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Default browser and mail reader can be set as of iOS 14. SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest if the OS ships with a d

Default browser and mail reader can be set as of iOS 14. SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest if the OS ships with a decent one. I get it on Android because the default app is shit.

FractalParadigm 6y ago
My biggest problem is that, something like a third party browser can't be more than a re-skin of Safari. Apple's App Store guildelines require something like Firefox for iOS to use WebKit, and doesn't allow add-ons period. In this instance, I would argue the default browser can only be skinned and not changed outright. It's the same gripe I have with iOS keyboards, unless something has changed there. The feel and layout of every third party keyboard is the same as the default keyboard. During my short period with an iPhone I gave Gboard for iOS a try, tweaking it as much as I could to get a similar experience to what I was used to on Android. In the end it still felt like the system keyboard more than anything.
- spurgu 6y ago
  Yeah I did this with Swiftkey but was quite disappointed. I regularly communicate in four languages and the iOS version only allowed two or three simultaneously so had to constantly switch. On Android I'm running four without issues (might be able to add more, haven't tried). And the "long-press top row for numbers" option wasn't available so had to switch back and forth between keyboard and "numpad" when typing something like passwords or strings with a lot of numbers. And the default SMS app being fine? Such an annoyance every time I had to use it. Don't remember specifics (as I was just trying to get away from it ASAP) but there was at least some kind of cringy emoji bar always visible. Horrible experience all in all and I'm so glad to be back on Android.
anonymousab 6y ago
You can change the wrapper for Safari, but you can't change the actual browser itself. For a lot of people, it comes down to being to run uBlock Origin/cosmetic and dynamic ad and content blocking (e.g. not a simple blacklist) and running other extensions and customizations.
josteink 6y ago
> SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest It lets any third party messaging system become a viable SMS replacement (like Hangouts and Signal does on Android), by making it seamless to send all messages from one app. Like iMessage and only iMessage does seamlessly on iOS, because Apple has given it a monopoly on handling SMSes. It’s anti-competitive as fuck.
aendruk 6y ago
> SMS app I don’t get Choosing Signal over iMessage. Signal can serve as your primary messaging app, prioritizing the Signal protocol but falling back to SMS as necessary per contact. Except that it can’t, because iOS won’t route SMS to it.

FractalParadigm 6y ago

My biggest problem is that, something like a third party browser can't be more than a re-skin of Safari. Apple's App Store guildelines require something like Firefox for iOS to use WebKit, and doesn't allow add-ons period. In this instance, I would argue the default browser can only be skinned and not changed outright. It's the same gripe I have with iOS keyboards, unless something has changed there. The feel and layout of every third party keyboard is the same as the default keyboard. During my short period with an iPhone I gave Gboard for iOS a try, tweaking it as much as I could to get a similar experience to what I was used to on Android. In the end it still felt like the system keyboard more than anything.

spurgu 6y ago
Yeah I did this with Swiftkey but was quite disappointed. I regularly communicate in four languages and the iOS version only allowed two or three simultaneously so had to constantly switch. On Android I'm running four without issues (might be able to add more, haven't tried). And the "long-press top row for numbers" option wasn't available so had to switch back and forth between keyboard and "numpad" when typing something like passwords or strings with a lot of numbers. And the default SMS app being fine? Such an annoyance every time I had to use it. Don't remember specifics (as I was just trying to get away from it ASAP) but there was at least some kind of cringy emoji bar always visible. Horrible experience all in all and I'm so glad to be back on Android.

anonymousab 6y ago

You can change the wrapper for Safari, but you can't change the actual browser itself. For a lot of people, it comes down to being to run uBlock Origin/cosmetic and dynamic ad and content blocking (e.g. not a simple blacklist) and running other extensions and customizations.

josteink 6y ago

> SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest It lets any third party messaging system become a viable SMS replacement (like Hangouts and Signal does on Android), by making it seamless to send all messages from one app. Like iMessage and only iMessage does seamlessly on iOS, because Apple has given it a monopoly on handling SMSes. It’s anti-competitive as fuck.

aendruk 6y ago

> SMS app I don’t get Choosing Signal over iMessage. Signal can serve as your primary messaging app, prioritizing the Signal protocol but falling back to SMS as necessary per contact. Except that it can’t, because iOS won’t route SMS to it.