‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones

My entire life I've been reading news that only iPhones are cool, yet my social circles don't care and have never said anything like this. I feel like this is a 'Hello fellow kids' type of investigative journalism, that is a secret apple ad.

I'm also convinced these are really just paid for by Apple ads. I've never seen anyone care about such a thing.
- How often are you around teens though? My dad is a high school teacher and his students are always surprised and ask him why he has an Android and not an iPhone.
- Most tech "news" is paid by the subject of the said news.
- Nah. That's North America. iPhones in North America have become a status symbol, you have to be available on iMessage, otherwise they'll contact you by SMS. I know a lot of people in Canada who have no other messaging app (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.). They only communicate via iMessage.
- Eh, that was my highschool experience at least. It was never super serious or anything, like it’s not like I was being bullied lol, but I was regularly teased about it in my friend group.
- How do you do fellow consumer
Who the fuck calls Android devices "'Droids" unironically? This couldn't have been real teenagers. Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
- What you are referring to as droids is in fact Android/Linux, or as I've recently started calling it, Android+Linux.
  ...
- Who the fuck calls Android devices "'Droids" unironically?
  Motorola 👀
  Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
  guess we can thank TikTok and Snapchat for that?
- Psst. Side bar.
  I like retro stuff.
- I've never run into that, but I feel like it's a good pivotable moment:
  "Yeah Bob, this closed source walled garden isn't playing nice with the group chat.. good point, let's move to Signal where everyone can have a good experience. "
- Our group moved to a private discord. Solved that problem.
- I hope Sup. will take off. That will get a lot more people using the Fediverse in a format they prefer if there's a FB Messager alternative attached to it.
I'm 36, have had windows mobile pocket PCs thru HTCs and eventually Samsung Galaxies, and have absolutely been shamed several times by different friend groups over the last decade plus lfor not having iMessage. It def ramped up in the later 2010s
- Can you expand on your experiences? Was the social pressure constant, or just a comment? Do you think it impacted your relationships with your friends?
I have, in my dating life, gotten lightening charging cables to have around the house.
It's never fun to have someone ask you for a charger, you saying "Sure, use the fast charger right there", and not have the lightening cable for their phone. But it's also a catch-22, if you DO have the cable they need then its "Why do you have this cable, you don't have a iphone".
- “Why do you have this cable, you don’t have a iphone”
  It's like having some spare toothbrushes and women's hygiene stuff just in case someone stays over. You'll score points for being thoughtful, but on the other hand they'll be like: waaait a minute ...
- !android@lemmy.world, now also the best place for dating tips.
  Personally, I would appreciate the thoughtfulness of it.
- "it's an ex girlfriend's" is a good ice breaker.
Apple has a great advertisement department. They are great at pumping such news stories.
I mentioned it in another comment, but this was real in my experience. At least in highschool. It’s not like I was bullied or anything, but I was teased about it quite a bit and honestly it made me want to switch to iPhone just to fit in.

"This unbiased and purely informative piece of journalism sponsored by Apple."

Only in theaters July 21st. 😊
- Theater at home early with Apple TV+ Ultra!

No one gives a shit which phone you have.

Also, no one uses the term “droid”.

This article reads like “fellow kids” nonsense.

No one gives a shit which phone you have.
In high school, they absolutely do.
Like, the epitome of the high school experience is social peer pressure about dumb shit.
And this can have a huge effect on the market in 5 years time.
- this must be a us thing, I'd say over half the people have in Ireland have iPhones but nobody cares really, if anything my custom rommed Poco f3 has gotten a bit of interest from a few friends
- as a high schooler (outside of america) my friends mostly have androids, I'm not saying they are better, just saying that they are more common
- God, the memories you just unlocked
  There was this one guy at school who one day rocked up with his new Windows Phone, that was the cool, new thing then.
  When I came up to him and told him he wasn't going to be the only one with a 4" Amoled screen, he was devastated
  Man, we were stupid
I got roasted by a room full of interns for having an android phone last week.
- Idk what people use. I had two coworkers from another country ask why I don't have an iPhone?
Also, no one uses the term “droid”.
glance at sidebar
🥲
- for those who are out of the loop: https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=7nvijQ-L_ms
No, this is real. An iPhone to kids is like a social status symbol and potential family wealth indicator. Of course it's absolute bull, but just as adults are, kids are horribly manipulated by marketing and advertising too. Kids have glommed onto phones for conspicuous consumption whereas adults glom onto cars and houses for said signals.
Of course not all adults or kids do this, but a great deal do. That's where the stupid bumper sticker comes from that says, "He who has the most toys at the end wins!" Very ugly stuff, in my opinion. And if there is a devil, that's where it lives mostly.

I think that is mostly a US thing, as I see way more Androids in Europe than iPhones. But I could be wrong

Yeah, it's definitely a Yank thing.
- Yep. Primary chat protocol is still SMS. The general population hasn't latched on to WhatsApp or others like many countries have.
- We like to think that but if you want to reach people who are on Whatsapp you're gonna have to install Whatsapp. And the other way around, if people have a group for whatever (plan a group outing, kids' soccer team, tenants' association etc.) on Whatsapp and one person is not on Whatsapp, tough luck buddy, they get left out.
  Apple framed it as an "iPhone vs Android" issue for their own reasons but the larger issue (social network peer pressure) is very much a thing in Europe too.
And it's so outdated too. The iPhone was a "cool" status symbol in like 2010 and 2014. Not so much when everyone has them.
- I thought that time period was more a Blackberry thing, and to a lesser extent the Sony Xperia and Galaxy series was taking off
100%, I've lived both in the US and Europe, and Androids are definitely more prevalent in Europe than in the US.
Judging by the amount of times I hear the same ringtone as mine, I think where I live in the UK is about 70-80% Samsung Android phones.
I live in Brazil and don't know many people with iPhones, most have Android phones
Definitely not in Germany, I think. People here are obsessed with apple. But im not native German, so maybe im wrong.
- Idk, I see plenty of both, and most people I know are capable of having objective discussions about it.

I think the most frustrating part is Apple is willfully hampering the ability to intercommunicate between iPhones and Androids and people aren't like "Oh, fuck them for doing that", they're like "Oh, Android sucks." Like it's just a wildly successful and incredibly scummy tactic to convince people that Apple devices are superior and people didn't just fall for it, they're willfully diving in headfirst.

It's a shame, really, because I do think they make some pretty good hardware. Might not be my thing, but they make a good phone. That said, I'll never patronize them because of the bullshit I've had to endure trying to communicate with my iPhone-owning family.

i've only ever heard about this "green bubble" thing from USA media.
do Americans still use SMS?
why? phone numbers are obsolete. my SMS inbox going back years is just 2FA security codes, and they're very rare these days, since authenticator apps.
- Yeah sms ought to be the standard default. Since companies like apple refused to help improve it, people like you turn to other solutions. If you use WhatsApp, you should know Facebook owns it and uses it to spy on you for profit. I'd prefer "obsolete" sms to that...
- Still popular in Australia, at least in my demographic
- Same here, it's all 2fa and appointment reminders for things. Even my elderly relatives uses WA now.
They will have to open up in 2024. Thanks to the EU.
Yes! I've been saying this for many years, but my Apple cult-member friends don't want to believe me. It's gotten better over the years, but Apple used to be so incompatible with everything else, almost like it was done on purpose to force more market share....🤔
Apple is willfully hampering the ability to intercommunicate between iPhones and Androids
In what way exactly? All the messaging apps I use work fine. I even have the same Signal account logged in through both my Android phone and my iPad.
Nobody I know actually uses iMessage either. It's a complete non-issue as SMS is quite an outdated technology.
- USA still uses SMS for a variety of reasons.
- Come back to me after convincing a group of non tech-savvy iPhone-using friends or family to use literally anything but whatever the default messaging app is available on their phone or whatever they're already used to.

Teenagers are well known for their experience and insight

Teenagers, as a group, are very stupid people.
- I am sorry :(
87% of americans is not a surprising number...
- 87% of teens. I'm surprised it's not a higher number. Have you seen teens? They're right stupid
Brands have been always important to teenagers.
- That's what he said.
- Now you're getting it

Holy fuck, kids are cringe. I hate this blue bubble elitism so much. Glad it's not a really a thing in Europe.

This news just in: teenagers can be arseholes to each other.

Back in my day, it was over the brand of sneakers or jeans that you wore.

My little brother refused to wear his new air walks to school any more because the kids told him they weren't real because the style he had used a lowercase a logo. Same energy.
- Back in the mid 90's, Nike had the Air Modify Force / Air Adjust Force (can't remember which they were at the time) and the shoes came with a changeable strap with the Nike logo and came in a bunch of colors. You could buy just the strap and change one of the accent colors of your shoes, basically.
  Poor dude in middle school got busted for putting that strap over off-brand shoes and they dragged him the rest of the year over that shit.
At least sneakers doesn't have a bunch of sensors, Internet connection and propietary software loaded, so by going with trend you won't compromise anything other than money.
- ...yet

I'm amazed it's 2023 and we've still not universally adopted a protocol better than SMS. Thanks Apple

We have all universally adopted Rich Communication Services, which is an open standard.
Well, except for Apple. They haven't adopted it.
- Apple's refusal to cooperate is both obviously profit motivated and infuriating. They've engineered this social gulf between iPhone and non-iPhone users. I often wonder about the collective social harm.
  The low res photos and video are natural byproducts of squeezing modern media into an SMS message, but the 'green' bubbles take it to another level. The worst part is that the average iPhone user at best is apathetic. Meanwhile Cook suggested last year that we should just buy more iPhones as a solution.
- Crossing my fingers that the eu æaq that forces 3rd party app stores etc, on iphones, can fix it
In 2024 Apple and Google will have to figure it out because the EU are twisting their arms.
It's 2023. Why use SMS in the first place? The world except the US has moved on years ago.
- Because open standards that don't require specialized software have many advantages.. Why would you prefer proprietary software in the first place?
- SMS > Facebook
- I'm in the US and my thought is that it's easier to use sms because not everyone uses Signal, not everyone uses Telegram, and those types. If they did... One person would prefer Snapchat, the other would prefer Signal.. Too many choices. With SMS, it's just your phone number, and everyone has a phone number.
  Otherwise you gotta get usernames for different people for different apps.. It's too complicated.

I'm 14 and I hate iphones I prefer Android phones rooted with a custom rom

They'll also say they're too smart to be affected by advertising.

This has to be a US thing, in Switzerland there is not a single person I communicate with using iMessage. It’s WhatsApp or Signal.

I am a teen and I love android becuase it give me freedom I can do whatever I want to do by rooting or installing Custom ROM. Also It's Privacy Focused(degoogled my Tab + Root). Other Teenager don't know shit about privacy and FLOSS fuck them I don't care.

Same boat here, no one else in my school cares about their privacy. They take everything for granted. They only see the surface level of the world around them.
I would never daily drive an iPhone. Or use any of the social medias they use. Or vape, vaping is a big one here in the UK.
I do think you're a bit too hostile there though, it's important we voice our concerns and not just lose all hope for them, even if they are hostile towards us.
That fuck them mentality won't get you anywhere. Your phone is a communications device. You need others to be using free protocols and software, otherwise your phone will be useless.
Apple has better privacy features than Google.
- Nobody should trust companies with their privacy, especially when they always get away with lying and their tools are in no way auditable.
- No, not really.
I don't even like IPhones, but aren't they one of the most private?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_dispute#:~:text=The%20Apple%E2%80%93FBI%20encryption%20dispute,public%20access%20to%20strong%20encryption.
- Apple only got around to encrypting iCloud data last December.
  The FBI dispute happened because the guy in that case was not doing iCloud at all. In that sense they're private. But if you've ever had more than one iOS device or are using iCloud backups they already had access to it.
- Using iphones, you have to trust apple, because everything is closed source and no one can audit the code to make sure that apple isn't being nefarious.
  Using AOSP (the open source android project) like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, you don't have to trust--you know. All the code is open source and is continuously audited.
  The same can be said about Mac's and Windows (both closed source) compared to Linux (open source).
  Privacy is more than just a choice, it's a conscious effort.
- I appreciate you linking your source, fighting for privacy (although good) does not mean they are actually private or even secure.
  As it stands today, if you or your information is on the internet, you are vulnerable.
  Edit: I forgot to mention, there are way too many tools out there to extract information from Apple/Android devices.

Honestly, I have found teens using iOS to be more tech illiterate. Like they dont know about Piracy, Ad-blockers and stuff. Crazily believe that apple IS privacy friendly and shit like that.

These kids have been ready-made by apple to be corporate friendly. A whole generation that can't do anything if it isn't installed by the app store. Think how useful that is for corporations.
Even worse, my iOS-using teenagers know nothing about online privacy at all! Despite me paying for a family account with Bitwarden, they still use the same bloody password on all their accounts.
Waiting for the next credential stuffing attack to breach their Shit Tok account. Maybe then they'll listen to me...
- Big problem with modern software is where you aggrogate diffrent 'views' of data without making it clear what your looking at, mom gets confused where her documents run off to when they disappear from 'recently used'. Dont know how it works and it controls you.
- Yup. They dont bat an eye when posting so much info about them on Social Media and scream privacy.
I'm a lifetime android user, but if I was more concerned about privacy I would probably switch to apple. I don't think google is the one to trust here. Knowing everything about me and using that to make money is Google's job.
- If concerned about privacy you wouldn't switch to Apple - you'd actually install a custom OS on your Android phone, since you're allowed to do that on most phones.

*Why American Teen Hate Android Phones

Also I'm very glad that Lemmy is a lot less US defaultism than Reddit is. It's pretty tiring having to constantlt hear about Democrats and Republicans, or bubbles, or Nissan cars bad, you get the point.

Ah yes, news so US centric I can't even understand what's the point being made in the article, that's what I didn't miss from reddit.

It's not even US centric, it's US rich kid fashion centric. So complete hogwash and it will change in a couple years purely because old is bad.
I read the article and still can't find a real point to it myself, so you're not alone.
- The important thing is you get to act superior about it.

Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles

I know a 46 year old man who constantly complains about green bubbles in group texts. He doesn't seem to realize that it's his phone that isn't following a standard and instead has chosen to refuse the RCS standard and lock him into proprietary bullshit.

Even worse. Over a decade ago, Google offered to integrate with their protocol for a shared improved user experience. Apple forbid it.
It's not laziness on their part, or "better features" because they get to have control. They literally want the poor user experience to encourage just this kind of bullying.
- Funny thing is that Google does the same thing all the time. Back when Microsoft released Windows phone, they had made a few really amazing apps. One of them was their email app. Google went out of their way to ensure Gmail would never work on it past the basic functions of reading and sending email. They also pretty much forbid YouTube from working on windows phones.
  The email thing stuck out the most because Google announced they were dropping support to whatever protocol Microsoft was using to communicate with Gmail servers, then Microsoft announced they would use a different protocol and next week Google went "oh right we are also dropping support for this other protocol".
Sheep come in many age groups. I have an iphone for work, and I have turned off iMessage.
"why don't you have an iPhone?"
"I do, unfortunately. But turned iMessage off because it's shit."
"But now your messages come in green bubbles. It's annoying!"
"Send your message in Teams"
- "On android phones you can get different messaging apps, and on some of those apps you can change the color of the text bubbles (both send and receive) to suit your needs. If the color is really an issue for you, just change it! Oh iPhones can't do that? Shame.."
Why do you know this person? Seems like you shouldn't have to listen to anything he has to say anymore...

Not an American and couldn't care less about the scene there lmao the rest of the world uses Android

Is this US specific? Because plenty of people (kids included) use Android in our country. Samsung is the most popular I think.

It is very US specific. There are other countries where ios have a majority market share, but in most countries the majority market share is android.
- A bit like that here in UK. My job includes asking up to 150 people per day to switch off their phones. They are all late teens to middle aged. Majority are teens/early twenties. iPhones are by far the majority for younger British people. Others tend to be Samsung, Oppo or One+.
  I think its a fashion statement thing, and don't forget the teens probably have their bill paid by their parents.
Found the answer:
But the stigma regarding Android phones is mostly an American phenomenon, at least to the degree to which it affects purchase habits. Worldwide, per the same Statcounter report, Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones, holding a 71% share of sales compared with Apple’s 28%.
I'm in the US with an Android and have never actually encountered this, only heard about kids bitching about it. Adults definitely don't give a shit. It's very childish behavior.
I believe the United States are Apple's biggest market.
Yep, iPhones are not a big thing outside the US in my experience. They did not even cross 20℅ market share global until a couple years ago.
yeah this must be very american specific. most people here cant afford iphones and dont care enough over a stupid color. theres a lot of people who also swear by some android brands like samsung.
In Colombia a few years ago Xiaomi was every where. People getting an iPhone most like get a "are you paying 3 times to do the same as this other phone? You crazy" from their friends, at least I'm my social circle.
- Must be nice having a generation of entitled brats

Those teenagers are the victim of a failing educational system because they're clearly idiots.

@favrion @AlmightySnoo it's scary how unstable, impulsive, crazy, persuasive they are. I see many jobs getting destroyed after our generation. I can literally not think of how a genz is gonna be like a data analyst. I would like to see many outliers tho.
- That's funny. We said the same about you... Every gen shits on the next one. Every next gen figures it out.
- There are still smart kids out there. They are probably not wrapped up in this Android/iPhone war.
  Be careful not to group people together based on one criteria and judge them based on another.

Why would I care what teens think? Android gives me more control over my phone.

I don't think you're supposed to have your opinion swayed by what teens think but it is important to know what they think because they reflect future trends and ideals.
- They’ll vote against whatever the kids want just to pwn them, even if it ends up hurting themselves in the long run.
https://media.ccc.de/v/camp2023-57129-the_nix_phone_and_the_end_of_android
- Bold of you to assume that just because a product is better, it will overtake Android.
Because their opinion will decide what we will be using in decade or two.
- Touch luck world, i will be too out of touch to care. Full boomerism here i come!
You don’t personally have to, but some of us have kids who will have to deal with this nonsense, and the social pressure on teens is hard enough.

Honestly fuck that "blue bubble" entitlement.

The people who actually care more about what phone their friends are using enough to peer pressure them into getting a phone of a specific brand or model are about as dense as a black hole and about as smart as a bag of rocks.

Exactly. But that's the issue with everything these days.
People look down on you for all manner of things. Car clothes hair dog, job accent speech everything.
Vain is thy name. Get a grip of your life. Nobody should care.
If I don't infringe on your life then what I do should have no impact upon yours.
- Are there supposed to be commas between those words? OR is Car clothes hair dog and job accent speech everything some new hip cool thing I don't know about?

Look, I'm cheap, and I'm not swayed by Apple's smug, trendy marketing horse shit. Remember "I'm an Apple, and I'm a PC?" Who didn't want to punch that smug Apple guy in the face?

But sure, whatever. You fetuses go ahead and cling to Apple because you're told to do it with slick ad campaigns. We all fell for it too... once. Then we realized we were paying for those ads with the Apple tax, and we found better things to do with our money than subsidize paranoid Orwell fantasies and thirty second music videos.

Never owned an apple product. And never will. It's total rubbish.
It's not just fetuses and we fell for it more than once. Sega vs Nintendo, Sony vs Microsoft, any car manufacturer vs any other.
What this is, is class warfare, and a chance to build class consciousness.

@AlmightySnoo
I see this from another angle. The 99% average people using stuff like this and judging people based on the color of a txt bubble simply are not worth hanging with. I mean the whole reason I use Lemmy and mastodon and not the platforms that the 99% use is for this reason. Let your honest choices filter the crap from your life.

I really question this supposed study by an advertisement company

Didn't catch that, honestly, Who paid WSJ to make or let slip thru the editors, this artical.
what the fuck is that username

US teens are stupid.

Or are just being given slow and aweful low end android phones. IPhones will be faster and better in every way.
It was the same with laptops 10-15 years ago, people were comparing cheap 400USD laptops with 1500USD macbooks and saying thise are better without ever seeing 1000+ USD PC.
It is about money/status and performance too.
I can freely laugh at a colleague with new 1.5k USD macbook with soldered 8GB ram + soldered 512GB SSD while using my three year old thinkpad with 48GB of RAM and 2TB SSD costing the same with upgrades.
- There's probably a lot more to this than people realize. My parents definitely did this crap; give you kid the cheapest garbage that you can find them act surprised when they hate it and ask for the more expensive alternative that's nearly guaranteed to actually work.
  If you're getting your kid an iPhone then you kinda have to spend for something that's at least barely competent. Android gives you near-infinite ways to cheap out.
- This is probably it. iPhones all meet Apples standards but low end Android devices can be true garbage.
  It's like having a shitty netbook and swearing off Windows as a result.
- This was a major point in the intel mac era, but since they moved to their M-series chips, it's a lot more of an apples to oranges comparison anymore. Pixels moving to the tensor platform is similar in this regard.
- I did this; got my husband's kid a low end android phone on "pay as you go" since I knew he would either lose it or have it smashed within a few months. Was right on both accounts.
  And yes that phone was as slow as molasses.
Always have been. My generation liked Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli.

It's not the kids, the parents in my extended family all prefer iPhone's because they can't figure android out. They passed this on to their kids.

I'd be curious to know what they can't figure out with Android.
I use both on a daily basis and there's a severe lack of differentiation in experience nowadays. Both have icon based launchers, both have similar looking control centres, both have long form lists for settings pages, both have identical payments experiences, and so on.
They've stolen each other's features liberally to the point where the only real differences are in the gnarly platform specific stuff that no one really touches unless they're a super user and are mostly hidden away in settings screens.
Notifications are a bit different I guess, but even that's a stretch.
- I want to point out two things: beyond the first OS versions, the majority of design theft was by apple. Also, iOS is unintuitive AF imo. It's not even close for me. If there's something I can't figure out on android, it's typically a weird settings organizational issue I can Google in a few seconds. On iOS, the UI feels like it was designed by someone who never uses a phone like a normal person and hides or removes super common options. I feel gross trying to use an iPhone. Like I'm in a padded room with the electrical outlets covered or some shit.
- yup, phone GUIs today have converged, just like different consoles' controllers used to be distinct, and now they're all Dual Shock clones.
I've switched a few people to android. First thing I do is install a launcher that suits their needs. In the past I always recommended Nova. Now I give them the choice. Once they get the hang of the basis gestures in your launcher they 're hooked to the customizability.
- What options do you give them since nova got bought? I'm assuming nova is no longer an option you give.
yup. Apple is the platform for a small number of badass devs.... and a giant, wide ocean of old people who can't make pc's work for more than a few months because they're fucking dumb.
I get apple existing, it's the child-safe version of computing where all the angles have been smoothed off.

It's US only so it doesn't matter to the rest of the world. I don't understand how it became like that there.

Kinda hard when half your mates are unpaid ambassadors for said brand
- Get better friends who care more about you than your brand choices.
- Just sifting the trash from the treasure.
what's this meme called?
- It's a (less sexist) variation of the "silence wench" meme aimed at brand marketing. Usually you see it deployed against company owned social media profiles in protest of their invasion of a social space. However, it can also be deployed against newsvertising (advertising disguised as news articles/guides).

I was there Gandalf, I was there 1000 years ago when you had to install itunes and there was no copy/paste

Kids are dumb

I remember when multitasking was a huge deal when it was first added
- ... to the original Macintosh! Yes, I am that old.
- I remember debating the superiority of my LifeDrive versus a first or second-gen iPod touch at the time. And also eyeing a Galaxy Player. What a throwback! Oh how simple those times seem now.

It seems we've come full circle. I remember early adverts for Android phones showing a line outside an Apple store waiting for the latest iPhone. An older couple ask the youngsters in front of them if they're excited and they reply "oh no, it's not for us .. it's for our parents. We use Android".

I truly do not understand how so many people still fall for apple's pr strat. It's almost like a cult for some, when there's been competition in the premium market segment for over a decade now, that offers products that are at least as good as apple's...

Yeah they like beats too

Nah beats by dre is old school now. They just use airpods now.
The new Beats stuff actually gets reviewed pretty well now. Not that it qualifies as a hifi experience for the price, but it's at least not a complete ripoff anymore.

This is what happens when you succumb to techno AIDS.

Imagine taking the wall street journal seriously

Welp, I am the only one in class using Android, so I get some laughs. If I am going to drop Android, it will be for full fledged GNU+Linux phone. Postmarket OS already officially supports Android apps via Waydroid.

I don't see how I'd use something as restrictive as iOS. Not even being able to sideload apps without jailbreak, so Apple decides what you install.
There's so much stuff I'd miss, I'd feel like using a modern day feature phone.
How is that cool?

Not simping for Apple (I use Android) but you can sideload without jailbreak. You can do it with a free Apple dev account or with Sideloadly.
I think it speaks volumes about Apple that some people's knowledge about iPhones is based on years old info and negative experiences. Not that it matters to them.
Edit: for clarification, I think the fact you have to jump through hoops to put software on hardware you own is bullshit
- The fact that official way is still to create an account, aka ask Apple for permission is dumb.
- Don't you have to re-certify the app every 2-4 weeks or something when you sideload it?
  I'll admit it's been a while since I've looked, because I just don't care anymore about what device does what how
While I agree with the sentiment, what are some examples of the "so much stuff"? The big one for me is the red tape around browsers.
- Well, he/she mentioned installing apks from anywhere you like, for example.
  I was literally just looking 5' ago for a white noise generator app in the Play Store and struggling to find anything not ad-supported.
  Headed over to f-droid from my Firefox browser, did a search, downloaded and installed the apk directly and now I have it.
  That's a pretty awesome level of freedom.
- Sorry for the late reply, but I was asleep.
  Custom ROMs: A nice way to extend your phone's lifespan, or just get a cleaner OS
  Mifare Classic tool: I used that to clone my school lunch card for free
  Minimum width settings: Maybe iPhones have this too, I am not sure. By increasing it from default 395dp to 705dp I have basically converted my phone to tablet. Apps consider tablet anything starting with 600dp.
  LibreTorrent: Nice torrent client for Android, although you can't really seed much with mobile data since you're not connectable.
  USB storage: I can connect a Flash drive or HDD to my phone. Cool.
  Speaking of that, MLUSB mounter: Unfortunately paid and closed source, but mod APKs exist :) (unsafe). Since Linux kernel on Android is so limited, it brings support to extra file systems like NTFS and even UDF allowing you to use DVD or Blu-ray drive for browsing files on discs.
  Speaking of USB, NokoPrint: Again, sadly closed-source app, but at least you don't have to unlock features. It allows me to print on my old HP printer directly from phone via USB with all the settings HPLIP provides.
  Robot36: If I happen to hear SSTV transmission, I can use this nice decoder. It is open-source.
  noaa-apt: This one isn't an app, but it can be compiled for ARM in Termux. It decodes APT transmissions from NOAA-15, 18 and 19 weather satellites they transmit in 137MHz band.
  Termux: What I just mentioned above. And if I learn to configure it, Apache webserver, because why not.
  Simple HTTP server: A slow but simple HTTP server app. Useful from sharing files to a full website on phone.
  Matsuri: A really awesome proxy client
  Android proxy server: Again, this could probably be done in Termux, but there's an app for it. Useful for sharing a VPN connection with other computers. Or setup TCP relay to Orbot. Or both. Or maybe using your phone's internet connection on school network with school computers. It allows for basic username password authentication.
  F-Droid: More FOSS apps
  USB Camera: Chinese app with ads that made me start using NextDNS. Allows me to comnect USB Composite capture card to phone and play NES games. Or a HDMI capture card from laptop. Or an actual camera. It can also run a server with the video feed. Easily allows changing between all supported resolutions and formats.
  Screen stream: How about screencasting over HTTP? Sadly it doesn't support audio.
  Limbo x86 PC emulator: Slow but fun to play with. Why not try Windows 98 on my phone, right? Even Windows 7 somewhat ran on it.
  J2ME Loader: Let's replay those old Java games I played on my Sony Ericsson.
  SDR++: Remember noaa-apt? How about recording it on your phone? A full on SDR (software defined radio) desktop experience. Although support for devices is limited on Android. Airspy, HackRF, RTL-SDR. I use it with RTL-SDRv3. The cheapest and most common SDR.
  SatDump: A universal satellite decoder to use with your SDR. There's also Meteor in 137MHz band transmitting digital imagery. And if you get a satellite dish and L-Band helical feed (with correct polarization - remember dish is a mirror, it reverses it) there's a lot better imagery to get and additional satellites: Metop-B and Metop-C. But RTL-SDR isn't optimal for these higher bandwidths anymore. Consider something like AirSpy Mini.
  SDRAngel: SDR app that tries to do everything. Unfortunately, it doesn't have scaling settings, so you'll have a hard time using it on phone.
  Welle.io: Does your country have DAB/DAB+ radio broadcast, but you don't have a receiver? Well say no more! It is time to use your RTL-SDR for that. If you got the generic one (like $10) it saves you money that you would otherwise pay for a standalone receiver. The cost returns!
  dump1090: An ADS-B receiver. Have you ever checked FlightAware or ADS-B exchange? How about getting that information yourself, directly from airplanes? Well you can do that with planes that are in sight.
  Maybe I could find some more stuff, this is what I'd miss the most.

Idk, these seem to be first world country problems

In rapidly and non rapidly developing countries, we have brands like realmeme(realme), tecnologically braindead(tecno) and xiaomeme(xiaomi) take over

iCrytoSleeps(iPhones) are alright but people here like to be conservative with their money. Ironically they look at good specs since mobile gaming is all the rage here

I personally daily drive a oneplus one, to spite people like the ones mentioned in the post

India?
- I am in India, yes
I never got my hands on oneplus one. I got an invite to oneplus two though and used that until oneplus 7 was released. I had to upgrade because my bank app wasn't supported on the old Android version.
- Nice! Solid phone!
  Aftermarket buttons and back covers are really easy to get for that phone

Perfect timing for this ~~Apple propaganda~~ "journalism," as Apple is releasing another phone and have openly stated they don't expect it to sell well.

Maybe they could improve more than 1-2 tiny things that have already been implemented by Android phones 5 years ago. That might help them sell a few more, although it would cut into their "new" features the following year. Oh, I know! Take something away! That always gets them a lot of exposure. Maybe a phone without speakers this time?
- That would actually be great. Fewer douchbags having speakerphone conversations in public

Marketing, and the fact that phones are now super boring, everything is web based, there's no more cool apps, everything is just a frontend for some web service, or a damn webview.

The historical feature gap between Androids and iPhones is mostly gone, and since the tech doesn't matter anymore, marketing can go a long way.

The article is also very us centric, in places where cost matters more, the iPhone is seen as a status symbol, just like every other thing that costs a lot for no reason.

I dont really like android. Symbian and even windows phones performed better on inferior hardware. Their weird lifecycle seems to me wasteful and blurs the line between what's running or not. It only became stable once hardware got way better. It's a shame that every other option failed. because the only thing worse than android is an apple controlled environment.

But WHY? God I can not understand why someone would willingly use iOS. I have both an Android and iPhone and every time I pick up the iPhone I wonder why anyone would use this willingly.

Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.

So I've heard this sentiment a lot, and at one point it certainly was true, but are teens still texting these days at all? I swear almost everyone moved to instant messaging over Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, etc.

Anecdote: The local high school I see nearly no one using the built in text messaging system. WhatsApp is the thing I see most often. Quite a few use Signal.
I have even heard once that, "You use iMessage to text your parents or your FBI agent."
So you may be on to something. But obvious YMMV in general.
- Some of them at least known what's up and got the attitude to express it! Love it!
- …what? In the US? Weird, every single person I’ve ever known in my 24 years of living in this country exclusively uses iMessage, unless they’re from another country ofc.
The article is obviously about US teens. In Europe it does indeed feel out of touch.
From these stats it seems 17% of US adults use iMessage. Also from Android Authority:
The key to understanding the green bubble phenomenon is found in a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The research highlights huge growth in recent US iPhone sales in the 18-24 age bracket. Gen Z iPhone adoption has jumped from 47% in 2018 to 74% in 2021 — meanwhile, ownership rose slightly from 34% to 40% in the same period for those over 24. Internal Apple research claims that iPhone users predominantly use iMessage (85% of users) and so iMessage’s US user base continues to grow. This is especially so in younger age groups — and with it, the pressure to keep using the same platform as their peers.
It's as I guessed: bullying people due to Apple's choice to segregate iMessage and not use open source standards.

Great clickbait title from them. This is a US / NA specific issue and thankfully isn't fully reflective everywhere else

Ah great, so Apple won. They have a gynormus mass of imbeciles addicted to a logo. Good to know.

I love ruining your group chats!

You're telling me in 2023, kids are using "Droid" again to refer to Android?

I hadn't heard that since they literally first came out.

Also, this isn't surprising. It was assumed that younger generations, those growing up with PCs, Tablets, Smartphones, etc, would become inherently skilled with their use. Turns out that was entirely false because it also turns out people don't want to learn what they aren't interested in. So if you don't care about anything more than TikTok, Insta, and Snapchat, then you don't learn anything more than what is necessary to operate them. And Apple makes this very easy in terms of not needing to relearn even an iota between their models. Android cannot say the same.

Isnt "Droid" a Motorola trademark or something?
- I believe that Disney/Star Wars actually owns the trademark on the word "Droid" and they make money on every droid-phone sold.

Mom, I'm tired of having software choices! I need to be locked into an ecosystem immediately!!

You are assuming they know about and care about those issues. The teens in my life don't care.
- You are assuming I should be taken at face value :)

Kids are dumb

They aren't. They're just easily manipulated.
- They are actually pretty dumb too

This literally translates how dumb kids become by just abstracting everything from them, having little to no digital literacy, having little to no customisation, hands on. Fuck you apple, Fuck you iToddlers

My kids both have android phones (cheap ones) and if they demanded iPhones I'd tell them to gtfo. But my kids aren't brats and are content with their phones they have - cheap Samsungs - that are capable of running all the crap they're into - Tiktok, Snapchat, Whatsapp etc. Why would they even need anything more powerful?

Maybe there are private schools where phone snobbery is a thing and rich parents indulge their brats every desire. Maybe in that environment an iPhone holds an allure that an Android cannot match. But there are plenty of weird premium Android phones - flip phones, folding phones etc. so maybe that is nonsense too. If I were a spoiled brat with rich parents I might be demanding mommy & daddy buy me a Z Fold to show off. If my parents were super rich I might be demanding they get me a designer phone like a Vertu.

They must love having to ask their parents for a new phone every couple of years because they can't install apps due to their phone being out of date

Just idiots applying peer pressure to get others down to their level.

Tell me more about this Pinephone.
- It has no apps. But it runs Linux!!!
  So is it awesome or shitty?
  Yes.
Don't know if you've already heard about this or not, but I highly recommend looking into GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel. GrapheneOS is fewer headaches than lineageos, and the Pixel is easier to acquire. On the whole, it ends up being more privacy focused as well, despite the irony of being a Google phone.

I saw a young American tech YouTuber, he would get an old iphone SE as a backup phone just so he could use iMessage with his friends. I'm not judging though, i think iPhones are nice devices just very limited.

I hate iPhones, teaches people to be slaves to their surroundings
- slaves to their surroundings
  That Could mean anything, my inturpritation of what you said is "slaves to wherever way the wind blows them." Feel free to correct me.
- LOL
It's nuts to me that teens use iMessage and not something secure they can hide from their parents.
- Teens have no idea what privacy is.

Nothing makes me cringe more than kids who buy an Apple device and pretend they own it.

Status symbol VS smartphone, a phone isn't smart if you can't sideload apps or flash a custom rom.

The lion is not concerned by the opinion of a sheep.

My little brother has an Android (like the rest of my family) and he hates it. For the longest time he has been begging for an iPhone.

Does he hate it because it’s a cheap phone or because it’s not cool?
- Mostly because it's a cheap phone, but I also think it's because Android is percieved as "uncool" by his peers.
  Sometimes his old phone would glitch out occasionally and he'd say stuff like "This wouldn't have happened if I had an iPhone!"
- My little brother didn't like android because it was too complicated. I think some people just aren't interested in having to go figure android out is all. I like the extra options but not everyone wants that.
Install YouTube ReVanced, Firefox with adblocker and Emulators+Roms and if he still hates it disown his ass cuz I don't know what to say. For me iOS is not an option.

Consumer fetishism

Apple just has good marketing honestly, growing up it was pretty rare to give out your number so I message wasn't really a thing. The main driver honestly is marketing. Androids are seen as cheap, iphones are seen as rich. The UI is sleek and magical. The ecosystem just works, and services like airdrop are ubiquitous. I fear we might see all major flagship players step out of the US as gen z gets older and android being branded in the US as exclusively budget and IOT.

Also I don't think teens see a flagship that often honestly, like a galaxy S23 Ultra would likely not get any hate until they joined a group chat
- Exactly, we are looking at teenage kids. They all inherit old iPhones hand me downs or cheap refurbish. A 15y.o. girl in the article brags that she uses an iPhone 11 because that's what all her friends have. That phone has hold up pretty well and is a capable texting, photo and phone call machine. But any ~$300 Samsung will give it a run for its money. This is just marketing brain rot to which kids are far more susceptible than adults.

With the amount of ads and influence put on kids these days, it's really not surprising at all. They aren't even making the choice themselves.

Your comment explains exactly why saying "kids are dumb" is too reductive. We dont have to all be rocket scientists, but there is a bar that most humans naturally surpass. The most gross people on this earth want to artifitially put people below that bar and keep them as slaves and/or pets. Wether they have suceeded is debateable. Im describing addictive things. Sadly, Youtube, a home for real and fake people alike to make interesting stuff, doesnt matter because the site uses content as bait, a system to keep you hooked.

Phones have gotten to the point now where switching to an iPhone would be an inconvenience since I'm somewhat bought into the android ecosystem, but other than that, I genuinely wouldn't care that much. It's amazing how little there is between them now.

My stepson announced that he was going to save money to buy an iphone, and these are incredibly expensive in Brazil. We don't even have that blue/green bubble nonsense here, because everyone uses whatsapp and teens use discord or twitch or whatever when they're on their pcs.

Anyway, we give him a 50bucks allowance per month, so I said ok, good luck saving your lunch money for two years to get one if you want it so badly.

I own a Pixel 7 but I hate that you always have to reach a compromise on something. This time it's the SOC. The Tensor G2 is a toaster. I looked for the Galaxy S23 and it has camera issues with shutter lag.

iToddlers are liked by kids. News at 11

Please don't antagonize people for liking different things. Thanks.

That's when you give them a flip phone then see how they feel about the android when they earn it back.

Because flaunting your smug and condescending sense of superiority using outdated technology will really get your point across to disaffected teens.
How about we let that mindset die with the boomer generation?

I don't think that's applicable to Germany for example. We have plenty Android-Phones here and ppl aren't using iMesage really.

Yeah I think this survey was done in US only. In Europe everyone uses what they prefer and no one has problem with your OS choice

I don’t think it truly matters what phone you use so long as you’re satisfied with it.

I started with a Nokia and migrated to the galaxy s2 then a HTC. After some time I switched over to an iPhone 5 and then spent a couple years with a middle of the road android who’s brand I have not even committed to memory. My current is an iPhone 11 which I’m pleased with.

All this to say, I think there’s weird cultism around the android ecosystem that is, to me, offputting. Wave your flag with pride sure, but no need to poo poo someone else’s yum all the while.

Edit: I just looked at what community I commented in…

In Spain nobody uses SMS since 2010's (or iMessage), IM's go mostly on WhatsApp and lately some Telegram

Article bought to you by Apple™️

Get a job, earn money, then you can have your Iphone

No one give a shit about iMessage. I've watched my kids exclusively communicate with their friends via Snapchat and discord.

I wonder what the numbers are for the rest of the world. it seems to me that Androids are much more popular at the far reaches of the EU e.g.

Teenagers are well known to do everything differently in a way of rebellion to the majority. So, the majority has Android phone. Right!

Just a note to all you can do the same thing with web.archive.org since archive.today (and all its associated other TLDs) is clearly doing with your info. They purposely won't respond to CloudFlare DNS requests because CloudFlare doesn't release extra information about you. The Archive owner released some half-assed story about per-country requirements, but DNS is the worst way to enforce that programmatically. So there is something shady there. Archive.today is shady in regards to your privacy. So if you're using CloudFlare DNS, you'll just get repeated captcha's because Archive.today doesn't follow correct DNS standards.

I'm of course open to edit and put a better alternative to archive.today, but web.archive.org doesn't bypass paywalls, all it does is archiving, it won't try all the things archive.today does like rendering the page inside a headless browser with some JavaScript disabled.

Conspicuous consumption in a nutshell.

This enrages me more than it should

So the best thing that android does -- allowing choice -- is your issue with them? What you're asking for here is the apple business model. Absolute control. No thanks.
If your issue is you can't figure out which android phone is good, that's a you problem. Online reviews exist. Not that hard to research a phone ...

install only stock AOSP Android
In what world would this be a good idea? I much prefer OneUI over AOSP for example. Option to easily opt-in for unlocking bootloader and flash stock ROM would be a good thing though.

Ouch? Who gives a fuck about the hormonal opinions of naive teenagers?

Teenagers do not have fully developed brains, literally, not an insult, their brains are not finished developing. Their brains are inferior to fully formed adult brains, certain individuals may be brighter than others but still inferior to their adult selves. Their opinions should mean nothing to you.

I like my iPhone… but that’s because I’m used to Apple stuff, and I can get a good deal on the things. Judging people is stupid. You gotta admit, the Galaxy Z Flip is pretty damn cool.

I hear a lot of iPhone users in agreement that that phone is one of the first ones that has made them even briefly consider what life on the other side would be like.
But all of them also say they'll just wait for Apple to do it. I'm not convinced they will, but only time will tell.

You pay over $1000 for a iPhone? Pretty fucking cringe if I do say so.

I tried a full phone cycle on Android. A Wileyfox Swift. I stuck with it for 4 years. I’ve dealt with a handful of Android tablets. I still have to wrangle Android on fire sticks.

I love to mess around with electronics but holyshit never again. These are devices that need to work and perform, I got so damn tired messing with Lineage and TWRP - the alternative being the zero updates from the manufacturer. The whole stack is a janky mess, and a moving target in terms of security and performance. Flagship phones that might stay current and perform well for a couple of years? Wtf?

So many android apps are dogshit. There’s no minimum bar to entry. Malicious apps sneak onto the play store. Out of date apps linger around.

My phone is not a project piece. It’s an essential device. Apple gives me a stringently vetted App Store, strong privacy controls, dependable hardware and performance. They expose the settings that I need and optimise everything else. My iPhone works and does it’s job with far less painful maintenance. I’m definitely willing to trade some freedom for that utility.

Not only that but Apple hasn’t tried to drm the open web lately. Are you sure this is consumerism and peer pressure? And not a dogshit software stack with poor performance, security and hardware driving away the users who are most engaged with their devices?

Do I care what phone you’re using? No. But I think bullshit click bait articles which effectively denigrate an entire demographic for the sake of instigating a tired back and forth about apples vs oranges should stay on the other side of the fucking paywall.

Did you really just compare an iPhone to some hacked version of an android phone? No shit it'll perform better. And complaining that you can't stop yourself from installing bad applications so you need Apple to stop you is kind of a weird flex. Just be a responsible computer owner. Don't just install anything because it's there. Be aware of what you install.
And it's kind of funny how you denigrate the other phone yourself and get mad that someone else did it towards your phone. Dont try too hard defending your decisions.
- No I did not and the Swift was (at the time) an official lineage target. It performed well, but the amount of work and effort it took to attain and maintain that performance was simply unacceptable to me. I like the concept of Android and I like how open it is but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be an apologist for it’s shortcomings. Of which there are many. I would love to be able to justify using an android device but it is just not a rational choice for me. And it would seem many others.
  Denigrating something is by definition unfair criticism - and I don’t think even the most evangelical of android fans can support the mediocre manufacturer support and security history of the platform.
- I think it's a pretty fair comparison because in order to get the lifespan that I expect out of my hardware (3-5+ years), on Android I need to install a custom ROM just to get security updates.
  Meanwhile Apple is still publishing updates for devices even 10 years old sometimes.
  Yes, I know Google is starting to commit to 5 years of security updates, but if you bought a Pixel phone last year (like I did) then there's a decent chance that yours still only came with 3 years of updates. So if you want a similar level of service then you end up having to do a lot of work yourself to make it happen.
Honestly the only thing Apple vets is that the app maker isn’t trying to weasel their way around Apple’s cut of the revenue. They’ll 100% catch it if you have a link to your sign-up page instead of using in-app purchase, but if you want to make an app called Threads and scam 300,000 people’s info, go nuts.
The Google Store is no better, but if I gave 1000 people money to spend on software, the ones who would be scammed out of the most are the people using these app stores. It’s an absolute travesty that Apple continues to get so much mileage out of their bullshit claims about their strict and thorough review process.
Also, I think it’s kind of hilarious that you just want a phone to work without you needing to mess with it, and then your phone cycle with Android sucked because you apparently picked something called the WileyFox Swift and started fucking around with bootloader replacements.
- Except that somehow it just keeps happening to google:
  https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/android-malware-infiltrates-60-google-play-apps-with-100m-installs/amp/
  https://www.wionews.com/technology/google-deletes-50-apps-after-joker-malware-attack-users-should-delete-them-if-they-are-installed-501251
  https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-warning-these-malicious-apps-had-over-a-million-downloads-from-google-play/
  Whatever Apple is doing, you just don’t see this level of compromise on iOS. It’s not just that the google store is no better, it seems to be so much worse.
  The Wileyfox Swift was a rebadged device from an ODM, and at the time was quite well known and liked because the company was UK based and touted responsive local support. The hardware was good and the software support certainly no worse than any other at the time. The frustration of using it came from the problems inherent in the android stack, not the device itself.
  I wanted to use android and I tried my best to make it a rational choice. The issues I encountered applied all the same to phones many times the price I paid, hence making iOS my only option. All these years later most of those core issues persist.

That's a gringo problem.

another thing with the iPhone/Apple ecosystem is everyone having roughly the same experience for a given generation... the android platform is a wild west of varying degrees of hardware performance and capabilities. take a cheap ass carrier branded phone vs. an S23 ultra... both are running the same underlying android OS, but the carrier phone is going to be a barebones platform barely capable of running anything other than the OS... and then you factor in how well the manufacturer integrated their crapware on top of android, people willingly pay the Apple tax for a reason. personally, i'd never give up my s23u for an iPhone, but i'm also not Apple's target demographic.

Yeah, this is my takeaway as well. I'm willing to bet teens aren't opposed to Android itself, but rather "oh your mom only got you the $200 budget phone lol"

Well now that a bunch of dumbass teems don't like my phone, guess I'll get rid of it.

Apple and Android developers go about creating their experiences in different ways. Android developers look at specs on a piece of paper. They want the highest and best specs and customization, so that, on paper, when compared side by side, there devices appear to be objectively better than iPhone.

Apple on the other hand, looks more into the psychology of how or why people do what they do, and how they interact with their devices. They take the “thought” out of it, so anyone can pick it up and figure it out.

I think Apples way speaks to people on a subconscious level, where it’s just a fluid pleasant experience all around, but people have difficulty figuring out WHY they prefer iPhones.

This makes people believe that the only reason people might buy an iPhone is because they want to appear “cool” and are victims of good marketing