Choosing an exercise app for an older parent

If you want to help a parent move more at home, an app can do the guiding while you do the encouraging. Here is what to look for, how to set it up together, and what Vaskuna will and will not do.

What to look for in an app

An app for an older parent has to be easy to follow from a few steps away, by someone who may not use many apps. These are worth checking, with how Vaskuna handles each:

Big, clear text. Vaskuna's text grows with the text size set on the iPhone, under Settings, then Display & Brightness, then Text Size.
Sessions that can be done seated. Tell Vaskuna your parent would rather sit, and the plan leaves out walks. A session is labelled Seated only when every movement in it is.
Spoken instructions. A voice reads out each movement, so your parent can listen rather than watch the screen.
No floor work. Nothing needs a mat, equipment or getting down to the floor. Some movements use a sturdy chair or a wall, and each session says what to have within reach.
An easy way to stop. During a session your parent can pause, swap a movement that hurts, or end the session early.

Setting it up together the first time

Vaskuna is for iPhone with iOS 17 or later. To check, open Settings, then General, then About, and look at iOS Version. Install it from the App Store on your parent's own phone. The first seven days are free, with no card and no account, so there is nothing to sign up for.

Vaskuna asks eleven questions, once, and one more about which joints if joint pain limits them, then builds a week from the answers. They are written to the person who will be exercising, so let your parent answer them, even if you help with the buttons. By default the first week is four ten-minute sessions.

At the end of the questions, tap Setting this up for someone? It puts the voice, an unhurried pace, reminders and text size in one place, while you are both there. Then do the first session together, with the volume up so the voice is easy to hear. The app shows its When to stop page before each of the first three sessions; read it with them the first time. Then show them the Moves tab, where they can start any routine themselves.

One trade-off to know: Vaskuna has no account and no server. Your parent's answers and sessions stay on their phone, which keeps them private, but it also means you cannot see their sessions from your own phone.

The safety questions, and their doctor

The last five of the eleven questions are safety questions. If your parent answers yes to any of them, the app stops there and asks them to check with their doctor first. It carries on only once they confirm the doctor has said they can exercise. The one exception is being unwell today, with a cold or a fever: then the app asks them to rest and come back, and keeps their answers.

It can be tempting to help a parent past this step. Let the answers stand: the questions only work if they are answered honestly.

Even if every answer is no, if either of you is unsure whether new exercise is right for your parent, they should speak to their doctor before they start. Helping them write down what to ask, or going along, is a practical way to help. Vaskuna is a general wellness app and does not give medical advice.

Encouraging without nagging

Doing a session with your parent, when you visit or on a video call, does more than asking whether they did one. The routines run from five to sixteen minutes, short enough to fit into a visit.

Make it easy to follow. Prop the phone on a second chair or by the TV, where it can be seen and heard from a few steps away, and keep the sturdy chair in the same place each time.

Let the app do the reminding. Vaskuna can send one reminder on session days and nothing on rest days. You can turn it on during set-up, and your parent can switch it on or off in the You tab.

There is no need to push for more. Vaskuna rebuilds the plan every week and steps it up as sessions are done, not just as weeks pass. After each session it asks how that felt, and a "too hard" makes the next week gentler. If a session feels like too much, pausing or stopping early is the app working as it should. The When to stop guide lists the signs that mean stop.

What it costs, and how to cancel

The free week is given by the app itself, so nothing is charged when it ends. After that, starting new sessions needs a subscription: US$79.99 a year or US$12.99 a month in the US. Apple shows the price for your region before anyone subscribes. Past sessions stay readable either way.

The subscription is bought on your parent's iPhone and paid by the Apple Account signed in there, which is theirs. It renews automatically until it is cancelled. If you plan to cover the cost, agree that between you first.

To cancel, open the Settings app on their iPhone, tap their name at the top, which is their Apple Account, then Subscriptions, and cancel Vaskuna there. Do it at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Apple manages subscriptions, so Vaskuna cannot cancel one for you.

Questions

Can I see my parent's progress?

Not from your own phone. Vaskuna has no account and no server, so your parent's answers and sessions stay on their iPhone. That keeps them private, and it means the only way to see their progress is on their phone, with them.

Will my parent be charged after the free week?

Not unless they choose to subscribe. The first seven days are free with no card and no account, so nothing is charged when they end. To keep starting new sessions after that, they need a subscription.

Is there an Android version?

No. Vaskuna is for iPhone with iOS 17 or later.