6 ms·

I switched recently, and honestly have found the experience on iPhone to broadly be worse. There are a few things that are a bit nicer, but the downgrade in the

I switched recently, and honestly have found the experience on iPhone to broadly be worse. There are a few things that are a bit nicer, but the downgrade in the notifications system alone just tanks the experience. That said I switched for mostly privacy reasons, so won't be going back.

technothrasher 5y ago
I switched recently from years of Android usage simply because the car I wanted to buy only supported CarPlay. I could either give up Android or give up the car. I chose to keep the car. Now that I’ve had the iPhone a while, there seem to be about the same number of annoyances in iOS as there were with Android, they’re just different. I think I’d give the edge to Android, iOS is slightly more annoying, but not enough to worry about switching back.
- SapporoChris 5y ago
  Do I understand correctly that your car determined your smartphone choice? Furthermore you considered changing your vehicle selection based on your current smartphone? I find the concept of a smartphone affecting a transportation decision or the reverse to be highly unusual. Can you please explain your rational? For example, do you spend excessive amount of time in your car? Do you do specific tasks from your car that require a specific connection between car and smartphone?
  - dboreham 5y ago
    Not parent, but nowadays the smartphone is the way to get decent information on the screen of your car. The built-in car infotainment/nav systems are all horrible. Voice recognition is terrible. Plug the phone in, and to a first approximation everything works. With wireless Car Play, you don't even need to plug in.
  - nneonneo 5y ago
    A car is both longer-lived and more expensive than a phone. It’s definitely not unthinkable to have that influence your choice of smartphone, especially since there might be many other more important factors that affect your choice of car.
  - technothrasher 5y ago
    Yes, my choice of car determined my smartphone choice. I decided I was more interested in the particular vehicle (Porsche Macan) than the particular smartphone (Pixel 5a vs iPhone 13). Both CarPlay and Android Auto are worlds better than the OEM head unit software crap I've found in any of the cars I've owned (Audi, Porsche, VW, Ford, Chevy, Kia) for both navigation and music/podcast listening. I was hesitant to switch, but I figured it was an easier choice to back out of than a car purchase. And six months later, I think I made the right choice. While I still would prefer Android, I'm ok enough with the iPhone that I'm not bothered day to day with it. Apparently next year the Macan is getting Android Auto support, so people in the future won't need to make the choice. But I was in need of a car this year, so I had to make the choice.
    - nameisname 5y ago
      My $10k Toyota Corolla has android auto. What happened?
      - vinay427 5y ago
        Luxury automakers have often been more restrictive and exclusive about features, mostly because they can be. BMW was known for their annual subscription CarPlay option which required ongoing payments for what was clearly a one-time software update. Porsche likely has even more brand loyalty driven by other elements of their cars, so I’m not surprised that they’d choose to negotiate some exclusivity with Apple CarPlay or otherwise just not bother adding Android Auto until 2022.
antjanus 5y ago
I switched as well and it's actually such a "pick the lesser evil" situation and I hate that. I'm gonna write a quick comparison as I've switched between platforms several times (still miss my Windows Phone tbh though): I've found that no matter which Android "iphone camera killer" phone I got, the camera was unreliable and always ended up having crappy results. Meanwhile, my iPhone pics are constantly a decent quality. Somehow, iPhone screens _consistently_ shatter for me. Even when I'm careful. I've yet to break the screen on an Android phone -- even if I've used it significantly longer or it was significantly cheaper. Something about iPhone's design or manufacturing lends it to shattering. My current iPhone has a shattered back from when I dropped it on my soft carpet from a foot up-high about a year in... iPhone and Android software both sucks but Android's app experience is _significantly_ better. Why? BACK BUTTON. Every iPhone app has different expectations around going "back" from swiping up, left, right, or just having no way to go "back" at all. Which is common. Good Android apps are _great_; however, most iPhone apps are ok and most Android apps are not even ok. iMessage isn't great but it's hard to give up on it. SMS/MMS experience _sucks_ -- so knowing when someone will get your 5 minute audio message in good quality is actually really nice. Sending pictures between platforms _sucks_. With that said, Android's web interface for messages is a million times better than the iMessage app and obv cross-platform. I also absolutely hate getting data off an iPhone. it's unreliable especially if you don't have a mac. The Android experience is so much nicer. So it's kind of a give and take. :/ Also -- less notification/customization options on the iPhone but having a hardware "silent" button is rad.
- zeagle 5y ago
  Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm considering this too as many others in thread. The camera thing drives me nuts. My pixel 6 can't take a reasonable photo of a flat piece of paper due to spherical distortion causing blurring of text. Sure you can go 2x and hold the phone further as suggested in online discussions but it's nuts that this made it past any attempt at QA and testing.
aendruk 5y ago
Similar. I miss Android for its technical features, but Google has turned the typical experience adversarial, like it’s all just an elaborate marketing vector. Apple’s ecosystem remains a proprietary dystopia, and its software is bafflingly inadequate for all the hype, but at least the business model is transparent.
saargrin 5y ago
same here switched for privacy/security reasons i expected IOS to be this perfect experience, but in fact many of apple's own apps are buggy ,and some quality of life features dont exist and then theres TrueCaller :(
MBCook 5y ago
I don’t think I’ve ever used android for more than about 30 seconds on someone else’s phone. I wasn’t aware there was a difference in the notification system. What makes android better?
- notreallyserio 5y ago
  Android notifications can be more interactive. They're you perform quick actions like reactions to slack messages or archiving emails. Basically the things you can do on an Apple Watch but not the iPhone.
  - MBCook 5y ago
    That’s up to the developer, the APIs have existed for 2ish years I think. I reply to texts and Slack messages through notifications. There are limits, but it’s not display only like it used to be.
    - notreallyserio 5y ago
      I have yet to see a single interactive notification. What settings do you have to configure to get Slack to let you reply from a notification?
      - MBCook 5y ago
        I believe you have to grab the notification and sort of “drag it down” to see the interactive part. It’s not shown by default.
        philliphaydon 5y ago
        Long press on it to bring up the options. And drag to left for options to change notification preferences.
      - scarface74 5y ago
        I just long pressed on a Slack notification and a “reply” text box appeared above the keyboard.
danuker 5y ago
How is a completely proprietary OS more private? I think LineageOS is the most private.
- tomtheelder 5y ago
  I'm not really sure how the ownership model of the OS is relevant. That said, I agree that Lineage would be the choice where I have the most control, but it simply isn't practical for my personal needs.
- kadoban 5y ago
  Google's whole thing is hoovering up all of your data. Apple at least has other priorities.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  > LineageOS is the most private. It was up until they took away the ability to fake app permissions.
- stjohnswarts 5y ago
  Probably from the sense of sharing of location/identifying information/etc that Apple makes much easier to set and less likely to be circumvented by apps. Apple also does not sell your information, buying habits, etc to 3rd parties like google does. Apple makes money on the hardware and software they sell you. Google makes money on ads and selling your information to 3rd parties.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Apple has a huge vested interest in privacy. The second they stop supporting it, the clock on people switching away and the their stock price plummeting starts. They just have enough money to pay smart people to worry it.
vidanay 5y ago
I have a company issued iPhone, and the atrocious notification system is enough to assure I will not buy an iPhone personally. If notifications in iOS were ever completely overhauled to the Android model, I would probably jump ship.
- recuter 5y ago
  You should watch the WWDC keynote in 6 weeks :)
  - SxC97 5y ago
    Are you an Apple employee or are you basing this on the rumor mill?
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  Funny. Samsung notifications are a reason I will never buy a Samsung phone again. iOS notifications can be customised to suit my desire.
  - abirch 5y ago
    Bixby and the Samsung crap are the reasons I'll never buy a Samsung phone. The only redeeming thing is that they're not made in China.
  - vinay427 5y ago
    That makes sense, but I’m not sure that’s what the GP comment was talking about. For instance, both Samsung and non-Samsung Android devices have threaded/serial message notifications (?) which are very helpful for conversations, whereas iOS still has the primitive notification-per-message system. I’ve learned to live without it now as I prefer iOS for its advantages, but I’m frequently expected to make sense of several notifications out of order for each conversation when one would suffice.
  - soco 5y ago
    I use a Samsung and my SO an iPhone which I'm the one "administering" and I can tell that both notifications can be customized at (our) will. I have no idea what you mean there.

technothrasher 5y ago

I switched recently from years of Android usage simply because the car I wanted to buy only supported CarPlay. I could either give up Android or give up the car. I chose to keep the car. Now that I’ve had the iPhone a while, there seem to be about the same number of annoyances in iOS as there were with Android, they’re just different. I think I’d give the edge to Android, iOS is slightly more annoying, but not enough to worry about switching back.

SapporoChris 5y ago
Do I understand correctly that your car determined your smartphone choice? Furthermore you considered changing your vehicle selection based on your current smartphone? I find the concept of a smartphone affecting a transportation decision or the reverse to be highly unusual. Can you please explain your rational? For example, do you spend excessive amount of time in your car? Do you do specific tasks from your car that require a specific connection between car and smartphone?
- dboreham 5y ago
  Not parent, but nowadays the smartphone is the way to get decent information on the screen of your car. The built-in car infotainment/nav systems are all horrible. Voice recognition is terrible. Plug the phone in, and to a first approximation everything works. With wireless Car Play, you don't even need to plug in.
- nneonneo 5y ago
  A car is both longer-lived and more expensive than a phone. It’s definitely not unthinkable to have that influence your choice of smartphone, especially since there might be many other more important factors that affect your choice of car.
- technothrasher 5y ago
  Yes, my choice of car determined my smartphone choice. I decided I was more interested in the particular vehicle (Porsche Macan) than the particular smartphone (Pixel 5a vs iPhone 13). Both CarPlay and Android Auto are worlds better than the OEM head unit software crap I've found in any of the cars I've owned (Audi, Porsche, VW, Ford, Chevy, Kia) for both navigation and music/podcast listening. I was hesitant to switch, but I figured it was an easier choice to back out of than a car purchase. And six months later, I think I made the right choice. While I still would prefer Android, I'm ok enough with the iPhone that I'm not bothered day to day with it. Apparently next year the Macan is getting Android Auto support, so people in the future won't need to make the choice. But I was in need of a car this year, so I had to make the choice.
  - nameisname 5y ago
    My $10k Toyota Corolla has android auto. What happened?
    - vinay427 5y ago
      Luxury automakers have often been more restrictive and exclusive about features, mostly because they can be. BMW was known for their annual subscription CarPlay option which required ongoing payments for what was clearly a one-time software update. Porsche likely has even more brand loyalty driven by other elements of their cars, so I’m not surprised that they’d choose to negotiate some exclusivity with Apple CarPlay or otherwise just not bother adding Android Auto until 2022.

antjanus 5y ago

I switched as well and it's actually such a "pick the lesser evil" situation and I hate that. I'm gonna write a quick comparison as I've switched between platforms several times (still miss my Windows Phone tbh though): I've found that no matter which Android "iphone camera killer" phone I got, the camera was unreliable and always ended up having crappy results. Meanwhile, my iPhone pics are constantly a decent quality. Somehow, iPhone screens _consistently_ shatter for me. Even when I'm careful. I've yet to break the screen on an Android phone -- even if I've used it significantly longer or it was significantly cheaper. Something about iPhone's design or manufacturing lends it to shattering. My current iPhone has a shattered back from when I dropped it on my soft carpet from a foot up-high about a year in... iPhone and Android software both sucks but Android's app experience is _significantly_ better. Why? BACK BUTTON. Every iPhone app has different expectations around going "back" from swiping up, left, right, or just having no way to go "back" at all. Which is common. Good Android apps are _great_; however, most iPhone apps are ok and most Android apps are not even ok. iMessage isn't great but it's hard to give up on it. SMS/MMS experience _sucks_ -- so knowing when someone will get your 5 minute audio message in good quality is actually really nice. Sending pictures between platforms _sucks_. With that said, Android's web interface for messages is a million times better than the iMessage app and obv cross-platform. I also absolutely hate getting data off an iPhone. it's unreliable especially if you don't have a mac. The Android experience is so much nicer. So it's kind of a give and take. :/ Also -- less notification/customization options on the iPhone but having a hardware "silent" button is rad.

zeagle 5y ago
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm considering this too as many others in thread. The camera thing drives me nuts. My pixel 6 can't take a reasonable photo of a flat piece of paper due to spherical distortion causing blurring of text. Sure you can go 2x and hold the phone further as suggested in online discussions but it's nuts that this made it past any attempt at QA and testing.

aendruk 5y ago

Similar. I miss Android for its technical features, but Google has turned the typical experience adversarial, like it’s all just an elaborate marketing vector. Apple’s ecosystem remains a proprietary dystopia, and its software is bafflingly inadequate for all the hype, but at least the business model is transparent.

saargrin 5y ago

same here switched for privacy/security reasons i expected IOS to be this perfect experience, but in fact many of apple's own apps are buggy ,and some quality of life features dont exist and then theres TrueCaller :(

MBCook 5y ago

I don’t think I’ve ever used android for more than about 30 seconds on someone else’s phone. I wasn’t aware there was a difference in the notification system. What makes android better?

notreallyserio 5y ago
Android notifications can be more interactive. They're you perform quick actions like reactions to slack messages or archiving emails. Basically the things you can do on an Apple Watch but not the iPhone.
- MBCook 5y ago
  That’s up to the developer, the APIs have existed for 2ish years I think. I reply to texts and Slack messages through notifications. There are limits, but it’s not display only like it used to be.
  - notreallyserio 5y ago
    I have yet to see a single interactive notification. What settings do you have to configure to get Slack to let you reply from a notification?
    - MBCook 5y ago
      I believe you have to grab the notification and sort of “drag it down” to see the interactive part. It’s not shown by default.
      - philliphaydon 5y ago
        Long press on it to bring up the options. And drag to left for options to change notification preferences.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      I just long pressed on a Slack notification and a “reply” text box appeared above the keyboard.

danuker 5y ago

How is a completely proprietary OS more private? I think LineageOS is the most private.

tomtheelder 5y ago
I'm not really sure how the ownership model of the OS is relevant. That said, I agree that Lineage would be the choice where I have the most control, but it simply isn't practical for my personal needs.
kadoban 5y ago
Google's whole thing is hoovering up all of your data. Apple at least has other priorities.
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
> LineageOS is the most private. It was up until they took away the ability to fake app permissions.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
Probably from the sense of sharing of location/identifying information/etc that Apple makes much easier to set and less likely to be circumvented by apps. Apple also does not sell your information, buying habits, etc to 3rd parties like google does. Apple makes money on the hardware and software they sell you. Google makes money on ads and selling your information to 3rd parties.
HWR_14 5y ago
Apple has a huge vested interest in privacy. The second they stop supporting it, the clock on people switching away and the their stock price plummeting starts. They just have enough money to pay smart people to worry it.

vidanay 5y ago

I have a company issued iPhone, and the atrocious notification system is enough to assure I will not buy an iPhone personally. If notifications in iOS were ever completely overhauled to the Android model, I would probably jump ship.

recuter 5y ago
You should watch the WWDC keynote in 6 weeks :)
- SxC97 5y ago
  Are you an Apple employee or are you basing this on the rumor mill?
philliphaydon 5y ago
Funny. Samsung notifications are a reason I will never buy a Samsung phone again. iOS notifications can be customised to suit my desire.
- abirch 5y ago
  Bixby and the Samsung crap are the reasons I'll never buy a Samsung phone. The only redeeming thing is that they're not made in China.
- vinay427 5y ago
  That makes sense, but I’m not sure that’s what the GP comment was talking about. For instance, both Samsung and non-Samsung Android devices have threaded/serial message notifications (?) which are very helpful for conversations, whereas iOS still has the primitive notification-per-message system. I’ve learned to live without it now as I prefer iOS for its advantages, but I’m frequently expected to make sense of several notifications out of order for each conversation when one would suffice.
- soco 5y ago
  I use a Samsung and my SO an iPhone which I'm the one "administering" and I can tell that both notifications can be customized at (our) will. I have no idea what you mean there.