreciated by the iPad-toting senior citizens in your life. If you have favorites that you'd like to share, please be sure to leave a comment below.