← Back to recent questions

For me, the answer is Claude. For your mum, almost certainly not. The honest answer comes down to two things she's already chosen without thinking about AI: which phone she has, and which email she actually uses.

How I'd approach it

Start with two boring questions, in this order. What phone does she have? And what email does she use?

If she's on Android and her email is Gmail (the common case for that generation in Australia), the answer is Gemini. Not because Gemini is the best AI in the world. The reason is friction. She's already in Google's ecosystem, and Gemini is the path of least resistance. Press and hold the home button on most newer Androids and it's already there. Open Gmail and a "Help me write" button is built into the compose window. She doesn't have to install anything new, learn another login, or remember another website.

If she's on an iPhone but still uses Gmail, the answer is mostly the same. Install the Gemini app for now, since the email integration is the bit that actually saves her time. ChatGPT's iOS app is also a fine answer if she'd rather have a separate place for AI than have it threaded through her email. The ChatGPT app is the most polished mobile AI experience in 2026, and its voice mode is uncannily close to talking to a person.

If she's on an iPhone and barely touches Gmail (lives in iCloud, uses Apple Mail), pick ChatGPT. The free tier is plenty for now.

Three things I'd add, whichever you pick.

Stay on the free tier for at least three months. Both have generous free plans. Don't pay for something she might use twice and forget about. The paid tier becomes worth it only when she's hitting the limits of the free one, and you'll know that because she'll tell you she's hit a limit.

Turn voice mode on the first time you sit down with her. Typing on a phone is the part most older users hate. Speaking to it is the unlock. Both Gemini and ChatGPT have very good voice modes in 2026; either is a step change from typing.

Check the privacy setting that controls whether her conversations are used to train the model. Both let you turn it off. Both default to on for free users. Worth a tap before she starts asking it about medical worries or family money. The setting is in the app's account or privacy menu, usually called something like "Improve the model for everyone" or "Use my data for training".

What I'd avoid

Don't install three apps and tell her to "try them all and see which she likes". She'll uninstall all three. Pick one, set it up with her, sit through her first ten minutes of using it, and answer her questions in person. The hard part isn't the AI. It's the first hour.