Xiaohongshu's elderly-friendly manual — supervised by its 88-year-old star user

By the end of 2024, Xiaohongshu had more than 30 million monthly active users over 60, and the number of elderly creators had tripled in two years — yet many seniors still wanted to share their lives and did not know how to start. The idea for a manual came from an 82-year-old user, Sheng Yuezhi, who had hand-written her own instructions and published more than 300 posts since 2022.

Make an onboarding manual the way seniors actually read: big print, one-to-one phone screens, and an 88-year-old user as supervisor.

On January 6, 2025, Xiaohongshu released an elderly-friendly user manual designed for aging eyes and habits: enlarged bold type, step-by-step breakdowns and one-to-one phone-screen illustrations. Supervision and review went to Wang Yeye, the 88-year-old former teacher known as the platform's 'oldest food blogger', who also recorded an accompanying explanation video. The manual walked readers through four everyday actions — browsing, searching, posting and replying — and the platform offered 500 free printed copies to apply for, with a downloadable PDF for anyone who wanted to print their own.

The manual turned a demographic trend into a designed response: instead of lecturing seniors, Xiaohongshu let a senior define how the product should be taught. It was covered widely in Chinese media as part of the 'elder-friendly' wave and gave the platform's growing over-60 community an official welcome rather than an accidental one.

Xiaohongshu grew up as a young people's app, but by the end of 2024 more than 30 million monthly active users were over 60, elderly creators had tripled in two years, and seniors had published over 100 million notes. Behind the numbers was a quieter story: many older people wanted to share their lives but were stopped by interfaces designed for younger eyes and habits.

The unlock came from the community itself. An 82-year-old user, Sheng Yuezhi, had hand-written her own illustrated instructions for using the app and posted over 300 notes since 2022 — proof that seniors would create if someone made the first steps visible. Xiaohongshu responded with an official elderly-friendly manual: enlarged type, detailed steps, one-to-one phone screenshots, and sections for browsing, searching, posting and replying, reviewed and narrated by 88-year-old Wang Yeye, the platform's celebrated 'oldest food blogger'.

Rather than a one-off gesture, the manual treated elderly onboarding as a product surface: free printed copies for family members to request, and a PDF anyone could print at home. The approach turned the app's aging-user wave into something the platform actively designed for, and made an 88-year-old the authority on how to teach it.

Making an 88-year-old user the supervisor guaranteed the manual matched real senior needs instead of assumptions.

Enlarged type and one-to-one screenshots addressed the physical barriers that stop elderly first-timers.

The printed-copy option respected reading habits that a younger product team might have ignored.

Grounding the project in Sheng Yuezhi's hand-written manual proved the demand came from users, not from a CSR brief.

The most credible accessibility test is the user herself — put a member of the target group in charge of the teaching, and the design follows their real needs.

The manual joined a broader wave of 'elder-friendly' moves across Chinese platforms and was covered by outlets including Xinmin Evening News and The Paper. For Xiaohongshu, it formalized what users had nicknamed the 'laohongshu' phenomenon — seniors' stories becoming a beloved genre on the app — and turned a growing demographic into an invited community rather than an accidental one.