Apple. I want nothing to do with a closed ecosystem and I loathe how central AppleID is to absolutely everything.
I have fdroid and a few custom apks that wouldn't be available on their store, so those would be hooped as well.
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
Apple. I want nothing to do with a closed ecosystem and I loathe how central AppleID is to absolutely everything.
I have fdroid and a few custom apks that wouldn't be available on their store, so those would be hooped as well.
Apple and I have very different notions of what it means to own something.
Honestly, just navigating the phone is a giant pain in the ass. I bought my wife an iPad and finding basic settings or locating an app is a nightmare. Any time she needs help with it I feel like I'm pulling teeth.
This is part of it for me. Apple decides how a device should be used and you have to learn a new "intuitive" interface that is unlike every other computer device.
They have streamlined everything to the point that you can't deviate from their use flow and it drives me insane trying to do a task in an alternative way from how they envision it being done.
Android is like using a computer, IOS is like using a computer of you have never used one.
Firefox with ublock and a normal engine
Newpipe for downloading stuff off YT
OSMand for offline navigation
f-droid for foss software
Rethink to carefully ban everything that doesn't need internet from connecting
a phone with a nice amoled screen and all-day quickcharging battery that costs 180β¬ (motorola g52)
not one ad anywhere
a better question is, why would I want anything else? An iphone seems like a sharp downgrade.
I wouldn't buy a car that could only drive on roads approved by the maker, so same goes for phone.
Preference.
every time I have to use anything apple related, I'm instantly annoyed by the horrible user experience
Paying 20% - 40% more for dumbed-down OS that limits what software I can use. I mean literally any one of those alone is a deal breaker. It was never gonna work.
My dealbreakers:
No proper file management on iPhones.
No sideloading allowed on iPhones.
No playing back local music files without doing the cumbersome syncing through iTunes on iPhones.
No headphone jack, no MicroSD slot, huge storage markups on iPhones.
If they had full support for side loading, and supported the thunderbolt standard I feel most of my hardware problems could be solved with a type c case that's adds it a headphone jack and SD card slot
My list of problems: Too expensive, no 3.5 mm Headphone jack, no expandable storage, lack of foss apps and stores like f-droid, and the lack freedom to install and do what I want with the device I payed for.
And this point is more hardware-related, but I've started to really love my Nothing Phone and its LED lights on the back, which produces amazing photos because the light is much softer than the small flash used by other phones. There isn't a single Apple device with a feature like this. You could probably get a case, but it's nice to have this integrated into the phone.
iOS is trash. Simple as that, my parents have iPhones and I'm like 'oh you can just do X', then I go to look, get lost in menus, then find out the basic feature doesnt even exist. I can't sideload apps, I can't customise my UI, it's just incredibly limiting. iPhones are for basics, calls, texts, web browsing. If you wanna do anything else you are better off with an Android.
Sideloading apps
Paying x4 times the price for a device
I don't like Apples attitude. And I want control of my own phone, not just whatever crumbs Apple will allow me.
File level access to files. I would love to have the option of moving files in folders and connecting it to a PC to drag and drop files.
True multi tasking.
Ability to install apps from other sources.
I feel like I'm using a toy phone I bought for a 7 year old.
Why would I pay more than 3 times more for a Brick, that gives me less freedom to do what I want and doesn't have app support and features I require.
Apple's walled garden is anti-consumer, anti-developer, and pretty much anti-everyone-but-apple.
It just doesn't make sense to me to use or develop for Apple under those conditions.
I'm used to Android
I enjoy using apps from F-Droid
A central nervous system
Much like many of the iPhone users when you asked the converse question, it's not so much that something is stopping me, but that I have no interest in it. I don't see any benefits that I care about, and it would cost time and money to switch.
Let's pretend for a moment that I did have some desire to switch, perhaps due to some new hardware from Apple or changes to Android I found unpalatable. Here are some things I'd consider major barriers:
That's... basically it, but those are big things and Apple's position on them is so opposite mine that they're risking severe sanctions from the EU to comply with the EU's sideloading regulations in the most useless way they can.
I'm a developer and android is more friendly to developers, i have more control over my device. I can use any browser without being stuck with Safari. If i don't like my phone i can choose from many more manufacturers without losing my apps and subscriptions.
I think most of all i have problem with Apples culture, their smugness and acting like they invented everything. I don't think I'm their target audience.
The phones being worse than the ones I prefer to use.
Like, theyβre objectively less functional devices. I canβt pretend the features drops for every new model/OS arenβt just things android has has for years.
Battery life. Forced ecosystem. Lack of options. Apple watches suck. I love my s pen. I can watch YouTube for free with no ads. The refusal to integrate the messaging system compatibility. How they refused to move to usb-c until they were literally forced to by Europe. Spearheading the removal of audio Jack's and micro USB slots.
I dislike Apple as a company. I'm still miffed that Bill Gates bailed Apple out and saved them from bankruptcy in the 1990's. All he asked was that they would be more charitable if they got back on their feet. They obviously did that, but then proceeded to continue being one of the least charitable companies in the fortune 100.
Then there was the crap with forcing an update to underclock their iPhones in order to hide hardware issues causing reboots from their still under warranty batteries failing to provide enough voltage to supply the apu. Or the time when they told customers they were holding their phones wrong when they designed the antennas in a way that would kill their reception if part of your hand was on the side of the phone.
I've owned apple devices in the past. The thing I hate most is the ecosystem, it's so limited and simple to the point of frustration. They are missing basic features and customization options. Apple has the worst settings menu of any device I've ever used. If that wasn't bad enough the devices are incredibly over priced.
I've been forced to use iOS for my work phone and it is absolute dog shit... it feels like Android from 10+ years ago. The lack of customization and dumbass work flows drive me crazy every day.
So many screens in different apps. make you reach way to one corner or the other to go back a screen. In Android, back is one motion that can be done anywhere from any edge. And that behaves consistently across every app. In iOS some apps behave differently, even the same app with a different screen will handle the same gesture differently. It's an absolute shit show.
Want to open my app list, I just swipe up from anywhere on my screen. Want my notifications, swipe down from anywhere on my screen. In iOS I have to perfectly hit the top edge and slowly drag it down.
There are plenty of other reasons.
Access to the filesystem. Wtf! Lmao. I download a PDF and can't just open it? I have to basically share it with the app, it's so dumb.
Split screening apps.
Complete lack of customization. The launcher is ass.
Horrible keyboard and the one I like, SwiftKey is completely neutered and lacks the customization of Android. And some apps will use the apple keyboard even though I changed it to use Swiftkey. Again, no consistency.
Messages will pop a notification then when I open the messenger app they are not there. I can read the message in the notification area, but there is a period of time that it doesn't display in the actual app. Lmao. Dog shit.
Many, many other things.
Apps and services dying to backgrounding like the hotspot for one will just stop working after a certain amount of time.
Want to know how I change my brightness in Android? I just slide across the status bar in any app on any screen.
When I want to turn my flashlight on, all I do is hold my power button down for 3 seconds. Don't have to turn my screen on and click anything.
So many things. The settings in iOS are also a joke and the way they are organized, I just hate everything about it. It feels like I'm running Android from 2010 with less customization.
Basically iOS is complete ass.
I want to be the owner. <--- see the period there?
Actually being the owner of my phone. Apple decides everything for their users and allows them little freedom. I want to be able to put random apps on my phone, including maybe even my own.
Price. Shit's expensive. I now got a Pixel 8 for less than 500 euro's. Before that I had phones around the 300 euro price range.
Their ecosystem. They try to lure you into an everything Apple ecosystem. Stuff like iMessage is horrible for consumers. With an Android phone I have choice of apps, smart watch, earbuds, etc. Apple will always try to force you into buying their fancy but expensive things.
No benefit, there's plenty of cool Android phones.
Etc etc.
Apple, with its love of walled gardens with no keys
I want to own my phone.
The biggest issue is Apple and their closed ecosystem. I can modify, remove, or disable most of the apps and settings I don't like on an Android phone. I can even load a different OS if I want. With Apple most of that isn't even possible.
Notification light. Repairability (I can practically op this thing open like the hood of a car). Far cheaper options. Headphone jack. Side loading. Fingerprint sensor. Dedicated shutter and focus button. Non proprietary charger that isn't terrible. Emulators. Firefox plus adblocker. Customisability (least important for me honestly).
I am just happy that I have options. I can do whatever I want with this hardware. I own this device and have complete freedom. I work in repair and I am thoroughly aware of apple's anti-consumer practices and it disgusts me. I could never buy a device from apple out of principle.
It sickens me when I have to tell customers "your totally repairable device is fucked because apple makes it arbitrarily impossible to repair.". It makes me even sadder when they just buy another apple device, rewarding them for their behaviour.
I used to use a Macbook daily before I got a Windows laptop.
The way Apple designs their products is akin to how parents treat their toddlers. You aren't allowed to do anything that Apple hasn't graciously allowed you to without painful workarounds or loopholes. Plus, whereas Android and Windows have janky solutions that still work, Apple refuses to implement something unless the masses can use it. The result is that Apple's software is years behind, and there is very little you can do about it.
Needless to say, after a few years, I just installed Windows on that Macbook, and eventually I got fed up with the bad drivers and got an HP Spectre instead.
Surely the other way around ?
But why ?
Plenty of useful apps that cannot run on iOS. Mostly Termux and SDR-related apps (rtl_tcp server, SDR++, SatDump, Welle.io, SDRAngel, Dump1090,...)
I can run full-on desktop in Termux and access it via VNC server. I can also access it via SSH server. I can run a web server, HTTP proxy server, Kiwix server, Navidrome server, Jellyfin server, port-forward using socat. And that's just what I use or tried. In the past there was someone on Reddit running a public BBS server on an Android phone in Termux.
There's likely many other apps I use not available on iOS.
So if I'll be switching to a different platform, maybe PinePhone running Arch Linux with Plasma mobile? Probably only as a secondary phone for now though.
iPhones are too close to feature phones for me. Best thing they can run is probably a browser.
I had an ipad pro and it was an awful experience for me. Lack of customizations I deem normal, lack of real choice, limitations at every step. The walled garden felt hostile to me, the user. I sold it and got a Samsung tablet instead and it's been perfect. The only thing missing is procreate, but I have alternatives that do 99% of what I wanted.
Simple. I don't want to. I like android phones. Do I need another reason?
I have a really, really hard time navigating an iPhone. Whenever I take my girlfriend's phone, I'm lost. Their type of ergonomics doesn't fit my needs.
The question is framed such that it implies an iPhone to be the better choice. Most people don't even consider switching to iPhone because it typically is a lot of effort for the average person who already has an Android. IOS has worse app support, it is more restrictive, with fewer features than Android typically has. Many people stick with what they have because it is what they are used to.
I personally don't use an iPhone because I use root and terminal tools often which aren't available on iOS and also don't want that Apple spyware in my life.
Hate how they handle photos. You can't easily download your pictures like with Android you can just plug your phone into the computer and it becomes a hard drive you can mount and download them.
I have too many brain cells
If I pay for something, I want to do whatever the fuck I want with it, so a big NO for apple devices.
More expensive. Less (no?) emulator support. Inertia. Don't care for apple interfaces or ecosystem much.
no interest
on my android, I can install any os I want, install apps from anywhere, not just the app store
android gives me more options with hardware, from 200 to 2000 dollars
At this point you'd have to shoot me to go back to a junk drawer of apps. I like my alphabetical list on Niagara.
I have tried Apple products before (2 iPods as gifts). All the good memories I have are from pirating them, the bad ones are from the base operation of the products. An Apple product on its own is a terrible experience. Only together with other products of the same brand is it worth it. But to achieve that you have to pawn your whole life and almost join a cult.
Besides, I'm not willing to pay a crazy amount of money for a device that does what my current phone already does but better (for my needs).