Why haven't you switched to iPhone?

[Morty2264]

The only thing really appealing to me about iPhone is the camera. Having come from BlackBerry and eventually switching to Android, I just don't feel comfortable on an iPhone. The OS is annoying to me. I do love my MBP and Apple TV, but that's about it for me. My son has an iPhone, my daughter has an iPad mini (that's basically never used), but I can never see myself switching to an iPhone.

Agreed. There is no question that Apple is top notch when it comes to camera, music and iTunes, etc. Other than iMessage, those are the qualities I respect the product for; but that's about it.

 

[Rukbat]

Special case -

I used to write Apple software, back in the days of the original Mac. The deal from Apple was that if you spent a couple of months income to buy their books (a list of every single API in the Mac) and used the APIs exclusively (other than what you wrote), they'd "never break" your software.

Forward a few years and they're using the Power PC chip - and none of the old software would work. Nor could it easily be ported - the APIs were all different. Thanks to Apple, I lost tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of dollars worth of work.

So if Apple makes it, I don't buy it. If they want to reimburse me at today's value maybe I'll change my mind, but as it stands, I don't even want to know how iOS works from the user's viewpoint.

If not for that, I might be using an iPhone. Or not. I haven't even looked at the specs of one yet.

 

[dc52ltr]

I agree with everything you said. Freedom of choice is huge, and I like that on Android Central we can give an unbiased review of a device and if it sucks, we can say that, because we're not biting the hand that feeds.
Totally get what you mean about status symbols. I love my Nexus 6P and I love that every time I pull it out someone asks what it is.

Same here..freedom of choice(and I have a 6P too)...my Son and his wife recently blessed us with a beautiful Granddaughter and had some gorgeous photos taken of her.They were on a usb dongle and he asked me to print them off.I asked for the dongle and using a small usb A to usb C connecter immediately transferred them to my phone and using wifi printed them for him...try getting photos off a usb dongle to an iphone,or playing a movie from a dongle on an iphone...as far as I know,it can`t be done ,took seconds on my Android phone.

 

[ab304945]

Because i dont like Apple. I despise itunes. I like the freedom you get with android. Plus more features to.

 

[ajb1965]

I switched over to iOS for a while after the note 7. I'd never used it before and I actually enjoyed it. I was surprised at how well the Google apps work in iOS, albeit not as tightly integrated. If the iPhone 7Plus was readily available at the time I probably would have stuck around. I'm sure I'll go back to it again. I like switching things up. It keeps things interesting. I even keep a Windows phone around for fun. That's the OS I wish would have made it big. There was a lot to like in it. Le sigh.....

 

[spawndoodling]

I bought an iPad Pro earlier this year in anticipation of switching to the iPhone, before I ultimately settled with the Pixel. I don't mind iOS as a tablet (just as I don't mind using macOS), but I'm really tied into the Google ecosystem. Sure, Google apps work well with iOS, but just try and share a photo from Google Photos to another app on iOS. It's a hassle.

Also, Android just does a lot of day-to-day things better, which makes doing things on the road more efficient. Android has batch notifications; iOS doesn't. Google Now and OK Google are substantively and functionally better than Siri. Google gives you better results, and the "OK Google" voice detection comes in handy a lot. And Android just gives you a lot more freedom in an easier way. Full-functioned, third-party password managers, for example, can overlay over existing apps to auto-fill your username and password. SwiftKey and other third-party keyboards work seamlessly and Android doesn't revert to the original iOS keyboard in certain instances. You get Chat Heads with Facebook Messenger, which iOS still doesn't allow. Google Maps just works a hell of a lot better and is extraordinarily powerful on Android. The new Android Auto on your phone is just boss.

Don't get me wrong--Android has its share of gripes. There's no iMessage-like system, so there's no easy way to access SMS/MMS on your computer. Lots of friends (and family) are stuck in the iOS ecosystem, so they use software (iMessage, FaceTime et al.) that doesn't work with Android and it's annoying (sometimes). Lag has been Android's kryptonite for years, though the Pixel seems to have fixed that. Snapchat is still garbage on Android and likely will be for the future.

I also think that I just buy into Google's business model and philosophy more than I do Apple's. Apple is all about proprietary and forcing customers to adopt their way of doing things. For example, I bought the Apple Pencil to annotate a lot of PDFs for work and was just flabbergasted at the fact that I had to plug in my Apple Pencil into the Lightning port on my iPad Pro to charge the damn thing. Apple's Lightning port works with nothing but Apple. Apple keeps their entire ecosystem inside iOS.

Google, on the other hand, is alright with replicating their experiences on Android and iOS. They give you more freedom and more choices. And that matters to a power user.

 

[Golfdriver97]

The only thing really appealing to me about iPhone is the camera.

Have you had a chance to play around with a Pixel camera?

 

[Inders99]

Have you had a chance to play around with a Pixel camera?

Or the S7 camera too.

 

[Inders99]

My house is an Apple house, we have everything from routers to pads iMacs et al, but I just don't get the iPhone appeal. You're stuck in someone else's idea of what a phone should be without the ability to make it "yours". The Android system is so flexible that everyone can set the phone up to their own tastes and it gets better and more fluid each day.

 

[ultravisitor]

I HAVE switched. I did so over a year ago. Not sorry in the least, either, especially since I never have to use iTunes for anything. I don't even have the iTunes app on my phone.

I will only switch back for a Pixel.

 

[Josiah23]

I was tempted when the iPhone 7 came out because it is a beautiful phone, but I held my ground here with Android. I love the customizability and Android environment. I also develop android apps and I didn't want to switch to the ios platform and start from scratch or start with something i'm not 100% comfortable with, maybe I'll have a backup iphone in the mere future and it'll be easier getting use to.

 

[nahoku]

I simply dislike (strongly!) Apple as a company. Had a bad taste since the 80's. 35 years later and I will still not own a Mac or an iPhone.

 

[nucks26]

Maybe you have an Android ecosystem that would be disrupted if you switched. Maybe you just hate Apple.

I've switched back and forth over the years, but something always keeps me coming back to Android, and I'm not sure I can put my finger on it (though this last time was because my iPhone 7 was buggy as hell).

What keeps you Android?

Easily Android's customization for me. However, I still think iOS is more polished than android. Less bugs, less crashes. My iOS devices feel more reliable to me for some reason. I've had android devices fail on me at the most annoying times. Everytime I pick up an iOS device it always works as expected without any hiccups, and it doesn't need the CPU power that an android device needs to run smoothly.

 

[anon(50597)]

Agree with most people. I like the freedom of choice and customization. I do understand why people like iPhone though. It's simple and works. For some (my wife) that's good enough. Good to have choices.

 

[abelandrew]

All of the above!
-Apple is expensive for no reason at all.
-Android is easier to use
-Apple makes you pay for everything
-Apple is harder to integrate.

 

[Evelyn12]

Apple music need paying ,and i don't like its new system.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Most of my family and friends have Apple devices (few use Samsung) but I'm still quite content using Android phones and tablets.

Main reasons why I haven't switched:

*wide range of hardware options
*more versatile media device
*more sharing options
*UI customization/custom ROMs
*superior multitasking
*proper file management

 

[Inders99]

iOS is more polished than android. Less bugs, less crashes. My iOS devices feel more reliable to me for some reason.

What applications are you using that cause your phone to crash? I can't remember the last time my phone crashed, seriously. If everything else I owned was as reliable as my phone I'd be in good shape.

 

[anon(10092459)]

What keeps me on Android? Mostly the fact that I have zero need to switch off. I don't have a ton of purchased apps anchoring my on Android, so that's not much of a pull. But I have all the apps I need... and I have a lot of data stuffed into my Google account... music, years of gathered and tabulated data, etc...

Google Now has become an integral part of my life, from looking out for my commute, keeping track of my bills, appointments, etc. Now iOS does have a lot of that functionality, but Google's stuff runs best on, well, Google's stuff. And Apple has iOS so locked down that I would lose a lot of the personalized awareness that I enjoy.

So really, I can't think of any compelling argument for me to even consider switching. The software, the ecosystem, the devices... I'm sorry, as a whole, Android and Google are superior.

This pretty much sums it up for me as well.

I think Apple has been an amazing company, especially as Jobs' vision really manifested over the last 15 years. However, the totalitarian culture is what keeps outside of the "walled garden". Utilitarianism, the Android/Google vision, is more in line with my way of thinking and living.

Removing the headphone jack is a prime example of what keeps me away from Apple. I see that as wanting to drive revenue more than wanting to serve their users.

 

[Morty2264]

This pretty much sums it up for me as well.

I think Apple has been an amazing company, especially as Jobs' vision really manifested over the last 15 years. However, the totalitarian culture is what keeps outside of the "walled garden". Utilitarianism, the Android/Google vision, is more in line with my way of thinking and living.

Removing the headphone jack is a prime example of what keeps me away from Apple. I see that as wanting to drive revenue more than wanting to serve their users.

Very well said. And I liked the "walled garden" analogy. Great post!