Other than blue bubbles, why do you use iPhone?
Other than blue bubbles, why do you use iPhone?
Yes, I'm the one in the group DM that turns the bubbles green, I'm sorry.
But other than that, I don't hear many other reasons why people actually prefer iPhones over Androids. What other reasons are there?
Google doesn’t have vision or taste in my opinion. They released a million messaging apps and STILL haven’t made a decent one. Its been how many years and they still use SMS on most androids and people have to rely on whatsapp, a Fcaebook app… now they’re releasing their new “standard” RCS which has competing versions some with end to end encryption by default and some without.
They STILL don’t have a FaceTime alternative unless you use whatsapp…
Google knows how to show ads and everything else has so little passion and vision i dont trust any of their services because they love to kill their products
They last (rocking a solid 4 year old phone)
They are rugged
The 3rd party apps are better
The interoperability with other Apple products is great
They are fast enough
Great accessory market
I’m familiar with the os
The os works well enough for my needs
Privacy - I am not the product
I don’t like that a giant tech company today is basically an advertising company. Google that is. And so I don’t like that they made their phone OS “free” so that they could dominate the platform and so increase the reach of their advertising empire.
I like that apples business is products. Make, design and sell them to the customer. So I pick Apple. If Microsoft were still in the game and were not trying to steal google’s advertising business I’d consider them too.
Also, apple products have always done well for me. There’s a bit of a knack to picking the right time to buy, probably happens one out of every few years that there’s a sweet spot.
But IME, if you do you’ve got a good reliable product for years. I’ve been using Apple stuff since ~2005 and basically only had two laptops and two phones. Second laptop could do with an upgrade shortly (latest OS isn’t supported and M2 looks pretty good), though it doesn’t have to be and the second phone is going strong still.
I like android and have a couple android devices (mostly retro handhelds and CCTV, and have spun up a few VMs), I also have many devices with linux (unraid, pihole, vpn servers, web servers) and run a pfsense firewall (FreeBSD), AND my gaming PC is windows...
I say all that because when it comes to mobile devices, however, I am all in pretty much on apple. Phone, watch, Pro 2s, and Ipad mini go with me pretty much every where. Why? not really the app eco-system (because I do so much self-hosting and use a lot of PWAs, and I dont play games on my phone), its the inter-operability between all the devices, its the find my device, Its the earpods going from my ipad to my iphone in an instant, Its the battery life, its (for the most part) security of the devices.
The blue/green bubble thing is weird and I don't understand why people get so upset over it. I use everything, and to be honest the only thing at this point in my life I would like to get rid of is windows, but I can't yet because of gaming.
Hopped on the iPhone train with the 5S. That phone was such a performance beast. Blew the competition out of the water. Android phones at the time looked like toys in comparison.
The gap is a lot smaller now than it used to be, but I’ve just stuck with it. I have a 13 mini now and I love the small size with basically no compromise. I’ll cling onto this thing until it dies and then maybe switch to a Linux phone if they’ve caught on by then.
I use an iPhone 12 because:
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longevity. Between software updates and an over powered phone cpu I know it will last. Android phones in general barely get security updates.
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Simplicity. I used to root and install ROMs on my android phone. I used to jailbreak iPhones. I’m done with that now. I do enough technical work at work I don’t want to have to mess with my phone.
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Security. Ties into updates somewhat, but how often do you hear about iOS malware? It is usually big news when you do.
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I don't care at all about the bubbles. I don't use iMessage at all, 0.
- Convenience. Most things "just work". No need to customize or fiddle with things.
- Price. Hear me out :D I used Android phones in the past (a mix of mid-ranges and flagships) and over time it ended being more expensive than using an iPhone.
- Ecosystem. My mac laptops, watch, earphones, phone etc. all work together in useful ways. It sounds gimmicky but most of the time it's not.
- Apple watch. There simply isn't anything that is close to it.
- How everything feels cohesive and designed with the bigger picture in mind. Especially in the first party apps, you mostly know how things will behave.
- Feels more "polished". I always felt like I'm using something that is designed by an engineer when using Android.
Basically because of company Google became. Not saying Apple is better, just they respect my privacy so much more and support their products for longer, give a shit about security, etc. Matters to me.
a few reasons: I know I'll get product support for the entire life of the phone. I will always be able to update to the latest software. The OS feels a lot more polished, refined, and smoother than android phones that I have used in the past. It works seamlessly with my Apple TV and MacBook, the apps available are generally higher quality, receive updates faster, and some of the specific ones I use are not available on android (foreflight). The camera outperforms other androids that I have used.
Switched to iphone for first time. This is what I like: Camera Compact size Shortcuts
What I hate: Recent call log sucks, only displays few calls No call recording No back button gesture. Swipe to go back only works in few apps. Have to tap 3-4 times to come back to home screen from wifi/bt joining setting No whatsapp backup without icloud, I already have gdrive subscription, why should I also purchase icloud Google photos backs up all photos, cant select to backup just camera photos, because of iphones fucked up storage management. Keyboard sucks, google keyboard was way fast for me. I could just just hold and input characters form it without switching everytime. Nzb360 dosent work because of app store policy.
Privacy
I don’t trust Google with a goddamn thing, and Microsoft couldn’t get its shit together.
The more you buy into the ecosystem, the better it all gets. I use a Mac for work and at home, so an iPhone is a natural choice.
Because in my opinion, it’s the best product in its class. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
Bubbles are literally no part of the reason why I use one, I genuinely could not give less of a shit about that. The real reason is pretty simple: my old phone died and I needed a new one pretty quickly. At the time it was basically a decision between a Pixel 4a and an iPhone SE 2020, which seemed like the best options at that price point. The Pixel had a better battery, camera, and used android, with the possibility of flashing a custom rom (which all else equal I'd prefer), while the iPhone's main advantages were the much faster chip and longer support period. I probably would have gone the Pixel, but as it turned out it wasn't in stock at the time, so I got the iPhone.
The ecosystem. (For better or worse.)
I prefer Android but the ability to do things such as use my AirPods on multiple Macs, iPhones, and iPads is very convenient. Ditto for things like Apple TV and HomeKit (though I use Home Assistant to control my HomeKit devices).
Other things:
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Hardware has a longer useful life (Android phone manufacturers "commit" to n years of updates, but the timing of releases is slow and usually limited to 3 years, at most.) There are still iPhone 6 devices in the wild running the latest version of iOS.
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Standardized hardware and consistently updated software results in more and better apps.
In short: iPhone is an appliance but an Android smartphone is/can be a pocket computer with greater flexibility.
YMMV
EDIT: Also, my wife and kids use iPhone. When I used an Android phone, I had them all install signal so we communicate securely. With iPhone, that's built in.
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I used Android for over a decade. Then recently my work bought me an iPhone. My biggest struggle was finding a replacement for Reddit Is Fun, until I found Apollo. I mourned for its loss until I found Lemmy and Wewef. In the end a phone is a phone but Lemmy is life!
I don't know why people say this is a feature of iphonesm All I hear is people complaining that texting g doest work very well on iphone.im an android guy, and have never had a problem texting nobody.
Couldn't care less about blue bubbles cause I mostly use Telegram. I'm currently running two phones, on iOS & one Android.
My iPhone syncs nicely with my iPad which i appreciate. I also find the photos app better, especially how you can sort by date (metadata) or date-uploaded. Also the 6.1inch iPhone gets better battery than any of the similar-sized Androids I've tried.
I literally just switched to the iPhone 14 after a lifetime of android phones. Honestly I’ve just gotten older and don’t use my phone like I used to. I don’t need to have android for anything specific anymore and the iPhone AirPods Apple Watch combo really just can’t be beat. You can do the combo with android but honestly nothing is as seamless as the Apple options.
My biggest concern is the longevity of the phone. My android phones all hold their charge well and rarely have issues. My Apple work phone has had its battery crap out after only a year and a half. But still I needed an upgrade and it just made sense.
why do you use iPhone?
In my case, because I had a bad experience with Android phones in their early years. Each model I used had one or the other issues, either battery life, camera issues, screen issues or something else. Around the Samsung S3 days I finally moved to iPhone and "everything just worked".
I am sure things are better now in the Android world hardware-wise (and software-wise Android has always been able to do more), but over the years I have become firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem with the Apple Watch, Airpods, Macbooks, Apple TV etc so it doesn't make sense for me to switch again because there isn't a compelling reason for me to do so.
There are plenty of reasons.
A robust ecosystem Privacy protection features and measures that are given first rate support - at least as far as you can say about a closed source platform Simplicity
I have years of experience with iPhones and flagship Galaxy phones since the 5.
I’m settled on the iPhone for now because those blue bubbles make keeping in contact with family easy. Sure you could use WhatsApp but if it’s not already being used, most people won’t want to download another app just to communicate. They’d rather use the built in texting app.
It also syncs well with my watch that I use for fitness tracking, and my Mac Studio that I use for professional work.
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.
I have 15 years worth of apps
I am on android rn but at least in europe, apple is forced to allow 3rd party appstores soon which was the main dealbreaker for me. Their ui + cross device integration is very nice. Hopefully they are going to release a foldable soon! Handwriting apps are much more polished on iPads than on Android.
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.
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.
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.
I think it’s easier and more reliable
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.
Here in Japan iPhones are massively popular, more than in most other markets. I just Googled it: iPhones are 67%, Android 33%. That's crazy.
The reasons are: people think they're stylish/cool (in Japan this is SUPER important), they think they must be good because they're expensive, and they think Android is 'scary' because they've never used it before. They literally don't know that Android does everything iOS does, usually better/with more customisation, and that it offers way more control (you can make Android even more simple and basic than iOS if you tinker a bit).
To be honest, even talking about places other than Japan, 98% of people probably have never even stopped to think why they're on either Android/iOS - it's only the 2% of people like us who talk about it.
It is funny though that iPhone users here in Japan have so little idea about why their phones aren't working properly, and have to make actual reservations to have a 'genius' look at their phone and fix it for them. Usually it's just clearing cache or something. They also pay literal hundreds of dollars to have their data transferred over when they get a new iPhone, unaware that cloud storage is capable of doing all of this for you for free.
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.
More reliability, more polished OS and longer support cycle.
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.
Ironically, I just buy whatever’s cheaper lol. That was android for a few phones, and I was happy as a clam. Then the time came for an upgrade, and my carrier had a crazy sale for the previous year’s iphone. So I gave it a shot.
Still happy as a clam lol. I think of myself as being very “techy”, I use linux, etc., but I really don’t need my phone to do anything special. I use like 6 apps that are all multi platform. Very little about my flow changed.
I prefer the keyboard on android actually, and I like firefox on android better than safari. But everything else is pretty much fine. I’d be okay going iphone again, or back to android. Whatever’s cheaper when the time comes.
I used to use an iPhone simply because of the jailbreak community. When it became increasingly slower for a jailbreak to release I jumped ship. I got on iPhones around the time of iOS 7 and got off around 11.4.
Integration. When I copy on my [Mac|iPhone|iPad|AppleTV] I can then paste on the other devices. When I enter the search field on the AppleTV my phone lets me type to the screen. I can transfer web pages from screen to screen if I wanna change where I'm browsing. All my devices work seamlessly with my AirPods. Etc.
I bought one because I thought that the camera would be better, but I'm having a hard time telling the difference between phones these days.
Also, Mini.
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.
I like that I don’t have to customise or complicate the phone experience. I just want it to browse and communicate. I leave customisation for desktop. Blue bubble is a plus. Same system as my wife is important. And honestly I just like iPhones inertia when scrolling. Androids don’t look or feel right to me.
integration with the ecosystem. i have a mac, ipad, apple watch, airpods. it’s all so seamless. i can use my watch to ping my phone when i lose it in the blankets even when it’s on silent, i can copy text on one device and paste it on another, all my tab groups are on my computer, phone, and tablet and sync.
i like iOS. i had an ipod touch in the 2010s, so i’ve used it for over 10 years. i’m used to it, i know all the little tricks and shortcuts. i really like how it looks aesthetically.
magsafe. i don’t even use a wireless charger, but i have a magsafe pop socket, and it’s a game changer for me. i have small hands, and a pop socket is very convenient for me, but i don’t like that the regular ones take a lot of effort to remove, and sometimes i want my phone to lay flat, or need to remove the pop socket to put my phone in its dashboard grip. the magsafe pop socket holds strong enough to be effective, but can easily be removed when needed. unlike the pop socket that grips the side of the case, with the magsafe one my phone sits flat instead of wobbling when propped up.
Ease of use: I don’t want to even have the ability to tinker with my UI, etc. I like the fact that it’s simple and predictable. Plus iMessage is so good.
Ecosystem: iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Apple TV, Mac. They all work together and very well.
Health/Fitness: Apple actually puts effort into this category when no other Android manufacturer consistently does. Goes along with Apple Watch.
I like the clean design of iOS, and I like being able to Apple Pay my whole family if needed cause we still share like a phone bill and stuff, so it's easier to Apple Pay than bank transfer or download an app.
Plus I like Apple's credit card and now I have their savings account too....
The optimisation. And the ecosystem of iPad iPhone AirPods Mac. Watch
Have you tried getting a human on the phone with any Google product ever ?
Leave a comment if you have ever talked to a google/alphabet employee during their work hours about a problem that you have with a google/alphabet service or product ?
For fun. My last iPhone was a 4S, and after that I had a couple Sony Xperias and a Samsung Galaxy. When it was time to upgrade, I decided to get an iPhone 11 for a change, for no other reason than to see what they're like nowadays.
I've been really happy with it, it does everything I need it to do, and I don't miss the Galaxy at all.
Literally no reason other than blue bubbles.
I was all ready to switch and then someone asked “so you don’t care about the blue bubbles eh?” and I chickened out and got yet another iphone
I don’t want to be the guy with low res photos in the group chat
Consistency.
I had two android phones. The first one bricked itself after about a year, and the replacement was unusable a year later (even google maps was laggy). The second one suffered the same fate, with the added fun of being abandoned by Samsung after only 1 major android update
Tried a Samsung galaxy. It was just full of ads and notifications and pop-ups and a million icons across the top of the screen that had to be disabled in five still screens down in the settings. If felt like what a smart phone would be in Idiocracy - just full on corporate owned and driven experience. iPhone sucks cause they are so locked down but it also doesn’t feel like a nonstop advertising platform.
I switched from Android to iPhone mainly for the iMessage capabilities. I didn’t have any other reason at the time, but now I’ve started adding in to the ecosystem (AirPods, and now an iPad). The integration is really nice and smooth. I do like how “user-friendly” it is - while I can use other platforms just fine, iOS is just simple and easy.
Here's a link! Directly on the Iphone. But, I'm used to my magsafe being directly on this ring. I use a wallet and a car dock. And my phone stays on the car dock even when I'm offroading
The Apps are just better. There are lots of great android apps but doesn’t compare with what’s available for iOS.
