Chit tier level of security.
I actually switched from Android to iPhone maybe a year and a half ago, after I got an iPad to take notes on for university and really enjoyed using it.
- I hate Google
- I mostly like how iOS works
- I mostly don’t like how Android works, it has a lot of rough edges and jank (imo, partially resulting from stock apps sucking or just not being there at all but there not being enough low level access for third party apps to provide a well integrated replacement)
- Shortcuts/Automation is amazing
- Builtin Calendar/Contacts/Reminders apps are amazing and especially lets me connect to my DAV server without any hassle
- Nobody has built anything that comes close to Apple’s cross-device interactions (but I guess that’s also Apple’s and Google’s fault for locking the systems down)
- A consistent look and feel across the system is very important to me and iOS apps seem to care more about that. Even Google’s own apps used different visual styles sometimes last I used it
- The hardware and OS looks nice without being overly flashy, it just hits that sweet spot of “pleasant design”
- If I want to develop apps I really don’t want to touch anything related to Java
My family uses iPhones, and my wife and I got a deal on two when we signed onto Verizon after we got married and our parents booted us from the family plans. I’ll probably switch back to Android, to a Fairphone, when my iPhone goes kaput
I originally switched because there was still a small flagship iPhone. However I stayed because it works just fine and iMessage worked better than SMS for whatever that time period was before people moved to other messaging apps.
Now I use an Android phone for work and don’t really see enough advantage for me to switch.
I’m not throwing this phone away before it breaks. And I don’t want android, I want a Fairphone or something.
Fairphones run Android, don’t they?
I’m not sure, I’m not too tech savvy myself.
(Yes, they do!)
Because I’m already using an Android phone.
Honestly? The hardware just seems so much more solid. I was a longtime android user. My brother is a techie and was going on and on about how I should switch to iPhone. I was pretty much like you guys. “Why wouldn’t you use android?”
But then I changed jobs and went through two android phones in a matter of a year or two. I decided to spend the extra money on an iPhone. I wasn’t able to get an android to last me much past lunch, battery-wise. I bought an iPhone 11pro and noticed the difference straight away. First of all, the bloatware on android is ah-bsurd. Yeah, iPhone feels more like a walled garden, because it kinda is. But who am I kidding? I wasn’t jailbreaking and rooting my phone or whatever. I’m not super tech savvy. I’m also not a big phone user. My screen time sits around 1hr these days.
And my now much older iPhone has not given me any of the problems I was having with the many android phones I went through. I don’t have to think about how poorly my phone is working. I don’t have to worry about the annoying problems I had with my androids. It’s maintained its battery capacity from like three years ago, when I bought it used. From my perspective, when I’m forced into buying another one, what, three, four more years from now? (barring some accident) I’ll probably stick with my second-ever used iPhone. Because then I don’t have to worry about it again for another five+ years.
I was refusing to get an iPhone because it was basically the juggernaut. But it’s not like Samsung/android is some scrappy underdog protecting my privacy. They’re another massive, shitty corpo. I just don’t see much difference in ethics using one over the other. Or privacy. If I’m not sticking it to some shitty corp, sacrificing my convenience for my moral compass, why sacrifice usability
The original reason I switched from android to iOS is because iPhone’s consistently work well and smoothly, all receive the same updates at the same time, and you’d get more updates out of them which helps them last longer. I just didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of only getting 2 software updates on a major flagship (which was slowed by 6 months to a year by carriers having to apply their own patches) all for a phone that didn’t work too well to begin with.
Android has come a long way since then and I can pretty confidently say I’d be more than happy switching to a Pixel or Galaxy S phone these days. I’d even argue their phones are generally nicer in terms of design, and I love that they are more open for customization and other fun uses (ex. Game emulation, termux, mobox, etc).
The main thing stopping me is that Apple’s integration is just too convenient to beat. Everything syncs seamlessly between iPhone / iPad / Mac and it genuinely feels like they are extensions of each other rather than separate independent devices. Android just doesn’t offer enough for me to justify it over the Apple ecosystem.
That being said I do have an android phone I bought used on eBay for some of the fun stuff I mentioned above. I highly recommend it to any Apple users who don’t feel like fully switching to android
I remember in the bad old days of the early to mid 2000s, Apple was pushing software updates considerably past the ability of their hardware to actually run it. I had a 5th Gen iPod Touch and after about two and a half years of owning it, it had become basically a brick. Non-responsive UI more often than not and it took upwards of 8 minutes just to reboot the thing, because they were pushing software updates to it intended for a device 2-3 generations ahead. And this was not an isolated incident. I’m convinced it was on purpose, intended to push people to buy the new models.
Is this still a problem? I switched to Android and never looked back round about 2008.
I had a similar situation with that exact iPod and the original iPad mini. They just weren’t meant to handle iOS 9 and it was made significantly worse by aging batteries.
I’d say it’s definitely not as bad as it used to be, today’s devices are far more capable in terms of processing power. For the most part if a device can’t handle a new software feature they just don’t get it in the new update. I’m sure it’s not 100% perfect, and there’s bound to be isolated incidents, but I never had any issues with slow downs on my iPhone 6S or iPhone X (outside of battery problems, which were fully resolved once the batteries were replaced)
At this point the only reason I upgrade my phones is aging batteries and/or dwindling replacement battery support. That being said Apple makes official battery replacements a bit of a pain (which could be viewed as intentional to help encourage new iPhone sales).
Size. As long as my iPhone mini is working, I’ll keep it. My next phone will probably be a Fairphone though. Gotta deal with the vendor lock in somehow, but maybe my mini will survive long enough for the EU efforts to have shown some results? One can dream.
Not an iPhone user but if there’s one thing that is making me want to switch it’s the ads and bloatware. Spending $1000+ on a device that shows ads inside the system apps and includes software like ESPN and Facebook that you can’t uninstall without serious technical know-how is insane. Are the profit margins really that bad on smartphone hardware??
Google
As someone who used to make apps, but run Android myself, here are the things I usually hear
- App quality tends to be worse on Android
- I have a MacBook, airpods, and Apple watch
- I don’t know if a good Android phone that has the same camera quality and longevity as an iPhone
The subtle reason is also status. People feel rich/different with an iPhone
- I have had a lot of bad experiences with paid iOS apps, very little with free apps on Android - and even if so, there are dozens of FOSS alternatives
- Even worse
- Depends on which phone you choose; my 200€ Moto does have a pretty bad camera, but pretty good specs overall
I considered the jump to iPhone and did some testing on one of my kids iPhones. The common apps were essentially identical to my android, but the weird thing is free apps on iPhone all seem to just captive webpages or some other crap quality thing. You have to pay for good apps on iPhone. On android the free stuff is consistently better. Just my experience.
Apple def doesn’t have the status symbol effect that it used to.
At least in quebec among teens, it absolutely does
It’s still there for some other Apple products, especially outside the US. I went to a generic electronics shop to buy some headphones and mentioned they’re for my new MacBook, and the worker replied “Congratulations”
Then everyone clapped
c/nothingeverhappens
It’s mostly that apple products are a pain to use with non apple ones. They even have a proprietary image format so something as simple as bulk copying your photos over can be a pain (each has to be manually exported through the GUI).
My six year old iPhone still receives software updates
As an android user, I looked at the phone list for iOS 18, and I was jealous.
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
Tbf new android phones are now getting ~8 year of software updates, plus you can install lineage to get more
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.
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!
And that’s boring plus ruining the sealing
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.
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.
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.
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.
Correct. You are wrong about your perception.
