  The global aging trend compels older adults to navigate the evolving digital
landscape, presenting a substantial challenge in mastering smartphone
applications. While Augmented Reality (AR) holds promise for enhancing learning
and user experience, its role in aiding older adults' smartphone app
exploration remains insufficiently explored. Therefore, we conducted a
two-phase study: (1) a workshop with 18 older adults to identify app
exploration challenges and potential AR interventions, and (2) tech-probe
participatory design sessions with 15 participants to co-create AR support
tools. Our research highlights AR's effectiveness in reducing physical and
cognitive strain among older adults during app exploration, especially during
multi-app usage and the trial-and-error learning process. We also examined
their interactional experiences with AR, yielding design considerations on
tailoring AR tools for smartphone app exploration. Ultimately, our study
unveils the prospective landscape of AR in supporting the older demographic,
both presently and in future scenarios.
