Asklemmy

Reliability, battery life, OS optimization, long term support.

These things may be normal for today’s android handsets, but back when I switched from the Samsung Galaxy S6 to the iPhone, they definitely weren’t the norm. I went through about 6 different android phones, got into custom roms and bootloaders, did all that fancy stuff. I got real comfortable with it and I got used to the idea that my phone app might just lock up randomly for no reason. Or my GPS app would freeze when I’m miles and miles away from civilization. I got tired of troubleshooting and stuff and I just wanted something reliable.

My first smartphone was an iPhone 3GS. Android wasn’t really an competitive option yet. Since then, I’ve stayed on iOS because I already had purchased apps I’d loose if I switched. (Remember when you bought mobile games, instead of endlessly paying for them with in-game currency?) Vendor lock-in is real.

So generally I believe that Apple respects privacy more than google overall.

That doesn’t mean Apple is some privacy beacon.

But I have never had Apple randomly turn a setting on my phone on. Google got caught redhanded doing that. I had been using android for years until that incident.

Apple I buy my phone. Google I am the product.

One thing for me is honestly how great the operating system is. A lot of people just look at phones as the basic call text, download apps, etc. but I’ve been trying to use my phone to answer questions that I would normally Google or two to look at stock prices or two Google definitions for words, or even using the native translator app inside.

Because I get a phone that is updated and working for more years. I’m not buying a $1,000 smart phone every two years. Still on a XR and it works great. Was on a 6 before that. And then a 4 before that. They last a long time if you don’t drop/step on them.

For me, a big one is integration with email / calendar / contacts services that aren't Google. I don't know where Google dropped the ball here - Android was originally amazing for this kind of thing - but at some point they started bolting a lot of features specifically on top of Google accounts, and out of the box Android doesn't even understand how to sync with CalDAV / CardDAV. So if I want my Nextcloud stuff to work at all I need to go and install a third party app. The third party app works great (I happily used DAVx5 for many years), but it's ridiculous when iOS has all that integration officially supported and available straight out of the box. And it even does clever things, like suggesting contact details it learns from my (Fastmail) email. Android has that stuff, but it is completely on the cloud, and it only works if you give everything to Google.

I'm a dedicated Android user, and really none of my friends or family use iPhone. What is a blue or green bubble??

My employer (a mid-sized tech company) had a policy that employees could access corporate Slack, email, etc. from personal iPhones but not personal Android phones. I think it was for security reasons.

I was using Android, but I needed mobile phone access for on-call shifts. The company gave me a choice of either replacing my Android with an iPhone (and they would partially reimburse the cost); or, they would issue me a corporate iPhone, and I'd have to carry both phones when I was on-call. I picked the first option and switched to iPhone.

I think it’s easier and more reliable

I personally wouldn't voluntarily use Apple products myself, but I have people close to me that buy iPhone because they think that's the best smartphone they can buy. There are some truths to it from the standpoints of warranty policies, technologies, privacy policies, update policies, securities, and reputations.

I got frustrated by buggy behavior from Android in general. Even with Google software (Android Auto), it wasn’t uncommon for functionality to break after updates.

I’ll take consistency over more (but buggier) features. Quality over quantity.

Oh, and the cinematic mode was a game changer for this Vidiot.