I came from iOS about 6 years ago. Initially it was annoying to escape from the ecosystem but I am glad that I did. Unfortunately I use a MacBook and an iPad for work though. In saying that, their integration with each other is really good, and can see why/how an iPhone would fit in to that.

Expensive and impossible to customise effectively, making it much poorer value than Android. Not that Android is perfect. The instant some form of non-proprietary Linux (like Debian w/phosh, PostmarketOS, etc.) becomes viable as a daily driver, Android is out as well.

I have two phones as daily drivers, one Android and one iPhone. Compared to Android, the iPhone is very restrictive and locked down. Adblockers don’t work and you’re forced to use whatever iOS interface it throws at you. Buttons and gestures move around with every update. There’s no way to view and manage internal files, no sideloading, lots of options that are just not accessible to normal users.

The positive side is that iPhones are very optimized and I can get similar performance to my Android phone despite the iPhone being older and having worse specs. The closed ecosystem also has its benefits, because it makes data very hard to get out, so I use the iPhone as a device to sandbox all the Meta crap that I’m forced to use.

I like my phone, I have more control over it, I like that it’s not made in ways to punish me for fixing it, I don’t trust Apple, and it cost 300$ instead of costing more than my current car

I recognize that they currently have basically the most refined hardware on the market. However: No other device I own is in the Apple ecosystem. Not one. So the benefits are just not there.

quite frankly the benefits of owning an iPhone are kinda garbage unless you fully buy into the Apple ecosystem for full intercompatibilty. Trying to interact with other Androids, Windows, Linux machines is just pain. Otherwise, it’s just a slightly better built, slightly better specced, very much more locked down phone like every other phone. It does phone things. Not worth the premium.

No sidelong, easier rooting (sometimes), price, etc

Fuck Apple

Mostly them not having a type c charger.

Pixel has this really nice feature called Overview Selection where it does OCR and all text is selectable when you open the app switcher. That and Now Playing are features I would miss.

The whole messages lockin sucks. iMessage to other iPhones is nice but I want RCS for other conversations

I don’t like iOS. I have one as my work phone and I dislike it.

I dislike that I can’t sideload apps (yes there’s testflight but it sucks). A huge portion of apps I use are from F-Droid or GitHub. I dislike how iOS handles the home screen and app placements. I absolutely HATE iOS notifications, they’re atrocious compared to how they’re handled on Android.

I like Android, I like my Galaxy Fold, a lot would have to change for me to ever consider an iPhone.

All the reasons I switched to Android.

Customization, file structure, sideloading apps, etc.

Apple controls what may be installed on iphones with an iron fist. Did you know there is only one option for a web browser? Chrome, Firefox, and other apparent alternatives are actually re-skinned Safari. They don’t want to allow real competition to their own browser. This is certainly not the only case where they use app store approval powers to block competition.

Plus Apple takes 15-30% of every transaction on iphones. That includes payments in the app store, and also in-app purchases. Sure they have to fund the store, but given that Apple has an absolute monopoly over iphone app distribution this seems predatory to me.

Apple is anticompetitive, and seems to have little regard for their responsibility as a platform provider to allow application diversity to flourish.

So Google has a similar app store approval process, and takes basically the same percentage from transactions. But they are much more generous in what they allow in their store in terms of competing apps. And most importantly, Google does not have a monopoly on Android app distribution. You don’t need to do any jailbreaking to set up F-Droid, or to install apps from the web.

It’s true that the vast majority of Android users use Google’s app store. And I think that Google taking a cut of in-app purchases is also predatory. Apps should be able to not use Google Pay, and to not pay Google a cut. But the fact that there are other options puts a limit on how much Google can block competition, and gives some option for publishers to avoid that 15-30% cut.

I won’t buy Apple hardware as long as they keep being absolute dicks in the tech and app world. It’s a shame really, because they build awesome devices, but I would feel bad everytime I use them.

Also they are much more restricted in many aspects (e.g. sideloading!), so it would be a downgrade for me.

Moronically overpriced hyped product which misguides humanity into capitalism and surveillance

Using my iPad and then seeing how difficult it was to find apps that didn’t have ads, apps I could buy outright, and so many subscription only options was what turned me away. And then how incompatible it is requiring work arounds to access the file system if you aren’t using air drop compared to Android where just plugging it into any system and giving permission lets you see files beyond just files and videos you took, and move files back and forth with ease.

And how difficult it was to find Foss apps without something like F-droid. And because of that I noticed apps I took for granted on Android creates a system where you are having to spend more money and then being up sold subscriptions because of lack of options. It felt like a very gacha like environment. It felt so much like dealing with some scummy sales person.

to preface what might sound like slander, I really would love to get my hands on apple hardware. It is engineered rather well and the geek in me can appreciate that. However, getting access to your own hardware is an issue.

While I have some concerns about their objective features, to my shame, the greatest problem is with the brand and their practices.

I think the root cause of all my issues stems from their morals and aggressive/elitist business practice - specifically their quest to squeeze money out of users and hide behind the lie of “we are doing this for the user’s benefit”.

I have no issue paying money for features I want or entities I’d like to support. In fact, I’m more inclined to financially support those who I believe in.

And apple loves to gatekeep features and keep them exclusive to apple. They effectively benefit from hard work of others who contribute to open standards and services, but at the same time do not share their own. Greedy.