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Android is definitely the superior choice as long as you have no expectation of privacy and never need to dial 911 in an emergency. [1] More serious problems b

by n8cpdx 10mo ago

Android is definitely the superior choice as long as you have no expectation of privacy and never need to dial 911 in an emergency. [1] More serious problems blocking a transition to Android: instead of developing Health Connect in 2015 or before when Apple made HealthKit, Android waited until the mid-2020s, and many apps do not support it. And the implementation is busted if you use multiple devices. Meanwhile on iOS, I have a perfect database of all my health information going back years, and all the apps interpolate nicely - my nutrition tracking app can see my exercise and blood glucose, my glucose tracking app can show exercise on the timeline, my training readiness app can read my sleep data and HRV/RHR from the watch. And as far as I know Android still doesn’t have Focus Modes, which I rely on to customize my phone and watch. It works really well, integrates with apps, and is easily automatable. [1]: edit - I thought this was old news, from years ago, but it turns out Android not being able to make emergency calls is an evergreen story. At one point it was Teams’ fault [2] - can you imagine that? Teams being so bad it can block your phone from calling 911? But really it’s android’s fault such a thing is possible. https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixels-most-dangerous-bug-refuses-to-die/ https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixels-most-dangerous-b... [2]: https://medium.com/@mmrahman123/how-a-bug-in-android-and-microsoft-teams-could-have-caused-this-users-911-call-to-fail-6525f9ba5e63 https://medium.com/@mmrahman123/how-a-bug-in-android-and-mic...

lern_too_spel 10mo ago
Android is strictly superior to iOS in terms of privacy. On iOS, you can't even get your location without sending it to Apple or install an app without telling Apple which one. Unlike iOS, you can even replace your default maps app with a fully offline app. User choice is the key to ensuring privacy. Google Fit was released in 2014 and implemented data migration to Health Connect when that launched. Similarly, Samsung Health synchronizes data with Health Connect. The long-fixed bug tickled by Teams was in functionality iOS still doesn't provide. If I use Google Voice, Skype, Signal, or some other telephony service, Android lets me route all outgoing calls through that service automatically.
- n8cpdx 10mo ago
  Google Health Connect is still not mature. Believe me, if it was, I’d have likely at least attempted to switch back to Android by now. [1] Apple Maps can be uninstalled, and many people rely on Google Maps. There are plenty of alternatives. I like how convenient the iOS APIs make it to choose alternatives. The Transit app can read the address information from my calendar (a caldav calendar self-hosted on Synology) which makes it really easy to navigate to appointments. Re:privacy: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/meta_pauses_android_tracking_tech/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/meta_pauses_android_t... [1]: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-health-connect-useless-3542514/ https://www.androidauthority.com/android-health-connect-usel...
  - lern_too_spel 10mo ago
    Re: privacy. That same system for violating privacy works on iOS. Just run a local web server, and there you go. The big difference is in what Apple won't let you do, like get your GPS location without telling Apple or install an app without telling Apple. It looks like Apple finally allowed changing the default navigation app this year, but only in Europe: https://www.androidpolice.com/make-google-maps-app-default-iphone/ https://www.androidpolice.com/make-google-maps-app-default-i.... If you want to change the default voice assistant, you still can't do that.
    - n8cpdx 10mo ago
      I wonder why meta chose not do the whole localhost thing on iOS. I guess their engineers aren’t creative enough. The defaults aren’t really relevant because they don’t come up. You can disable Siri and use the action button to use any other app as an assistant.
      - mindcrash 10mo ago
        iOS apps can not create a network connection without explicit consent from the user. And given all the privacy breaches Meta's engineers did manage to succesfully execute on iOS until now, given the sandbox restrictions, they are in fact pretty creative if you ask me. Don't believe for a second you are safe from these fuckers on either Android or iOS.

by n8cpdx 10mo ago

lern_too_spel 10mo ago

Android is strictly superior to iOS in terms of privacy. On iOS, you can't even get your location without sending it to Apple or install an app without telling Apple which one. Unlike iOS, you can even replace your default maps app with a fully offline app. User choice is the key to ensuring privacy. Google Fit was released in 2014 and implemented data migration to Health Connect when that launched. Similarly, Samsung Health synchronizes data with Health Connect. The long-fixed bug tickled by Teams was in functionality iOS still doesn't provide. If I use Google Voice, Skype, Signal, or some other telephony service, Android lets me route all outgoing calls through that service automatically.

n8cpdx 10mo ago
Google Health Connect is still not mature. Believe me, if it was, I’d have likely at least attempted to switch back to Android by now. [1] Apple Maps can be uninstalled, and many people rely on Google Maps. There are plenty of alternatives. I like how convenient the iOS APIs make it to choose alternatives. The Transit app can read the address information from my calendar (a caldav calendar self-hosted on Synology) which makes it really easy to navigate to appointments. Re:privacy: https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/meta_pauses_android_tracking_tech/ https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/meta_pauses_android_t... [1]: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-health-connect-useless-3542514/ https://www.androidauthority.com/android-health-connect-usel...
- lern_too_spel 10mo ago
  Re: privacy. That same system for violating privacy works on iOS. Just run a local web server, and there you go. The big difference is in what Apple won't let you do, like get your GPS location without telling Apple or install an app without telling Apple. It looks like Apple finally allowed changing the default navigation app this year, but only in Europe: https://www.androidpolice.com/make-google-maps-app-default-iphone/ https://www.androidpolice.com/make-google-maps-app-default-i.... If you want to change the default voice assistant, you still can't do that.
  - n8cpdx 10mo ago
    I wonder why meta chose not do the whole localhost thing on iOS. I guess their engineers aren’t creative enough. The defaults aren’t really relevant because they don’t come up. You can disable Siri and use the action button to use any other app as an assistant.
    - mindcrash 10mo ago
      iOS apps can not create a network connection without explicit consent from the user. And given all the privacy breaches Meta's engineers did manage to succesfully execute on iOS until now, given the sandbox restrictions, they are in fact pretty creative if you ask me. Don't believe for a second you are safe from these fuckers on either Android or iOS.