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For some reason I still strongly prefer the look and feel of Android over iOS, but at this point my next phone will be an iPhone. Why? Because Google recently

For some reason I still strongly prefer the look and feel of Android over iOS, but at this point my next phone will be an iPhone. Why? Because Google recently stepped up its notification spam in their official apps. They're using a mechanism that's supposed to exist to notify me of things _I_ want/need to know about urgently instead to advertise products and services to me that I have no interest in. It's tedious to track down all the places these are coming from and disable them. And I shouldn't have to. I paid a premium for a high-end flagship Google phone. As a phone user, I have to give the vendor power to do all kinds of things on my behalf and to me — in this case, the power to pull my focus, or even wake me up in the middle of the night. As a phone user, my bare minimum expectation is that this power will be respected. And yet Google has chosen to use this focus-pulling notification mechanism to serve me ads. Google does not respect even their paying users. It feels like somewhere deep in their corporate culture, their users barely even exist to them. I'm just a sub-pixel blip on a request rate dashboard, and if they can temporarily increase my "engagement" by slapping me in the face, then a slap in the face it is.

aiiane 7y ago
I'm not a fan of overdone notifications either. If it helps in the short term, long-pressing on a notification should give you easy access to the ability to disable it.
- remus 7y ago
  I think it was android 9 that added the ability to do this. Swipe the notification > settings wheel > disable notifications for that app (or you can just disable specific types of notifications if there's still things you want to see). It got easier again with android 10 with the options available directly from the notification itself (after a swipe).
Mo3 7y ago
I've recently switched from Android to iOS after a long time praising Android as the holy grail, for the exact same reasons mentioned by you and in this thread. It is an absolute delight to use and I couldn't be happier.
gempir 7y ago
I haven't noticed more notification spam in Google apps, but what I have noticed is the way better notification management in recent years. I can long press on notifications and directly block it forever or finely tune the App sending it what it is allowed to send etc. Last time I used an iPhone I still had to double swipe to even dismiss a notification, which is super annoying because most are probably spam. If Notifications on iOS were as good as on Android I would instantly switch.
- jmiserez 7y ago
  >* I can long press on notifications and directly block it forever or finely tune the App sending it what it is allowed to send etc.* Apple improved that on iOS, see the screenshots here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201925 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201925 Also, I just aggressively remove apps that try to show spam notifications.
- Epskampie 7y ago
  On ios every app has to ask permission before the first notification, so you will not get the spammy ones in the first place. I agree with your point that android is making management much easier though.
  - bambataa 7y ago
    But apps request permission to do functionality-related things and then spam you. Grab, a ride-hailing app I used in SE Asia, was terrible for this.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    On iOS 12 and above apps can post provisional notifications without consent: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/unauthorizationstatus/provisional https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/...
    - jclardy 7y ago
      They can, but I’ve literally never seen this used in practice as an iOS dev that is regularly trying out all the latest apps. These notifications go straight into Notification Center, which means if you never swipe down to look at notifications, you’ll never even see them (They don’t show a banner, or even on the lock screen.) That limits their value to the marketing people looking to juice their engagement numbers with spam push notifications.
jvzr 7y ago
Just a heads up: Apple in their guidelines tell developers not to do that, and yet they do send some notifications advertising their products and/or services sometimes (recently for Apple TV+). They also do not police developers' notifications, so some developers abuse it. Just an example: I love Slopes and its lone developer deserves all the praise, and yet a week ago I've received an unwarranted ad for the paid subscription disguised as a notification... Not cool.
- lucasverra 7y ago
  Apple is not allowing notifications in Safari browser iOS. Maybe For UX (they say) or differentiation for native apps (their P&L sheet says) - Happy iOS user and web entrepreneur.
  - jvzr 7y ago
    True! I'm glad too they decided not to implement web notifications, and keep to their word about it.
  - zaroth 7y ago
    IMO the only way those notifications should be allowed to even be prompted for is after pinning a site to your home screen. I’m not sure if iOS does this for any other permissions, but it would be natural to allow additional prompts for access to APIs that are otherwise banned - based on if the web app is pined / “installed”.
- busymom0 7y ago
  You can report it to Apple that the app is abusing notifications and give them a screenshot and they will action it. Before that, you can probably try reaching out to the developer with an email and an app review though.
  - yoz-y 7y ago
    Sadly the developer will play dumb and Apple will do nothing about it. Seen that, been there, nothing has changed ever. The only recourse is to disable notifications for that particular app.
solarkraft 7y ago
I like lots of things about Apple software, but feel a lot less respected than with Google's. While the price you pay with Google is annoyances through ads, the price you pay for Apple (besides the hardware being 3x as expensive as comparable Android hardware) is just not being able to do things. You can't side load apps without some people with years of experience putting all of their time and energy into breaking the software! I can't make a computer I own actually run the programs I want! Add to that a complete lack of choice. Their hardware is admittedly quite good in many regards, but I'd like to charge using a normal connector [USB-C] since I don't want to carry another set of cables or adapters for the oh so special Apple, and retain the ability to play music through a damn cable without needing another expensive, flimsy and not-on-me-when-i-need-it adapter. Oh, they're absolutely hostile against repair. I could probably go on, but you might get the point. That's peak disrespect to me, so I'll despise them for that and not buy an Apple device in the foreseeable future, even though I like many aspects about them. Oh, the ecosystem lock-in and the absolute unfair promotion of their own, inferior services. Anyway.
- benbristow 7y ago
  Lightning cables are more popular than USB-C cables at this point. If I'm at a party or something usually someone has an iPhone cable, USB-C, not so much. To be honest with an iPhone there's not much reason to want to sideload anything. Sideloading on Android is dodgy enough with dodgy APKs. Who knows what they're doing in the background? At least with the App Store (and Play Store for that matter) being a walled garden, for both it's positives and negatives, you know an app has been vetted and is safe from malware.
  - darkwater 7y ago
    > Lightning cables are more popular than USB-C cables at this point. But in 2 years at most will be the other way round (especially outside the US)
  - madisfun 7y ago
    > Sideloading on Android is dodgy enough with dodgy APKs. Sideloading is what allows to use third party app stores like F-Droid and to run apps Google banned like Blokada (system-wide ad-blocker).
deergomoo 7y ago
> I paid a premium for a high-end flagship Google phone Unfortunately it seems paying a premium isn't enough to get any respect from manufacturers these days. Just look at Samsung and LG TVs, you can pay thousands for a high-end model and still have to set up PiHole to avoid being shown ads in the menus.
- Sander_Marechal 7y ago
  This absolutely infuriated me. I bought a very expensive new TV a year ago. Then last summer it suddenly started showing ads in the menu. I was planning to return the TV to the store and getting my money back but it would probably just be a headache inducing hassle. Now I pi-holed my entire network.
- neuronic 7y ago
  I get ads in German public broadcasting for which I am (effectively) paying a tax. I get ads in "premium" streaming services which I directly pay (!) for. Fuck everything about this.
- TheRealDunkirk 7y ago
  This is why I use an AppleTV, and don't give my TV the wifi password.
  - deergomoo 7y ago
    This is my next step. I don't current have any 4K/HDR devices, so the built-in apps do actually have some benefit to me. As soon as I pick up a compatible streaming device, I'll be factory resetting the TV and setting it back up without ever connecting it to the network.
    - givinguflac 7y ago
      This is what I do and it works well. Once or twice a year I’ll update the tv firmware via usb
- thisisastopsign 7y ago
mrtksn 7y ago
Yep, notification ads are forbidden in Apple. I am sure that there are some bad apples but overall the notifications are about stuff happening, not stuff that someone wants to sell me. I keep hearing that iOS should catch up with Android notifications, that Apple is so far behind but when I look at an Android phone it just feels overwhelming. I literally have better things to do than studying the information and action options in the notifications. Notifications should be treated as an extremely premium attention grab. I like Apple's way of doing it much, much better than Android and I feel unease when I think about someone in Apple, hears the Android-like notifications and thinks it's a good idea.
kmnns 7y ago
I use Lineage OS + microg with no Google apps on a compatible phone and I experience zero Google. Else, I seem to be able to enjoy Android to its fullest, using the Aurora app store. Lineage OS might be a viable alternative for people who prefer Android but disdain Google.
- ragequitta 7y ago
  I had no idea about microg. That's very useful.
- ZeWaren 7y ago
  I'm doing something similar on my Pixel 2. In the end I have very few apps that send personal data to ad companies (I've blocked as many ad and tracker networks as I could), and I've prevented most apps from showing me notifications unless I really want them. You'd be surprised how much battery you save with all those things disabled.
  - ficklepickle 7y ago
    Battery was my biggest surprise. WiFi is off when screen is off and I get two days out of a charge on an old S7.
- sirzarmo 7y ago
  Yup, searched for this comment, doing the same thing on my Mi A3. Besides on Android you can just set up Blokada, its dead simple and resolves all the ADS, operating system and others...
- givinguflac 7y ago
  This is great for technical people but it’s easy to forget most people have no ability to achieve what you describe by themselves.
TheRealDunkirk 7y ago
> I paid a premium for a high-end flagship Google phone. This is surprising to me. All the messaging from the phone companies makes it seem like they are essentially giving them away.
rattray 7y ago
> Google recently stepped up its notification spam in their official apps Really? Which ones? I have a pixel 2 and haven't experienced this. I have the Assistant turned off - could that be why?

aiiane 7y ago

I'm not a fan of overdone notifications either. If it helps in the short term, long-pressing on a notification should give you easy access to the ability to disable it.

remus 7y ago
I think it was android 9 that added the ability to do this. Swipe the notification > settings wheel > disable notifications for that app (or you can just disable specific types of notifications if there's still things you want to see). It got easier again with android 10 with the options available directly from the notification itself (after a swipe).

Mo3 7y ago

I've recently switched from Android to iOS after a long time praising Android as the holy grail, for the exact same reasons mentioned by you and in this thread. It is an absolute delight to use and I couldn't be happier.

gempir 7y ago

I haven't noticed more notification spam in Google apps, but what I have noticed is the way better notification management in recent years. I can long press on notifications and directly block it forever or finely tune the App sending it what it is allowed to send etc. Last time I used an iPhone I still had to double swipe to even dismiss a notification, which is super annoying because most are probably spam. If Notifications on iOS were as good as on Android I would instantly switch.

jmiserez 7y ago
>* I can long press on notifications and directly block it forever or finely tune the App sending it what it is allowed to send etc.* Apple improved that on iOS, see the screenshots here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201925 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201925 Also, I just aggressively remove apps that try to show spam notifications.
Epskampie 7y ago
On ios every app has to ask permission before the first notification, so you will not get the spammy ones in the first place. I agree with your point that android is making management much easier though.
- bambataa 7y ago
  But apps request permission to do functionality-related things and then spam you. Grab, a ride-hailing app I used in SE Asia, was terrible for this.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  On iOS 12 and above apps can post provisional notifications without consent: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/unauthorizationstatus/provisional https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/...
  - jclardy 7y ago
    They can, but I’ve literally never seen this used in practice as an iOS dev that is regularly trying out all the latest apps. These notifications go straight into Notification Center, which means if you never swipe down to look at notifications, you’ll never even see them (They don’t show a banner, or even on the lock screen.) That limits their value to the marketing people looking to juice their engagement numbers with spam push notifications.

jvzr 7y ago

Just a heads up: Apple in their guidelines tell developers not to do that, and yet they do send some notifications advertising their products and/or services sometimes (recently for Apple TV+). They also do not police developers' notifications, so some developers abuse it. Just an example: I love Slopes and its lone developer deserves all the praise, and yet a week ago I've received an unwarranted ad for the paid subscription disguised as a notification... Not cool.

lucasverra 7y ago
Apple is not allowing notifications in Safari browser iOS. Maybe For UX (they say) or differentiation for native apps (their P&L sheet says) - Happy iOS user and web entrepreneur.
- jvzr 7y ago
  True! I'm glad too they decided not to implement web notifications, and keep to their word about it.
- zaroth 7y ago
  IMO the only way those notifications should be allowed to even be prompted for is after pinning a site to your home screen. I’m not sure if iOS does this for any other permissions, but it would be natural to allow additional prompts for access to APIs that are otherwise banned - based on if the web app is pined / “installed”.
busymom0 7y ago
You can report it to Apple that the app is abusing notifications and give them a screenshot and they will action it. Before that, you can probably try reaching out to the developer with an email and an app review though.
- yoz-y 7y ago
  Sadly the developer will play dumb and Apple will do nothing about it. Seen that, been there, nothing has changed ever. The only recourse is to disable notifications for that particular app.

solarkraft 7y ago

I like lots of things about Apple software, but feel a lot less respected than with Google's. While the price you pay with Google is annoyances through ads, the price you pay for Apple (besides the hardware being 3x as expensive as comparable Android hardware) is just not being able to do things. You can't side load apps without some people with years of experience putting all of their time and energy into breaking the software! I can't make a computer I own actually run the programs I want! Add to that a complete lack of choice. Their hardware is admittedly quite good in many regards, but I'd like to charge using a normal connector [USB-C] since I don't want to carry another set of cables or adapters for the oh so special Apple, and retain the ability to play music through a damn cable without needing another expensive, flimsy and not-on-me-when-i-need-it adapter. Oh, they're absolutely hostile against repair. I could probably go on, but you might get the point. That's peak disrespect to me, so I'll despise them for that and not buy an Apple device in the foreseeable future, even though I like many aspects about them. Oh, the ecosystem lock-in and the absolute unfair promotion of their own, inferior services. Anyway.

benbristow 7y ago
Lightning cables are more popular than USB-C cables at this point. If I'm at a party or something usually someone has an iPhone cable, USB-C, not so much. To be honest with an iPhone there's not much reason to want to sideload anything. Sideloading on Android is dodgy enough with dodgy APKs. Who knows what they're doing in the background? At least with the App Store (and Play Store for that matter) being a walled garden, for both it's positives and negatives, you know an app has been vetted and is safe from malware.
- darkwater 7y ago
  > Lightning cables are more popular than USB-C cables at this point. But in 2 years at most will be the other way round (especially outside the US)
- madisfun 7y ago
  > Sideloading on Android is dodgy enough with dodgy APKs. Sideloading is what allows to use third party app stores like F-Droid and to run apps Google banned like Blokada (system-wide ad-blocker).

deergomoo 7y ago

> I paid a premium for a high-end flagship Google phone Unfortunately it seems paying a premium isn't enough to get any respect from manufacturers these days. Just look at Samsung and LG TVs, you can pay thousands for a high-end model and still have to set up PiHole to avoid being shown ads in the menus.

Sander_Marechal 7y ago
This absolutely infuriated me. I bought a very expensive new TV a year ago. Then last summer it suddenly started showing ads in the menu. I was planning to return the TV to the store and getting my money back but it would probably just be a headache inducing hassle. Now I pi-holed my entire network.
neuronic 7y ago
I get ads in German public broadcasting for which I am (effectively) paying a tax. I get ads in "premium" streaming services which I directly pay (!) for. Fuck everything about this.
TheRealDunkirk 7y ago
This is why I use an AppleTV, and don't give my TV the wifi password.
- deergomoo 7y ago
  This is my next step. I don't current have any 4K/HDR devices, so the built-in apps do actually have some benefit to me. As soon as I pick up a compatible streaming device, I'll be factory resetting the TV and setting it back up without ever connecting it to the network.
  - givinguflac 7y ago
    This is what I do and it works well. Once or twice a year I’ll update the tv firmware via usb
thisisastopsign 7y ago

mrtksn 7y ago

Yep, notification ads are forbidden in Apple. I am sure that there are some bad apples but overall the notifications are about stuff happening, not stuff that someone wants to sell me. I keep hearing that iOS should catch up with Android notifications, that Apple is so far behind but when I look at an Android phone it just feels overwhelming. I literally have better things to do than studying the information and action options in the notifications. Notifications should be treated as an extremely premium attention grab. I like Apple's way of doing it much, much better than Android and I feel unease when I think about someone in Apple, hears the Android-like notifications and thinks it's a good idea.

kmnns 7y ago

I use Lineage OS + microg with no Google apps on a compatible phone and I experience zero Google. Else, I seem to be able to enjoy Android to its fullest, using the Aurora app store. Lineage OS might be a viable alternative for people who prefer Android but disdain Google.

ragequitta 7y ago
I had no idea about microg. That's very useful.
ZeWaren 7y ago
I'm doing something similar on my Pixel 2. In the end I have very few apps that send personal data to ad companies (I've blocked as many ad and tracker networks as I could), and I've prevented most apps from showing me notifications unless I really want them. You'd be surprised how much battery you save with all those things disabled.
- ficklepickle 7y ago
  Battery was my biggest surprise. WiFi is off when screen is off and I get two days out of a charge on an old S7.
sirzarmo 7y ago
Yup, searched for this comment, doing the same thing on my Mi A3. Besides on Android you can just set up Blokada, its dead simple and resolves all the ADS, operating system and others...
givinguflac 7y ago
This is great for technical people but it’s easy to forget most people have no ability to achieve what you describe by themselves.

TheRealDunkirk 7y ago

> I paid a premium for a high-end flagship Google phone. This is surprising to me. All the messaging from the phone companies makes it seem like they are essentially giving them away.

rattray 7y ago

> Google recently stepped up its notification spam in their official apps Really? Which ones? I have a pixel 2 and haven't experienced this. I have the Assistant turned off - could that be why?