Android

Over the course of 14 years, I had five different iPhones: 3GS in 2009, iPhone 4S in 2011, iPhone 6 in 2014, an iPhone XS in 2018 and now a work-only phone owned by my company which I don't know the model of - I barely use it. I also had a brief Android-spell from mid-2010 until the release of the 4S with an HTC Legend which was a truly awful experience, and turned me off from Android for a long time until I bought a Fairphone 4 for personal use end of last year and installed CalyxOS on it. No regrets making the switch.

But yeah, I liked iPhones for a while. My prejudice against Android was unfortunate, but HTC Legend was a truly awful phone that lost support for updates quickly after I got it, and was also not prioritized by the modding community. I was going to get an HTC Desire, but they were sold out at the time, and I was about to go into the military, so waiting was not an option. If I got the Desire, I think the experience would've been better, but instead I sat with the impression that you could not count on long-term support for Android-devices, and that the hardware was rubbish.

I adopted iPhones at the same time as I departed from my teenage more tech-oriented years in favor of more social stuff at high school and university, so avoiding spending time on customization through the whole "you get what exactly we want you to get"-vibe of Apple worked fine for me then. It is the same shit that eventually drove me mad and made me ditch both iOS and macOS last year in favor of Android and Linux.

The hardware itself is quite good. They lasted increasingly longer for my use, but battery performance was shit towards the end and I was not going to spend a fortune changing the battery. My new phone has an easily changeable battery. Other than repairability, new features of smartphones have not excited me for many years.

The Apple ecosystem never really worked for me. I had iCloud only because the price point was much better than Dropbox for my use when I made the change. Other than that I really didn't use much of their stuff, which made the transition a lot easier than it could've been. Exporting iCloud-stuff from a non-Apple device was a chore though... But since I also did not use much of the ecosystem, that was also a big "why bother"-point. But my main grievance is the lack of openness and control over your own device. I also have an old iPad now that sits with no use cases, because I can't get a recent enough iOS-version installed, and I can't install another operating system as far as I know. It's so wasteful.

I've had both iPhones and Androids at several points in my life (just recently switched from and iPhone 11 to an S23 Ultra).

For the most part, I find Android devices to be plain better. More features, more freedom... you know, the usual. The only thing I find to be better on the iPhones is that, as a frontend developer and someone who loves seeing nice UX on apps, I feel like 3rd party native apps are usually much better and much more frequent on Apple devices than on Android ones. When I participate in macOS development communities, it also feels like devs enjoy much more developing for macOS/iOS/iPadOS than the alternatives.

But as said, as a device, I much rather prefer Android phones.

I love not having features!

I would never own one. I don't like closed systems that try to lock my data away. Also, the inflexible UI sucks.

I didn't really care much about other people's preferences until this past weekend at my Aunt's celebration of life gathering. My cousin insisted on sending photos taken there via iMessages (translation: group mms) instead of posting somewhere or using email. Blurry is an understatement. Those photos are useless.

I would miss the ability to multitask by split screening apps or doing floating app with my S23U. I would miss my spen which I use to take quick notes, and then can slot back into the phone which even the iPad Pros can't do. I would miss having a non Safari browser like Firefox and its addons. I would miss the easy access to foss apps like NewPipe, and apps not allowed on the Apple store like tachiyomi, emulators, and torrent clients. I would miss that syncthing type apps don't properly work for syncing across different platforms. I would miss the launcher, since I'm not a fan of Apple launcher and app library aesthetics. I would miss the Android folder system's easy access to everything in there compared to the iPhone. I would miss one hand operation+ method of navigating over Apple gestures.

I would like the long term updates of the iPhone though. Using the iPad though made me never want to get an iPhone.

At first it was cost. Android phones and tablets were (and mostly still are) less expensive. Now that I have used both, I very much prefer Android devices.

For most people I'm sure the difference is negligible or maybe they even find Apple devices easier to use. For me iOS has always been a struggle between what I want to do and what the software requires before it will do it. Although Android devices are not as open as they once were, they are far more customizable than the iPhone.

I've been an android user since I've been using smartphones. Out of curiosity I tried an iPhone 13 pro recently for about 3 days. I couldn't believe how ugly and unpolished a lot of the 3rd party and Google apps are on IOS. After hearing for years about how refined iOS UI is, I was shocked. I guess aesthetics aren't that important to iPhone users? It was enough to make me gratefully return to my S22.

I had no small amount of issues with the one iPhone I ever owned, and have had no interest in trying a new one since switching to android. I'm further discouraged from even giving one a shot because of how difficult Apple made it to switch to android the first time, so if I didn't like the phone I'd have to jump through hoops to switch back. That being said, I will never care what kind of phone someone else uses. If you've had great experiences with iPhones, I'm happy you found something you like.

Still running and iPhone XS, battery still lasts all day, still as fast as when I got it. Definitely some annoying things with it but much longer lives than any Android I owned in the past

Design: best Advertisment: best User experience: best Reliability: best Privacy from propietary crap in app store: best Privacy from Apple: non existing User freedom: worst

I would consider getting an iPhone if they went back to making cheap plastic phones again like the 5C.

Otherwise they're just too fragile and expensive. That's the real problem I have with iPhones, you either pay a lot of money for a fragile phone or you don't have an iPhone. They don't provide another option anymore.

With Android you can run the gambit from a plastic phone that is $50, it'll be slow but it will run apps, right up to $5,000 phones with folding screens. Admittedly most of them are made by Samsung.

My first smart phone was a used iPhone 3, loved it at first but after a bit i switched to an Android. I have been an Android user since then... Until this February when i dumped my dying moto Z4 for an iPhone 14 Pro. I was so sick of being behind on os updates and security patches.

I did custom ROMs for years so i would have all of that stuff, but sometimes an update would break everything so i had to hope my backup worked, or that i remembered to make a back up at all. All of my uSD cards were full of backups and different ROM downloads, i decided when i got the Z4 i was staying stock, i never even rooted or unlocked the bootloader. I kept having to wipe the phone and reinstall everything or it would run like shit.

So have been on both sides and prefer the iPhone. The logic being that I have no advanced needs that require the adaptability of android. If I wanted to root a phone for more control then iPhone would not be the way to go.

In the past the big turn off for android was carriers adding spyware (ie Facebook, etc) by default that required rooting to get rid of.

@MargotRobbie I used iPhones for 7 years when they first came out. Almost always kept it jailbroken where possible. Eventually switched to Android and I found I could do the things out of the box, that previously required jailbreak with iPhone. Around that time, Android UX had caught up to iPhone as well. Custom app stores (F-Droid), custom launchers and more.

Eventually got sick of Android too. Now I use #lineageos (only a subtle difference) and now I feel like I actually own my smartphone.

Apple is winning the communications game and I'm afraid I'll wind up switching once they go usb c. I'm sick and tired of the iMessage walled garden when messaging nearly everyone I know, and also tried of the hit or miss debacle of rcs. I will miss the customization freedom (currently using Niagara launcher and it's super unique ux), but Android phones have deleted all of the other benefits that separated them from iPhones, like expandable storage, ir blasters, headphone jacks, etc. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I'm sick of waiting for this all to be worked out. Before anyone says to use signal or Whatsapp, etc, it just isn't a standard here in the US. Folks will never switch off iMessage.

I got 3GS when it was new, after 1 month it was more at the service then in my pocket. I guess I was unlucky, but they replaced for a new device which died after connecting it to a cheap power bank. They said I spilled the water on it, but I didnt. Looking at USB cable it was at the end of the life after short time. Im sure I was unlucky and I believe many things changed in meantime, but Ill never buy iphone again. Never had bad experience with smartphones, before or after iphone, even with low end cheap models

I've only ever had two iPhones, my 5S, and the 13 I got from work.

All of the issues surrounding the phone are still present, and with no loss of quality in any way on Android I don't see why I'd ever choose to spend the money on something that I'm mostly paying for the name on.

I have some nostalgia for when they introduced the appstore. Aaaand that's where the nice things I have to say end.

I've been back and forth between Android and iOS several times, I'm happy with either these days.

I use services that work on both platforms like GMail/Cal/Contacts, Dropbox free (10GB)/oneDrive + Cryptomator, Bitwarden, 2FAS, Signal/WhatsApp, etc. There's no lock-in on either platform as far as I'm concerned and I can switch over in half an hour and keep going.

I charge my phones with an ancient 7W Qi pad, batteries usually last 3-4 years before any degradation is mildly noticeable, at which time getting a store to replace it is trivial or I sell the old phone and buy a new one - Apple/Samsung/Google, whatever takes my fancy.

I borrowed an old iphone 4 (or was it iphone 5? Can't tell the difference) about 7 years ago when i had to send my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact in for repair). Couldn't get it to work thw way i wanted it to. There was no way to properly configure the notifications. I think i could not have the vibration on for messages but not calls or something silly.

I also don't like being forced to install itunes just to copy music from my computer to phone. No idea if that is still the case nowadays.

There are people who like that convenience and that's ok.