To be fair, other OSes can use the Google Play store, at least. Way back, Blackberry was somehow able to run Play Store apps, and as I understand it, many of t

To be fair, other OSes can use the Google Play store, at least. Way back, Blackberry was somehow able to run Play Store apps, and as I understand it, many of the alternative Android roms can also use the Play Store if you wish. I'm not sure how well apps from that actually work on these phones, but most of these custom roms are AOSP anyway, so in theory it should be fine. Apple is completely different of course: you're either in or you're out. It would be nice if the alternative Android roms were better supported. But you're completely correct; some apps really are almost necessary for daily life these days, depending on where you are.