In African settings, there has been limited research on how and for what purposes older people receiving homebase care use cellphones, and on how informal caregivers support cellphone use. In a 12-month anthropology of caregiving for older people in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa, we observed caregivers supporting cellphone use, and their older care recipients often asked the researchers for assistance during their fieldwork visits. We enquired systematically about older people’s cellphone ownership, use and support provided by caregivers. Seventeen of 21 older people owned a simple cellphone — xipolipoli in the local language, Xitsonga; they often carried it in a pocket or necklace pouch and used it to receive calls and sometimes to speak at length with friends and family members, for pleasure and to organise family business. For older people who did not own a cellphone, and a few who became too sick to answer their phone, caregivers used their own cellphone to accept and make calls on their care recipient’s behalf. Most older people could answer and hang-up when another person called them, and many expressed pride and joy about being able to do this. Vision problems and/or illiteracy prevented most older people from independently making outgoing calls, loading airtime and purchasing “voice bundles”, saving contact numbers, and/or charging their cellphones. Home-based caregivers, as well as visitors and neighbours, supported older people to use these cellphone functions. Many asked the anthropologist to save her number to their contacts and/or to call them if she was unable to contact their caregiver to arrange a visit. Supporting cellphone use is an important role of caregivers of older people in rural South Africa because it enhances older people’s wellbeing and social networks.