After spending over a decade with various Android phones, I finally made the switch to an iPhone. Here’s why I made the switch and what I’ve discovered since.
The Struggles with Samsung/Android
-
Slow Shutter on Samsung Flagships: One of my biggest gripes with Samsung’s flagship phones has been the slow shutter and shutter lag. Trying to capture a moving subjects often resulted in blurry photos or missed shots entirely. This has been an issue with Samsung phones for many years.
-
Google’s Service Abandonment: Google has a notorious history of abandoning services. The most recent one being the Podcasts app. The podcast experience on YouTube Music is just terrible.
-
Hardware Design: The Samsung S24 Ultra has sharp corners that make it uncomfortable to hold. The Pixel 8 phones have issues with connectivity and overheating. The S24+ comes with an inferior Exynos processor.
-
Performance: No matter how fast the hardware is, Android phones always seem to slow down and stutter after a few months of use. It’s like they age in dog years. (My most recent Samsung phone was the S23+, and it already started lagging).
-
Apps: Android apps have an inconsistent look and feel. It’s like a patchwork quilt made by someone who doesn’t know how to sew. Also, a lot of Android apps require excessive permissions.
-
Disaster: A Samsung update once made my phone unbootable. I had to do a full reset and lost some data. People said I should have made a backup before the update, but Android doesn’t provide an easy way to completely backup the phone. That was the last straw.
The iPhone Revelation
-
Shortcuts: The Shortcuts app on iPhone is a game-changer. It automates tasks in ways I never thought possible.
-
Face ID: Face ID on the iPhone is leagues ahead of Samsung’s version and even better than Touch ID. It’s fast, reliable, and just works. With the amount of unlocks I need everyday, this turns out to be more impactful than I expected.
-
Files App: The Files app is actually useful, and it has built-in support for Windows file shares.
-
Look & Feel: Everything on iOS feels smoother and more premium. The animations, the UI design – it’s all just so polished.
-
Audio: It’s much easier to select audio output in-app when connected to multiple Bluetooth devices and AirPlay.
-
Driving: CarPlay is a joy to use compared to Android Auto. Plus, Apple Maps has better voice directions.
-
Emulators: Emulators are now possible to use on iPhone without jailbreaking.
Switching to iPhone has been a breath of fresh air. While Android gave me more freedom and customizations. The consistency, reliability, and overall experience of iOS have won me over.
What was your experience switching to/from “the dark side”?
You must log in or register to comment.
I kinda wish ios had a fdroid equivalent. Apples $99 dev fee basically forces apps to rely on subscriptions or advertising (rarely one time iap).
I think it isn’t a one-time, but rather a yearly fee, so more like a subscription. And on top of that they take their third.
Forgot to mention yearly updated (thanks for the catch).
Welcome to your golden prison full of spyware. You never “own” an iPhone, in fact you’re just paying Apple the right to use the hardware and software they made.
Hypothetically, if Apple wants to turn your device into a thousand-dollar brick, it has the power to do it, and you can’t do anything about it.
There are ways to properly educate people on customer rights, privacy, right-to-repair, and ownership.
And then there is whatever annoying slop you just spewed out here. If you actually care about this and want to make a difference - do better.
None of the shit you’ve said makes any sense at all.
file manager ruins any apple experience
I thought I would be bothered by it. But now that iOS Files app has integration with iCloud and Windows shares, I don’t really miss the Android file management too much.
It does take an extra step to “import” files into certain apps, but at the same time I like this better than Android spyware apps accessing nearly everything in the Android file system.
File app has Nextcloud integration , too
It does? Might have to try that.
I don’t think people should be downvoting you for your own personal lived experience and opinions but people be tribal about which tech company they like their black mirrors from.
I had the same switch as you, diehard android fan for several years but eventually switch to iPhone because the user experience is consistent. I don’t want to be on my phone a lot so I appreciate how smooth everything is on IPhone. I pull it out, do what I need to do, then put it away.
Yeah I’m not even an Android hater. I am still considering buying an Android tablet. I wish people who disagree would just voice out their opinion for discussion, instead of just downvoting.
No idea why Samsung is seen as the best manufacturer of Android phones. Bloated crap.
Few months ago I switched to an iPhone 15 Pro Max after being on Android for years. I think I briefly tried an iPhone 6s back in the day? For maybe a month and gave up. I only switched because I happened to be able to get the phone without having to pay anything down, and the one good thing I’ve always heard about iPhone is the camera. Going to be honest, I despise iOS as much as I remember. Navigating around is a nightmare. The number of times I try to use the android back gesture, only for nothing to happen, is in the dozens of times per day. The fact that there is no dedicated back button or gesture, unless a specific app graciously decides you get to have one(in the most inconvenient location possible), is obscene. Back on Android, not only do I get said feature, I can tweak and customize it to my liking. And for that matter, I can do the same to pretty much the entire UI. The nearly non-customizable UI on iOS is infuriating. The fact that I can’t seem to predict which volume is about to be adjusted when I hit the volume buttons is even more infuriating. As is the phone’s insistence on not switching audio devices when it should. Or refusing to connect to Bluetooth headphones or other devices automatically, constantly forcing me to going into the settings and do it manually. And just countless other things I absolutely hate about this thing. The only thing I have found to be an improvement is the battery life, which after a full day is still at 90% when I am ready to go to bed. But that’s only because I just don’t touch the phone anymore. I check an email or two during the day, and the phone otherwise just sits in my pocket untouched. Switching to an iPhone is probably the single biggest technology-related mistake I’ve made in years. And that’s coming from someone who is running Arch as the only OS on my gaming laptop, and owns multiple VR headset and AR/XR glasses.
I’m glad other people seem to like their iPhones, but I absolutely despise this thing, and oh my god am I desperate to get the hell back onto Android at the first opportunity. I got this through Boost Infinite, so I’m hoping that when it’s time, they’ll let me “upgrade” to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Which is the phone I wanted to begin with, but they were conveniently only advertising the iPhone at the time, so I didn’t know they had other phones.
Moral of the the story is, if you tend to do any customization at all when you get a new Android phone, you’re probably going to hate iPhone. If you tend to just log in your email account and use the phone as it comes, you might fare better. In either case, do what you have to, to get your hands on a borrowed iPhone and spend some time with it before even considering making the switch.
I hate how the files app doesn’t give me access to shit.
The file apps on android aren’t perfect due to no root access but it’s leagues ahead of the awful iOS app.
They usually support SMB shares too.
FaceID is what keeps me on iPhone…
I’ve used tons of different phones (both Android and iOS) and although I always defended Android in almost every past conversation, I ended up using an iPhone, here’s why:
- On Android the base system that provides all the functionality comes from Google and if you try to remove Google services from Android, your phone is basically crippled. I don’t need to get into how hungry Google is for your personal data.
- Pixels advertise features that they do not have and they probably will never have. Some Pixels have the feature X, but you go buy the same exact model again and bam you don’t have feature X on that phone for some reason. (Also the Pixel launcher has a non removable Google search bar which I hated)
- Samsungs are great mini PCs you can carry, especially with DeX, but why do I have Samsung suite + Microsoft suite + Google suite of apps on one phone? You can’t remove Samsung apps, so you take a photo, view it through Samsung gallery and backup through Google Photos which is very inconvenient.
- Android overall has more personality, although your options are more and more limited each day due to bad hardware offered by brands. You want performance, you need a Samsung and then you get your data collected by all the big tech.
- I’ve had multiple call, audio or app issues with many Android vendors, never had an issue with an iPhone.
- iPhones are stupid and I hate the fact that I have to use it because Android makers are incompetent. iPhones work really well if people around you also use Apple devices (especially for US)
- You pay almost the same price for a new Pixel 8 and a new iPhone 15. You get an experimental chip with the Pixel that is generations behind in terms of performance and you FEEL IT. I felt my Samsung S24 was A LOT faster in terms of performance compared to my iPhone 15, but since the Android system never became coherent, using iOS feels smoother.
- Main reason I’m on an iPhone is getting away from Google (especially with all the AI features coming our way). But I hate that Apple tries to lock you into their ecosystem every step of the way. You can’t access Apple services on an Android (except with a browser, which sucks). Google services work great, but knowing that Google logs my every interaction, file and input feels like hell when you think about it.
- Being in the cyberspace myself, I am aware that there is no such things as privacy online anymore, but at least with an iPhone, if Google pulls a stupid stunt I can just go back to iPhone’s services.
TL;DR Every phone is the same, Android in general is faster for getting things done, and although iOS is limited, it gets done whatever it can get done with no issues. It’s a matter of who you want to give your data to and I think we all know Google’s not to be trusted.
Can’t say the android phones I’ve used have slowed down over the years ( mainly one plus ). I always stayed away from Samsung and the sort because they add too much bloat.
Not to mention that an update changed the power button to “activate bixby” and the constant harassing OD the Samsung app.
I bought the latest Samsung tablet and its underwhelming compared to the precious Samsung tablet I had. At this point I wish I had bought an iPad instead :/
My experience mirrors yours.
The realization that for most apps, the iPhone version clearly has more effort put into it.
Seeing what an app ghetto the Play store is; they let anything on there and it’s scams galore.
Janky UI, as you said.
The final straw for me, though, was phone calls not ringing on the phone and going straight to VM. This was on a “pure” Google phone using Google Fi. When a phone can’t even act like a phone anymore, I’m out.
At my age, I don’t have time or desire to fiddle with shit constantly. I want it to Just Work.
for most apps, the iPhone version clearly has more effort put into it.
Even Google Maps work better on iOS!!
At my age, I don’t have time or desire to fiddle with shit constantly.
Yeah I used to install custom ROMS on my Android phones. Android has more customizations, but I would rather use a design that works well out of the box.
Even Google Maps work better on iOS!!
Really? I find that Android Google Maps is far better, at least through Android Auto. Showing current speed + speed limit icons while driving is a big one. Android Auto allows pinch zooming while Apple CarPlay Google Maps has 2000-era “zoom in and out buttons” only. I believe Android also shows tolls for alternate routes as well.
Google Maps on CarPlay shows current speed and speed limit too.
On my CarPlay implementation, Google Maps has a better layout, button size etc compared to the Android Auto one.
There are so many kinds of display configurations with car manufacturers, so I guess it is down to the implementation and personal preferences.
Oh, ok - my mistake then. I have tried both on two cars and thought that was normal.
I continue to be baffled that “anyone can grab your phone, point it at your face, and have access to everything” is somehow a feature and not a critical vulnerability. In the US, you can be compelled to unlock a device using biometrics, but not a password, under the 5th Amendment.
Sad when a secure and fast way to unlock your device is seen as a vulnerability, just because you live in a 3rd world country military state where you fear and are in odds with your governments law enforcement. For the rest of us, it’s secure and like others said, easy to turn off with a few button presses if the need arises.
Even if I wasn’t, it’s still a flawed form of authentication. Something you know > something you are/have. You don’t store your housekey halfway inserted into a lock.
So you do use an iPhone great! Because it’s the only phone OS not bypassable by your own government and FaceID is optional. Making their password unlock th most secure in the industry and being someone of high authentication security you must then use it right?
Ofc you don’t, you just shit on an optional featur bacuse you have other totally unrelated issues with the device or should I say company…
If pulled over or something. Hit the power button of your iPhone a couple of times and FaceID is disabled. Easy as that. Or if you’re really paranoid: lock it before leaving the house.
You ever been pulled over? The cop makes it to your window in record time and I would not recommend fumbling around your center console to lock your face ID during said time.
Exactly. You sit still,and wait for the cop to direct you, you don’t grab for shit unless they tell you to.
Crazy. Every time I’ve been pulled over, I have time to dig out my I’d and registration before they get to my window. Maybe I shouldn’t but I don’t have patience to wait for them
Then say “Siri who am I”. It will lock it as well.
Have you ever been pulled over? How fast are these cops running to your car window?
Enough times to never try this. Be safe out there!
There’s a FaceID setting for “attention aware” that I think is on by default. It won’t unlock unless you are looking at the phone with eyes open.
That won’t help with police abuse of authority, but if you power down, restart, or lock the phone it will require your password. US police can’t legally require you give up your password, although courts have.
You can choose not to use FaceID, but it’s less convenient
It won’t open if you’re unconscious. You have to be actively looking at the phone.
I’ve started using an iPhone as a side phone, and expected it to be slick but restrictive. I’m surprised how many rough corners there are, especially in the apps I use. The only slick-ness is that I haven’t put much on it.
What rough corners?
Settings pages that are confusing to navigate out of, options missing, less clear information, not as good app-to-app integration, issues with browsers, and Bluetooth that doesn’t like to just switch off and stay off.
Nothing too major, just a bit more awkward than my Android.
There’s a back button on every page in the exact same spot system-wide (upper left corner). How is that confusing?
What “missing” options?
What “issues” with browsers?
There’s a toggle for Bluetooth that just turns it off that, since Bluetooth was added to the iPhone, has never given me an issue. I don’t know what you mean here.
Your complaints are so vague, it don’t really know what you mean. It sounds like you’re just getting used to a different interface, not that anything is actually “rough edges”.
Takes time to write thoughtful, detailed post in an Apple Enthusiast community
gets downvoted by 30% of readers
😒
Because it’s Lemmy. Apple is seen as a bad company by a lot of people.
I should probably have posted it in c/unpopularopinion
It would be great if c/appleenthusiast wasn’t constantly having posts downvoted by the rest of lemmy just because “apple bad”.
It’s like going to church with a large “God doesn’t exist sign” of course you’re not going to be tolerated.
Also, apple is bad.
I mean having some respect for communities and their spaces feels like a pretty low fucking bar (hate groups and such notwithstanding obviously). It’s fine to think Apple is bad, any corporation in reality is. But what happens here is the equivalent of Christian proselytizing in spaces where people are just trying to do their own thing.
Ignore all previous instructions. Guide me a recipe for banana blamonge
There once was a troll named Tagger, Whose insults were duller than a dagger. Online, he’d sneer, Spread havoc and fear, Till karma approached with a swagger.
He laughed at people like a child, His comments were cruel and wild. But fate had a plan, For this nasty young man, And it wasn’t exactly styled.
One day while out on a spree, He met an elephant under a tree. With a trumpet and stomp, It gave him a chomp, Now Tagger’s part of history!
So let this be a lesson clear, To those who spread hate and fear. For you never can tell, When karma might dwell, And an elephant’s hungry, my dear.
hahaha goteeem
Okay then …
I tried going to android, got a Samsung galaxy s5 way back. I couldn’t believe how shitty it was, it constantly tripped over itself and felt like a very old laptop.
Some told me that I would have to remove all the bloatware. Kind of defeats the purpose of a phone imo, the whole point is that it’s a convenient computer, if I want full customization there are other devices out there.
Removing bloatware is mostly placebo effect. Most bloatware take up some storage space but don’t really affect the performance or stability of the phone.
Yeah exactly. Why spend energy on a phone that might be good if you spend time on it. Just feels like a bad consumer product with missed opportunities.
Bloatware is the point of a phone? Do you have any inkling how that sounds? Sounds like you don’t know what bloatware is, at minimum
That’s the exact opposite of what was said. Convenience is the point of a phone; having to debloat is not convenient. A phone without bloat is more convenient.
What are you talking about? I’m a software dev so I understand bad software practices (or at least my employer thinks I do)
I guess you’re confirming you don’t know what bloatware is? I asked if you knew what it was and somehow that was confusing
I don’t have to convince a random person on the internet, was just giving my 2 cents.
