- There is no reasonably sized android phone. They’re either huge (>6“) or tiny (<4“) and the smaller variant usually has ancient and slow specs.
- I passionately dislike google. And yes, it’s possible to use Android without Google but it’s quite a hassle. Big parts of that is privacy, which Apple might not care about as much as they should but Google isn’t caring about at all.
- I prefer the UI of most apps on iOS to the equivalent on Android. It’s fairly consistent, usually following certain standards (like the menu bar on the bottom).
- Most android phones I’ve used over the years have an ungodly amount of bloat. Why would anyone want to use a second, worse app store? Why are facebook and tiktok preinstalled and can’t be uninstalled?
- I also have a Mac and an AppleTV. The iPhone fits right in.
- I’m used to it. It works. As long as Apple doesn’t do a major privacy oopsie or someone releases a small android flagship phone again, I have no reason to leave because android offers nothing I desire beyond what I already have.
Same, no reason to switch. The iPhone just works and it actually never slow down while I had this problem with my parents android phones and my old android
Keywords there are ‘old Android’. I haven’t had a phone do that classic android slowdown in years.
They made a huge oopsie with Siri once, when it was revealed that audio was reviewed by real people without my consent. It made me question everything for a bit. But is it better at Google? I don’t think so. And Apple fixed the issue.
If u really care about privacy that much then why are u using the closed source system of apple. Also the bloat apps of android are removable,u dont even need to root, just use https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
Because it’s more convenient. I trust Google less than Apple and degoogling android is a hassle. Or rather getting all the apps you need with a degoogled android. I do want privacy but I also don’t want to give up useability.
Also, the point is less, that you can’t remove or deactivate bloat apps but that they’re there in the first place. I‘ve got a similar issue with Windows.
And the other factors still play a large roll. If I could have a reasonably sized, speced and priced android phone, I might consider it and maybe will in the future when my iPhone 13 mini gives up the ghost.
Fair enough,I misjudged ur threat model. But is there any reason as to why u trust apple more than companies like google even tho both are closed source and non auditable by the general public. Is it cuz of the privacy font that apple tries to show?
To some degree, as apple tries to appear privacy conscious, at least, while Google is very open, that all they want is your data. But that gets enforced by their business models. Google is first and foremost an advertising company. That’s how they make money. Less so with hard and software. Apple is first and foremost a hardware company. They do sell some software and services but it’s not their main business. Advertising even less.
#1 is the most legit reason itt. I had an iPhone for work. Perfect size even with a rubber case. Despise almost every other feature… Size was perfect. Now I’m stuck with 6" after 6" (gigiddy)… At least they’re cheap and fit in my pockets.
4 might be where people are getting their phone. Haven’t had this on the last 2 phones at least (unlocked, not bought from carrier)
I’m an Android user contemplating moving to Apple because of audio applications. Android’s audio implementation was absolute garbage for years and years, and as a result, all of the good, mobile audio production software is for iOS. Android is finally catching up in terms of latency and whatever else, but the software side is still a total shitshow.
How can you do music on auch small screen estate? A double screen computer setup already seems not enough.
It’s music! Screens are hardly a necessity. Many electronic producers these days are going “DAWless”. Mind you, dedicated hardware has come a long way. Things like Elektron’s Digitakt and Synthstrom Audible’s Deluge (and a bunch of other options) verge on being hardware DAWs themselves.
If you do everything via VST in DAW, then yes, you want lots of screen space. I downsized to 1 monitor recently, and I really miss the second when I’m in DAW.
Girls judge you harsher if they see that green bubble
Should be a plus as that would be an instant red flag.
Gen z spotted?
I think (hope) it’s sarcasm
My six year old iPhone still receives software updates
But updates for what? You gain very little from security because nobody is targeting you and no new major features, so what’s it really worth? Maybe I’m wrong about my perception of those things though… I’ve used 2 androids for around 8 years each no problem.
You gain very little from security because nobody is targeting you…
It’s not about being targeted, it’s about being caught in the big fishing net that scammers are throwing. You don’t have to be targeted to have security concerns.
If a phone isn’t receiving regular security updates, I won’t use it. My Pixel 5a just got replaced because it’s coming up on end of support. My new Pixel has 7 years of support, so I feel a lot better about keeping it longer.
My Pixel 4a has LineageOS on it, and is installing an update from two days ago right now.
Sure, the general OS is getting security updates but hardware-specific updates have stopped.
That’s true, but hardware drivers are a much smaller attack surface area.
Fair, but I meant updates from the original manufacturer.
It is unfortunate that manufacturers, Google, and app makers have all engaged in behaviors that make running a third-party OS less viable for most people.
Updates to secure the operating systems are worth it. Apple has a fantastic track record of supporting the older phones. It shows they’ve really planned ahead and thought about the entire lifecycle of their device. They will also accept your old phone after its life is complete and responsibly recycle it.
Correct. You are wrong about your perception.
I went from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone 13 . I had replaced the battery on the iPhone 7 already, it still was getting updates but physically the charge port started wearing out and the NFC stopped working .
Was a good run, phone was super reliable needed no tweaking to work.
I have also been using iPhones since the iPhone 3G. Long before it existed on Android it was very easy to movie everything from your old phone to the new one, first via iTunes desktop then later via iCloud.
Family sharing for apps and family backups pooled in iCloud is also very convenient.
This is why I made the switch from android to iPhone too
As an android user, I looked at the phone list for iOS 18, and I was jealous.
Google and Samsung now provide updates for 7 years, and Fairphone provides updates for 8 years.
From what I can tell, Apple doesn’t promise a set number of years for updates. The iPhone x got about 5 years of updates before support was dropped, but Apple will occasionally give security updates to older devices if they’re severe enough.
With Fairphone 5, they guarantee at least 8 years of software updates but they will actually try 10 years! [1]
And Apple was recently forced to disclose their software support commitment in the UK due to regulations. Apple guarantees at least 5 years of software updates, which is less than Google, Samsung, and Fairphone. Apple is no longer the leader in software support! [2]
Good to hear, but I don’t think I will have a phone for as long as six years, because for one thing the battery probably will have become unusable by then - they can only be charged so many times.
You know you can replace the battery, right? Like, 10 minutes with some basic repair knowledge and you can have it done. I usually do a battery replacement on my iPhone ever 2 years just because it will inevitably slow down and the battery life becomes unusable.
And that’s boring plus ruining the sealing
No way. You need more than 10 minutes and way more than “basic” repair knowledge.
Iphones are by design extremely hard to repair.
Proprietary screws, glued in components (which needs to be removed and reapplied) and battery management components which need to be resoldered to the new battery so that the phone accepts it.
Its been a while since i have repaired an iphone but i doubt its gotten better.
If you can do it in 10 minutes I will gove you 10 bucks though.
I’m a former sysadmin (10 years) with 1 year spent working as cellphone repair prior to that. I could bang out batteries all day long for replacing. It’s not rocket science.
Save your money. $10 doesn’t even cover my morning coffee.
You misrepresent the time, tools and knowledge needed to do those repairs.
“10 minutes and some basic repair knowledge” is still misleading even if you are a former sysadmin of 10 years.
Enjoy your overpriced coffee!
- Cross-device integration/the Apple ecosystem. I use a Mac for my userland computing, and the ease with which it works together with my phone is a killer feature. Also in this category is integration with my family’s Apple devices.
- The software ecosystem. Apple’s first party apps and services are really nice across the board, and once again the ecosystem integration is the single biggest reason I use an iPhone. (the user facing apps, at least–Xcode and everything related to it are hot trash).
- Purely subjective, but Android is ugly to me. The hardware, the OS(es), and the apps just look bad to my eye. The iPhone looks and feels nice in a way that I haven’t experienced in an Android product.
- I don’t trust Google and I can’t be bothered to spend any time configuring my phone. I spend too much of my life installing shit and tinkering with config already; I want a phone that just works out of the box.
Never trust Google. But do you trust Apple?
More than Google tbh
That’s my take. I really dislike Google. I avoid using anything Google. I am not saying apple is perfect but they are not Google
Yes. For sure. People downvote you, but you are correct.
I switched from Google after talking to a data engineer who was lamenting how little data he could get from iPhone users compared to Google. Google gave him everything. I work for a company that buys advertising data from Google. We don’t from Apple.
Maybe they are both bad, but it’s not nearly equivalent.
Pretty much the same for me. I try to do zero business with Google. I tried android several times and it just felt like a rough draft of a real product.
Locked down bootloaders. If it’s not my device, I’m going for the prettiest walled garden. I was with Android from Droid X until Galaxy S8; not being able to flash my own ROM on the S8 was the reason I left for an iPhone.
I also don’t want to have to sysadmin my mom’s Android phone that was constantly having bullshit apps installed. Apple’s walled garden makes my life as family sysadmin significantly easier.
As a former sysadmin and MDM specialist I stay(ed) loyal to Apple because MDM quickly makes you realize what a cluster android is. Some phones allow for certain lockdowns in one profile while other Android OS’ wouldn’t be able to recognize it. Knox was attempting to do something akin to iOS for MDM, but even still it was missing a ton of features.
That seems like a concern for the IT department of a large organization, but not something end users should care about.
It’s troubling seeing the amount of brands moving from freely unlockable, to waiting periods with registration, to all-out blocking unlocking. I am happy I double checked the unlock status before purchases an ASUS Zenfone last year right before they took their unlocking servers offline with just a marketing promise they would be back (they never came back online, & they paid out a lawsuit this years already over it).
I trust Apple more than Google. May be misplaced faith, but that’s the primary reason.
It is
Apple has always at least kept your data semi-private from everyone except them. It’s not perfect and it’s still putting way too much trust in Apple, but it’s preferable to Google selling your data to the highest bidder at will.
Ya, android only makes sense if you degoogle.
Same here, try to de-google my life while sitting comfortably in the Apple ecosystem as the happy hypocrite that I am. But the ecosystem is also the main reason to stay, not that it is hard to get out, but it is just a vastly superior experience if you don’t want to spend unlimited hours to customize every goddamn setting. Also, the ecosystem’s main feature ‘continuity’ is unmatched on other systems.
Using Google services is not a strict requirement to run Android. There are whole online communities around unGoogled Android.
I’ve long considered making this switch from iPhone to an ungoogled Android device. What always bothered me is still basically having to install proprietary apps from a Play Store adjacent source. Like the Aurora store is basically just the Play Store logged under someone else’s account. I know you can side load but that’d be a pain to maintain updates. Wish there was like a Flathub-like store on Android I could use instead.
Its called F-Droid
There’s no proprietary apps on F-Droid. It doesn’t even have Signal which is open source.
I’m not sure what’s your pain point then? With Aurora you can install and automatically update proprietary apps. You can use anonymous accounts so you are not officially logged in (does this still work?). If you want FOSS, then fdroid. There’s more updating tools such as unobtanium, but seems what you want is Aurora.
I’d just like to be completely free of Google’s app distribution infrastructure if possible. I’ll have to look into unobtanium. I haven’t heard of that one previously.
Google s is the largest, but not the only one. Amazon, Samsung and some OEMs have their own app stores too.
There are alson sites that archive and distribute apks, like Apkmirror.
I have a tablet logged to nothing (as in no account, not the OEM) and all my apps come from fdroid, obtanium or apkmirror.
It started as an experiment, and honestly it’s (for me) not a big hurdle, but an app store would make things easier, that’s for sure.
Removed by mod
I absolutely hate the interface.
Huh? At least it can be changed.
But no matter how you change it, the overall experience in Android is inconsistent and sub par. Little things like flickering between switching apps or janky animation when the keyboard shows up is what causes poor Android experience.
Customisability is the bane of clean and consistent UI.
I don’t want to.
I technically have both since I’m a developer but my daily driver is my iPhone because when I have an android phone, I constantly want to put different roms on it so it ends up unstable. So, Apple’s walled garden saves me from myself making my phone unstable when I need a phone for calls/messages and not tinkering.
I don’t notice much of a difference these days, though. Sometimes, I charge my iPhone and grab my Pixel and I don’t even notice. Back in the day, iOS was generally more polished and Android was either slightly behind or ahead on specific features but I find that both are pretty much mature at this point. Flagship cameras are both excellent. Accessory ecosystems exist. There’s really not an overwhelming reason to switch, (especially if the Android phone is also a walled garden, which seems more common now).
Kinda random question: are you a FE developer? If so, is there a reason you would want to have an android phone instead of using a desktop emulator?
I guess these days, I’m primarily a manager and full stack web developer (which often means writing APIs and doing DevOps). But I’ve built several apps over the years. Nothing really consumer-facing. Mostly one-off things like apps for a conference or festival.
But to answer your main question, I use the emulator most of the time but I think it’s important (at least for me) to use a real phone sometimes. Like, “Does this design choice feel right in this OS’s ecosystem?” That can’t always be answered well via emulator. It matters less nowadays but back in the day, Android and iOS hadn’t copied each other yet and there were some big differences.
Beyond work stuff, though, having a spare phone that isn’t your daily driver is nice. Android devices are usually pretty cheap if you don’t need a new, current-gen flagship. I’ve used my spare while traveling abroad with a cheap SIM card. Friends have borrowed it after breaking their phone while waiting on a replacement to be delivered. I have a little camera drone that uses a phone as the controller screen. And I can fuck around with it and install custom ROMs or experimental stuff.
And I can sing “2 Phones” by Kevin Gates and pretend to be cool.
Android phones are not walled gardens though. They still allow third party app stores and “sideloading”.
I just meant unlocking the boot loader and installing custom ROMs or whatever on it. It used to be practically encouraged.
You can still do that. Google isn’t really stopping you. They do however have to provide mechanisms for things like banks to detect it if they choose to.
I’ve used android at various times. Most recently around 3 years ago. I probably won’t switch back unless there is some really compelling hardware I just can’t resist.
Some reasons I prefer iPhone is that iMessage was just a better experience for messaging than SMS and the fragmented support that RCS had back when I was an android user.
iOS is also consistent experience across devices rather than having a different flavor with different launchers and bloat per manufacturer. Android is nice in that you can extend your experience by sideloading apps but eventually the more you add, the more chances you have of them randomly crashing and detracting from the experience
Finally I am locked in to the hardware ecosystem, android/Google do have their own alternatives to this but they aren’t as nice as apple’s. AirPods just work. AppleTV doesn’t have ads unlike google tv. Your iCloud files, photos, messages etc. just sync to your Mac without thinking.
If I did get a new android device I’d probably be a pixel but I just don’t trust google. And I don’t trust them to support a device or service and keep it out of the killedbygoogle graveyard
Chit tier level of security.
Apple has actually built a nice ecosystem. Apple Pay, Apple CarPlay, etc. are just more widespread and consistent than their Google alternatives. For example, my current car and every car I’ve rented in the past 5 years have Apple CarPlay, but only one rental actually had Android Auto (my current car does not.)
Plus I don’t really feel like reinstalling all new apps, getting new games, etc. And while I like software freedom on my PC, I don’t mind a walled garden on my phone.
As an Android user, I’m considering switching to iPhone due to how much worse the Android experience is becoming without Google Play Services. I’m using a custom ROM with microG, which potentially means no RCS since it is only available through Google Messages which doesn’t work with microG.
As much as it would suck jumping ship, at the very least, Apple is still a consumer hardware company first & foremost while Google will always be an ads company. Android exists to that end & that end alone.
First thing: Privacy. I am aware that iOS is not entirely private too, but I trust Apple Photos much more than Google Photos. You can even enable end-to-end encryption iirc.
Second point is control over my data. I can easily export my photos from Apple Photos as files, whereas Google maliciously separates Photos and Metadata upon export. In my experience this is the same for a lot of other services as well. Being able to easily export my data enables me to escape the walled garden more easily should I get fed up with one system. I also try to use as many open source services as possible for this as well as other reasons.
Apple has a lot of malicious practices too, especially when it comes to EU citizens and third-party app stores, etc. - but in my experience Google is no better.
Lastly, I considered switching to an Android with Graphene OS (privacy focused Android derivate) a couple of times, but the added control over your data comes with a lot of other inconveniences. So for now, I’m just sticking to iOS.
Not entirely disagreeing with you but, what exactly is “malicious” about separating photo and metadata? It could be just how their servers process and stores those photos, with the added benefit of geotagging videos.
I use Google Photos and upload in original quality. When I download from takeout, the metadata is still in the original files. Iirc, only if you select upload in “high quality” where they compress it again, do you lose the metadata in the file stored in the cloud.
When you re-import the images into another program/library, they will not be displayed in the correct order and all other information will be lost as well.
Metadata in general is very useful and contains a lot of valuable information like location data, lens, focal length and device information which you have to manually re-integrate into each and every photo.
I mean yes, I could write a quick and dirty Python script for this, but why should I have to do this in the first place?
In my subjective opinion this is malicious as in it only being this way to make it as hard as possible to migrate away. I highly doubt this is the way their servers store the images as it is very inefficient and the images are likely stored in a database instead. This means in order to retrieve a file they have to process each image anyway, so why not follow the universally accepted and well defined standard and include the metadata in each file?
Apple Photos is more private than Google Photos
Sure, but if you care about privacy at all, then surely you wouldn’t use either of them anyway? You’d use Ente Photos (available for both OS), or Immich (available for both OS), or any other private solution? So this shouldn’t really be a factor in choosing between Android and iOS. Same with the export point. Both have good options for photo backup, and neither Apple Photos nor Google Photos are one of them.
Pretty sure on iOS any other gallery app is just a frontend to the photo stock app. Beside, you can encrypt the whole thing on iCloud so it’s safe (which is what I do)
Yeah, all gallery apps show the same on-device photos, the difference is where they backup/upload them, which is the part important to privacy.
Apple iCloud having the E2E encryption feature is definitely an advantage over Google Photos. All I’m saying is that neither really have much to do with the OS. Google Photos isn’t even a preinstalled app on most Android phones, just one of many options you could install, same as on iOS.
Yeah but if you disable the iCloud upload for the photos app they are all on-device
Same goes for any other app, including Google Photos
Yes, but that wasn’t the point was it?
Except google photos will nag you every few days to enable cloud sync if it’s disabled when you open the app and uses dark patterns to nudge towards accepting. I doubt iOS does that.
I dislike this logic. It’s really a black and white / all or nothing approach. Also, I think the photos app is just a microcosm of a bigger consideration. That being which OS do I trust more overall if I trust some of the built I apps more?
Agree, you should look at the overall picture, not make a decision based on an individual app (which, in case of Google Photos, isn’t even built in unless you buy a Pixel or something, it’s just some app that happens to be available, for both iOS and Android).
