{"id":223408,"date":"2024-04-13T00:25:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T00:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/13\/this-86-year-old-tech-wiz-nicknamed-mr-iphone-started-teaching-computer-classes-for-his-senior-living-community-and-transformed-the-way-people-engaged-with-their-families\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:18:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:18:42","slug":"this-86-year-old-tech-wiz-nicknamed-mr-iphone-started-teaching-computer-classes-for-his-senior-living-community-and-transformed-the-way-people-engaged-with-their-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/13\/this-86-year-old-tech-wiz-nicknamed-mr-iphone-started-teaching-computer-classes-for-his-senior-living-community-and-transformed-the-way-people-engaged-with-their-families\/","title":{"rendered":"This 86-year-old tech wiz nicknamed ‘Mr. iPhone’ started teaching computer classes for his senior living community and transformed the way people engaged with their families"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andy Petro, 86, gets stopped by his neighbors half a dozen times a day in his senior living community in Roseville, California. One neighbor can\u2019t get their texts to go through. Another can\u2019t toggle with their brightness, and one woman wants to learn how to send her grandchild<\/a> happy birthday balloons through the screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was like I opened a candy store, and all the candy was free,\u201d says Petro, who modestly admits to solving 90% of the Apple-related troubles he encounters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most recently, a woman stopped Petro while sitting at dinner because she couldn\u2019t get any calls to come through. Petro was at her door in an hour. \u201cThat just saves them from having to ride down to the Apple<\/a> Store,\u201d Petro tells Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cNow she can make phone calls. That\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s known to his family as Andy, he\u2019s savvy Mr. Apple to his fellow seniors in Sonrisa Senior Living.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to tapping him on the shoulder for last-minute assistance, people block off time to hear Petro\u2019s tech talks. As president of the senior center\u2019s Apple Club, an organization for people who want to make the most of their iPhone\u2019s features,\u00a0Petro hosts a monthly hour-long class in the community theater with 20 to 25 neighbors between ages 75 and 95. He answers questions, explains new features or updates, and gives tips on the best ways to communicate (he\u2019s sure to have the latest versions himself). As a longtime tech pro and teacher, he loves giving back and helping people feel confident about new forms of communicating as they age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSince my brain still works, I brought all my knowledge and became Mr. iPhone guy,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Petro joined the Marine Corps in the late 1950s, he was encouraged to study electronics before transferring to a base in Japan. After returning from his service, he secured a job in aeronautics in Southern California. For the next several decades, between jobs and startups, he also taught classes in technology and business systems. When the first Apple device came out in the 1970s, he was among the most eager customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with Apple products when the first one came out,\u201d he says, having bought the Apple II Plus computer system. He immediately saw its impact on his son, who had been struggling with dyslexia and wasn\u2019t doing well in school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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