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My experience as someone who used Android, then iPhone for a few years, and am now back to Android, is that the quality of many apps is identical or better on A

My experience as someone who used Android, then iPhone for a few years, and am now back to Android, is that the quality of many apps is identical or better on Android, at least for apps that I use every day. There is also F-Droid, where many apps are low quality but I'll have the opportunity to look at the source code, which is usually not the case on the iPhone. The iPhone apps are all geared toward monetization now. If you want a decent podcast player, you're expected to pay for it, either with dollars or ad eyeballs. Nobody really wants to collaborate on an iOS app. Android has a few options for community-supported players that are quite good. A lot of iPhone apps want a monthly subscription even if they don't really improve. The ones that ask for one-time payments tend to hide their features in multiple one-time payments. Many smaller apps don't have the residuals that keep their developer interested. They never end in an open source state where someone who cares could take them over, so eventually your investment goes to zero. In this, it's a lot like Windows, except on Windows you can usually rely on backwards compatibility. Sometimes, using something that has been pushed out the door by a developer who needed to scratch an itch and doesn't care about the aesthetics is preferable to a gorgeous app that lost compatibility at iOS 7, forcing you to buy a different app after an upgrade. I think, also, the reason why you see this explicit example of the mastodon app being superior, is because the people who care include designers who are willing to donate their time. They themselves use iPhones and don't care about making the Android version because it's not their itch to scratch. That's fine, but it is a contrived example. Finally, show me the syncthing client that works well on iOS.

keytarsolo 4y ago
Of course it depends on your use case, but in my experience Android apps are much worse than what I can get on iOS. Here are a couple of examples of iOS which have (as far as I can find) nothing on Android that even comes close: Infuse (https://firecore.com/infuse https://firecore.com/infuse) - A really nice video play that handles loads of different backends. NetNewsWire - It's literally one of the examples from the article, but I like RSS and can't find anything as good as NetNewsWire on Android. Servercat (https://servercat.app https://servercat.app) - Just a nice way to monitor servers and run commands. Great for managing my Raspberry pi and other homebrew stuff Prologue (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/prologue/id1459223267 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/prologue/id1459223267) - An audiobook app that uses Plex as its backend. Elastic Drums (https://apps.apple.com/app/id817419955 https://apps.apple.com/app/id817419955) - A great iPad / iPhone drum machine that I use all the time for sketching out ideas. Smart Comic (https://smartcomicreader.com https://smartcomicreader.com) - An app for reading my DRM free comics that uses ML to zoom to individual panels in a way that is as good as the official Comixology app. These are just the apps that I use daily and have no Android peers. Not that no Android apps exist to watch Plex, or read comics. On Android the options are just worse. Usually free, but I'd rather pay for a good app than get a crappy one for free. I've got loads of complaints about Apple software, but 3rd party software on Apple platforms is really good.
- projektfu 4y ago
  Great!
criddell 4y ago
> If you want a decent podcast player, you're expected to pay for it I'm always surprised by how much resistance there is to paying for software around here. This audience, more than most, knows how difficult it is to create really great apps. The idea that somebody (not necessarily you) would look at a high quality piece of software that they will use all the time and think $5 (or even $1) is too much is depressing.
- projektfu 4y ago
  I'm not resistant and I think I explained later on why paying is not sufficient to get what you need. I was saying more that there is not much community around specific iOS apps, and offering a reason why that seems to be true. The ones that do have community tend to be open-source and, of course, virtually identical on iOS and Android (like CarbManager).
  - spiralganglion 4y ago
    What does community mean? Does it mean discord servers, or active GitHub repos, or a mailing list, or lots of discussion on social media? Does it mean groups of friends who share enthusiasm for new apps they find and old apps they swear by? Does it mean indie bloggers and podcasters devoted to surfacing gems? Show me the meaning of community that doesn't exist around iOS apps, because I see all these things. Or by "community" do you just mean "open source, developed collaboratively"? Because that's not something I, and likely most iOS users, rank highly in the factors I look for in an app.
jgruber 4y ago
Syncing what? Syncing anything?
- projektfu 4y ago
  SyncThing

keytarsolo 4y ago

Of course it depends on your use case, but in my experience Android apps are much worse than what I can get on iOS. Here are a couple of examples of iOS which have (as far as I can find) nothing on Android that even comes close: Infuse (https://firecore.com/infuse https://firecore.com/infuse) - A really nice video play that handles loads of different backends. NetNewsWire - It's literally one of the examples from the article, but I like RSS and can't find anything as good as NetNewsWire on Android. Servercat (https://servercat.app https://servercat.app) - Just a nice way to monitor servers and run commands. Great for managing my Raspberry pi and other homebrew stuff Prologue (https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/prologue/id1459223267 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/prologue/id1459223267) - An audiobook app that uses Plex as its backend. Elastic Drums (https://apps.apple.com/app/id817419955 https://apps.apple.com/app/id817419955) - A great iPad / iPhone drum machine that I use all the time for sketching out ideas. Smart Comic (https://smartcomicreader.com https://smartcomicreader.com) - An app for reading my DRM free comics that uses ML to zoom to individual panels in a way that is as good as the official Comixology app. These are just the apps that I use daily and have no Android peers. Not that no Android apps exist to watch Plex, or read comics. On Android the options are just worse. Usually free, but I'd rather pay for a good app than get a crappy one for free. I've got loads of complaints about Apple software, but 3rd party software on Apple platforms is really good.

projektfu 4y ago
Great!

criddell 4y ago

> If you want a decent podcast player, you're expected to pay for it I'm always surprised by how much resistance there is to paying for software around here. This audience, more than most, knows how difficult it is to create really great apps. The idea that somebody (not necessarily you) would look at a high quality piece of software that they will use all the time and think $5 (or even $1) is too much is depressing.

projektfu 4y ago
I'm not resistant and I think I explained later on why paying is not sufficient to get what you need. I was saying more that there is not much community around specific iOS apps, and offering a reason why that seems to be true. The ones that do have community tend to be open-source and, of course, virtually identical on iOS and Android (like CarbManager).
- spiralganglion 4y ago
  What does community mean? Does it mean discord servers, or active GitHub repos, or a mailing list, or lots of discussion on social media? Does it mean groups of friends who share enthusiasm for new apps they find and old apps they swear by? Does it mean indie bloggers and podcasters devoted to surfacing gems? Show me the meaning of community that doesn't exist around iOS apps, because I see all these things. Or by "community" do you just mean "open source, developed collaboratively"? Because that's not something I, and likely most iOS users, rank highly in the factors I look for in an app.

jgruber 4y ago

Syncing what? Syncing anything?

projektfu 4y ago
SyncThing