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As a Android user who is lured by the appeal of the Apple Watch and the long update availability, I have recently found that the wall of the garden has gotten s

by oezi 4y ago

As a Android user who is lured by the appeal of the Apple Watch and the long update availability, I have recently found that the wall of the garden has gotten so high that it is harder to get in than thought: - there is no way to migrate messages from Signal messenger from Android to iOS - there is no way to synchronize Opera bookmarks from Android to iOS - SwiftKey keyboard can't sync my Android settings to iOS I might have to buy another Pixel I guess...

count 4y ago
The first rule of the walled garden is you play with Tim apples toys only. Signal, Opera and SwiftKey are 'guest' species inside the garden. (no, really, the apple experience is BY FAR better when you just use apple's stuff).
- solarkraft 4y ago
  ... and that's where antitrust should come in at some point. I like that Apple stuff works so well. I don't like that they very intentionally cripple other vendors.
  - jmathai 4y ago
    It may seem intentional. I think that Apple only cares about integrating Apple products. This means they launch features which competitors cannot participate in. Can you blame them? Enabling third parties to act as 1st class citizens means big sacrifices in UX. Apple believes that great UX is more important than interoperability. Seems like there's a large enough market that agrees for them to meet their business goals - because at the end of the day that's what all of this is about.
AnonHP 4y ago
> there is no way to migrate messages from Signal messenger from Android to iOS Talking only about iOS and Signal here. What you describe is entirely Signal’s decision not to allow backups and restores (on iOS Signal made an explicit decision not to allow any sort of backup and restore). Signal only allows transfer of chats from one iOS device to another when both devices are in close proximity. If Signal wanted to, it could’ve asked the user to enter a strong password, use that to encrypt backups and store them anywhere (iCloud or Dropbox or on a Mac/PC). Many apps provide backup and restore. Heck, WhatsApp, which uses the Signal protocol, recently implemented cross platform backup and restore for chats. So it’s not technology that’s stopping anyone. Signal is just adamant on not doing it because security.
- brewdad 4y ago
  Mine is an anecdote of one but I was quite annoyed to learn that I couldn't migrate my Signal messages from my old Android to iOS when I switched 1.5 years ago. That annoyance lasted about a month until I realized that I never had need for those old messages anyway. I can't say I ever really missed them once they were gone.
- oezi 4y ago
  Agreed. It is a stupid decision by Signal/WhisperSystems. They could easily offer backup for instance via a trusted PC or offer a paid service or just encrypt as you said.
9gagceo 4y ago
FWIW WhatsApp didn't have Android -> iOS migration for the longest time, but was introduced earlier this year

by oezi 4y ago

count 4y ago

The first rule of the walled garden is you play with Tim apples toys only. Signal, Opera and SwiftKey are 'guest' species inside the garden. (no, really, the apple experience is BY FAR better when you just use apple's stuff).

solarkraft 4y ago
... and that's where antitrust should come in at some point. I like that Apple stuff works so well. I don't like that they very intentionally cripple other vendors.
- jmathai 4y ago
  It may seem intentional. I think that Apple only cares about integrating Apple products. This means they launch features which competitors cannot participate in. Can you blame them? Enabling third parties to act as 1st class citizens means big sacrifices in UX. Apple believes that great UX is more important than interoperability. Seems like there's a large enough market that agrees for them to meet their business goals - because at the end of the day that's what all of this is about.

AnonHP 4y ago

> there is no way to migrate messages from Signal messenger from Android to iOS Talking only about iOS and Signal here. What you describe is entirely Signal’s decision not to allow backups and restores (on iOS Signal made an explicit decision not to allow any sort of backup and restore). Signal only allows transfer of chats from one iOS device to another when both devices are in close proximity. If Signal wanted to, it could’ve asked the user to enter a strong password, use that to encrypt backups and store them anywhere (iCloud or Dropbox or on a Mac/PC). Many apps provide backup and restore. Heck, WhatsApp, which uses the Signal protocol, recently implemented cross platform backup and restore for chats. So it’s not technology that’s stopping anyone. Signal is just adamant on not doing it because security.

brewdad 4y ago
Mine is an anecdote of one but I was quite annoyed to learn that I couldn't migrate my Signal messages from my old Android to iOS when I switched 1.5 years ago. That annoyance lasted about a month until I realized that I never had need for those old messages anyway. I can't say I ever really missed them once they were gone.
oezi 4y ago
Agreed. It is a stupid decision by Signal/WhisperSystems. They could easily offer backup for instance via a trusted PC or offer a paid service or just encrypt as you said.

9gagceo 4y ago

FWIW WhatsApp didn't have Android -> iOS migration for the longest time, but was introduced earlier this year