As more everyday services move online, a CYENS-developed platform is aiming to help seniors and people in rural and remote areas of Cyprus use smartphones and digital services with greater confidence, independence and safety.

Digital Kin, developed by a team led by Fotis Liarokapis of the Extended Experiences (EX) Research Group at the CYENS Centre of Excellence, was created in strategic collaboration with Cyta and focuses on strengthening practical digital skills.

The initiative comes as the ability to use a smartphone is increasingly becoming essential for social and economic participation, whether for communicating with family, accessing healthcare services, making payments or finding information online.

At the centre of the initiative is the Digital Kin platform, which turns potentially complicated digital tasks into simple, practical and easy-to-follow instructions in Greek.

Built around the principle that technology should make people’s lives easier rather than become another barrier, the platform offers six learning areas and more than 85 step-by-step guides, adapted for both Android smartphones and iPhones.

All learning material is available free of charge and covers basic smartphone functions, communication, internet use, online safety, digital services and useful applications.

Users can learn how to make calls, send messages and take photographs, install applications, browse the internet and manage common smartphone settings.

Instead of relying on technical terminology, Digital Kin presents each activity through short visual sequences, allowing users to select what they want to learn, choose whether they are using an Android device or an iPhone and follow the instructions at their own pace.

The guides can also be downloaded as PDFs, allowing users, family members and carers to print them or consult them offline.

This is particularly important for an initiative centred on digital inclusion, which does not assume that users are already comfortable navigating online environments.

The platform also extends beyond basic smartphone use to cover digital tasks that are becoming an increasingly regular part of everyday life in Cyprus.

It provides, for example, guidance on accessing the Cyprus’ national health system (Gesy) Beneficiary Portal, from locating the service to creating an account and logging in, while instructions on using JCC Smart are intended to help users become more familiar with digital payments and online services.

The practical focus comes as public authorities, businesses and service providers continue to shift more of their activities online.

While digital transformation can offer significant benefits, the initiative stresses that these can only be fully realised when citizens have the skills and confidence to access them.

Digital inclusion, in this sense, involves more than connectivity and access to devices, extending to the knowledge required to participate confidently in an increasingly digital society.

Online safety is therefore another central part of Digital Kin.

Its guides help users recognise common signs of online scams, understand what personal information should never be shared, block unknown numbers and respond when something goes wrong.

Other material focuses on creating secure passwords and recognising fraudulent messages that may appear to come from trusted organisations.

For people developing digital skills later in life, combining practical knowledge with cybersecurity awareness is particularly important, with the initiative seeking not simply to increase the use of technology but to help people use digital tools independently and safely.

Digital Kin also reflects the wider research and innovation work of the CYENS Centre of Excellence and its Extended Experiences Research Group, particularly its focus on developing human-centred technologies with practical societal applications.

The collaboration with Cyta is also intended to demonstrate how research and industry can work together to translate technological knowledge into resources addressing a tangible social need.

As Cyprus continues its digital transformation, the initiative argues that success will depend not only on the sophistication of new technologies and online services, but also on whether people across society are able to benefit from them.

Digital Kin is available at digitalkin.cyens.org.cy, while further information on the Extended Experiences Research Group is available through CYENS.