Moving into a senior community can bring about a mix of emotions for retirees. It can be a time of excitement over new friendships and opportunities. It can also be a time of grief over disconnection from regular routines and saying goodbye to the family home and local neighbourhood. There are definitely a lot of mixed emotions that emerge in this transition.

Fortunately, many tools are available in a retirement community to create an inviting lifestyle when people are gathered. But what about when they are alone at home? How can they find ways to maintain relationships with friends and enhance their way of life? To this end, we have put together a collection of apps that your residents can consider to stay connected and engaged:

1) Headspace

Retirees can benefit from meditation in several ways. This includes promoting relaxation and reducing stress. Meditation is especially helpful for retirees struggling with new lifestyle changes or the loss of daily routines. Through meditation, retirees can feel a sense of mental clarity and spiritual purpose. Headspace is one of the most popular meditation apps around the world. It's free to use and offers guided meditations ranging from 5 minutes up to 20 minutes long. Headspace was founded by Andy Puddicombe, who also narrates some of their audio guides. His soothing voice makes different meditation practices easy to follow no matter how little experience you may have.

2) Scribd

The desire to learn new things is a fundamental part of life, and it's something that can be easily done after retirement. If you're looking for a way to make reading more accessible and convenient in your community, Scribd might be the answer. It is a media subscription service that allows instant access to ebooks, audiobooks, and podcasts in one application. Scribd's library is ever-expanding and includes thousands of titles from various publishers. Users can even search by genre or subject matter to keep their minds active with new daily information. With a media subscription, there's no need to dig through boxes of books or struggle with discs like in the earlier days.

3) Pluss Communities

The sense of belonging that comes from living in a retirement community is an essential aspect of senior living, as emphasised in our post entitled "How to build a sense of belonging in your retirement community". Retirement communities need a communication network embodied in an app that residents can use to interact with each other, share photos and videos, schedule get-togethers, and even receive reminders about important events. To this end, Pluss Communities provides a scalable and affordable solution for community connectivity. Our highly-configurable customer experience software can help retirees feel more connected to other residents. By having an accessible platform where residents can see and engage with what's going on in their community, retirees are much more likely to feel content and fulfilled.

4) Facebook

As people get older, their social circles tend to shrink. Retirees may not see as many friends and family members as often or perhaps just don't feel like maintaining friendships with people who live far away. But, they should still keep their social life intact. There are plenty of ways to stay connected with people who matter - and one of those ways is through Facebook. The BBC recently reported a rise in "senior influencers" on social media. Given the freedom and accessibility of Facebook, retirees can use this app to raise awareness about ageism and embrace their identity as contemporary seniors.

There's no doubt that retirees can benefit from apps. After all, retirees are often more tech-savvy than most may think. Undoubtedly, if you're building a community for modern retirees, look to elevate their golden years with these timely applications.