Moving to iPhone as an Android Fangirl
Everything I wish I would’ve known before migrating.
Being a years-long Android user, having flashed my Windows Phone to an Android alpha — I’ve been in the Android ecosystem for probably ~15 years.
With my last phone upgrade I made the decision to taste from the Apple tree, and move to iPhone (for a bunch of reasons that made sense to me at the time).
After a few weeks in the iOS ecosystem, I have first impressions and caveats for those moving from Android.
I didn’t find any of this information in the hours of videos that I watched before migrating. Not a word was found in the numerous posts I read. And now that I’m on the platform I’m wondering why there simply isn’t enough information about the experience of moving from Android to iPhone.
There’s that whole sunk cost fallacy where people claim that if you invested a large sum of money, it’s hard for you to be vocal or admit to shortcomings in the expensive purchase. I don’t think that’s the reason, perhaps I’m just a power user or a creature of habit who is set in her ways, and therefore this migration has been more difficult for me than others perhaps.
Folks will always tell you once you move to iOS you’ll never wanna go back. This was true for me when moving from Windows to the MacBook, but I’m not finding this to hold true in the Android to iOS migration.
Below is an outline of my personal issues with the new operating system, I will also note some of the benefits… and hopefully this will help others thinking about making migration. This is not an exhaustive list and it’s a very subjective one as well, so if none of these are issues for you you might be very happy with moving between mobile platforms.
Productivity
My productivity is adversely impacted by so many inherent iPhone decisions (read: flaws) that are built that way by design — that I simply can’t understand how anyone can tolerate it or even flout this phone as superior, and that there isn’t greater controversy about these poor UX decisions.
I’m not sure I’ll remember all of the things but below are some of the iOS choices that hurt my productivity significantly.
- Automation & Closed”ness”
- Keyboard & Dictation
- Applications
- Other Weirdness & Bad Choices
Let’s Start with Automation
This is something I completely took for granted on Android, that I relied on heavily, that just simply is not possible in any way on iPhone, because the iOS inherent mindset is by design closed and exclusionary, and not open and integrative like Android.
This means that any of the APIs you need in order to apply basic automation, that is extremely useful and safe, is just not possible on iPhone.
With a simple (and free) application called Tasker on Android, you could create all kinds of automation workflows that simplify your life significantly — for example, turn on personal hotspot when connected to bluetooth device.
That made my driving significantly safer and easier, as my Wi-Fi hotspot would turn on immediately when I got in my car and the Bluetooth connected, and I wouldn’t have to mess with my phone while driving to have Internet connectivity in the car.
Because both the Bluetooth and personal hotspot APIs are restricted on iOS this is simply not possible. It’s not even possible with their very own Shortcuts application that is intended to create all kinds of simple shortcuts and scripting. The options are largely stupid and unuseful like add some thing to calendar, as if you need a shortcut for that.
Everyone talks about how you need to root Android devices to get basic functionality…well, not so. This is true for iPhone though, if you want anything remotely similar you need to “jailbreak” your phone — a significantly more dangerous process than rooting your Android.
With automation-you are literally looking for just that…automation! It needs to be so seamless, so abstracted from the user that you don’t even know it’s happening in the background (not that you actually have to click a button for it to happen).
And this is just one example of workflows that I would use constantly and are just simply unavailable now, and require multiple clicks and actions to achieve. You can do plenty more based on your location, movement and other APIs that are exposed in Android, and none of this is possible on iOS . This is not possible with IFTTT or Zapier (as folks claim on Stack Exchange), because they also don’t have access to the underlying APIs required to enable this level of automation.
(P.S. even on IFTTT Android has more automation options…)
Keyboard & Dictation
You had better like the keyboard because it’s your only option.
[EDIT: I later learned that you can in fact install third-party keyboards, however they never remain as the default. You essentially need to constantly switch back to them from the Apple keyboard that stays enabled by default by clicking on the change language button. It took me forever to even figure out that that’s what was happening. I just thought it was a weird bug. And it constantly reverted to the Apple keyboard upon any compelling event like choosing an emoji, for example. So yeah, you “can” use a third-party keyboard but the UX is horrible, and never permanently as your primary keyboard. Also all of the annoying UX issues in Apple keyboard carry over to the third-party keyboard — such as application specific key placement & even the Google keyboard doesn’t support the same features like the capitalization, so the value is nominal.]
As a person with serious fat finger syndrome, I rely heavily on both predictive text and dictation, as it takes me way too long to manually type things. Having to do so significantly impairs my productivity.
The Apple keyboard is the only keyboard you’re able to use on iPhone and it is very limited in its capabilities. It’s predictive text only works part of the time and in specific applications (it doesn’t work in browser at all for example — it only has annoying shortcuts like .com and other stuff I’ll never use). On top of that, it’s only just OK.
I have entered my full name on the keyboard at least a dozen times at this point, and it still does not suggest my middle name when typing my first name. (No! The next word is not Review!)
The keyboard changes per application — so don’t be surprised when your return key disappears in Twitter to be replaced by @ and # in the completely wrong place, and constantly being pressed at inappropriate times.
Dictation
Its dictation is nowhere near the quality of the Google keyboard that sampled a bajillion Google voice calls to perfect their voice capabilities, and as a result it was nearly flawless in both Hebrew and English.
I use dictation out of laziness and privilege, I find that this must be exceedingly annoying for those who actually need it for accessibility and such.
Changing Case
Other missing features include the ability to change letter case when prediction or dictation do a poor job of understanding grammar. On Google keyboard pressing the shift key when a word was highlighted changes its case, which is extremely useful.
Aside from predictive text shortcomings, it doesn’t even provide spelling corrections all the time. I have a tendency to press the letter next to the one I want consistently. It never suggests the right word even if it’s one letter off. I just don’t get it.
Because of my fat finger syndrome, I like a big keyboard and in general large text. Increasing the font and keyboard size doesn’t work across-the-board the way it does on Android. I’ve attempted to apply this both from settings and accessibility and neither work for the keyboard or in WhatsApp. People used to laugh at me that my WhatsApp font was so huge, but I enjoyed it. I like huge text because many times I just take off my glasses and read without them.
Increasing the font only works in the UI for icons and such, which was not where I need it. (UPDATE: I ultimately found this in screen and display — another annoyance, it’s extremely difficult to find anything intuitively.)
Applications
You’d expect the application behavior across platform to be identical or at least very close. However, when it comes to Android and iOS this just isn’t the case.
I think this is also a byproduct of the openness of Android which enables more app feature development, due to greater access to underlying APIs. Imagine Photoshop or GitHub working completely differently on Windows and MacOS. This would be crazy, and a completely unreliable experience.
But this is exactly the case with mobile apps and iOS. Applications have completely different functionality and use cases on iOS than on Android. Applications I came to love and rely on simply don’t provide the same features, such as Drupe or Contacts+. In Drupe, I relied heavily on access to recent phone calls and quick actions you can take on them (such as quick contacting someone on WhatsApp without adding them to your address book), and this feature completely does not exist in the iOS app. It has been replaced with a shortcut to local businesses. 😟
With Contacts+, I enjoyed having everything built-in, such as messaging, caller ID and blocking and much more — and on iOS it’s like a business card reading app. Huh??? 🤔
Not only does iOS not have any of the killer features from these apps, which is a complete shame, almost all applications have very limited scope and functionality in the free version. I guess the assumption is that those who have iPhones are of a higher socioeconomic class, and are able to pay for every single application they install, tens of dollars.
You get by far superior applications on the free tier on Android and with a richer feature set. This is a huge disappointment as a person who does not tend to purchase applications without knowing that they will deliver what I’m looking for.
I have no issue with paying for applications that I find useful and use regularly. I believe developers need to get paid for their work. But that is also why I am a staunch believer in open source, which enables you to experience an application and its capabilities before upgrading or upselling.
Even Drupe that was a favorite application of mine on Android, delivers only partial feature coverage — even in the Pro version (which I never bought on Android). However, other applications I’m only just discovering that I need, in the free tier provide such limited functionality it provides me with very little incentive for upgrading, before I even know I’ll be happy with this application.
Other Weirdness & Bad UX / Choices
We all know that Apple are so full of themselves that they think their designs are so flawless and perfect and undisputed, that they do things like removing a USB & HDMI port and headphone jacks from laptops, and many other basic features — because they think they are building the future.
But sometimes those decisions are so poorly timed and thought out that I just don’t seem to understand how there isn’t a greater uproar.
I’m guessing the iPhone 13 has been in the making for at least two years, during a global pandemic that has never been witnessed before in our generation.
Wouldn’t you think this isn’t the ideal time to remove a basic feature like fingerprint reader when peoples faces are obstructed by facial masks most of the time?!
The only biometric means of identification to unlock your phone is Face ID — that is actually far from perfect and works for me about 90% of the time — maybe I just have a weird face.
But it has also caused me many issues when going to restaurants or malls or anywhere else that I need to show my green pass (in Israel that is your COVID vaccination certification), for which I need to unlock my phone.
This requires me to either remove my mask, for which I rightfully get yelled at all the time to put my mask back on, (and then I explain that I’m trying to access my green pass which is in my locked phone), or I need to constantly enter my pass code which is a terrible experience. I just cannot understand who the product manager is who decided to remove fingerprint reader during a global pandemic. It’s just the most self-centered Apple-like decision I’ve ever heard in my life.
[Side Note: It’s also a pretty big pain in the ass when you’re on your phone in bed at night with no light, but I guess that’s a less critical issue than the global pandemic.
EDIT: Another common scenario where this is uniquely annoying is paying with Apple Pay. You literally have to put the phone on the device. It prompts you for some kind of verification, you then have to pick up the phone & put it in front of your face like some kind of lunatic, and then lay it back on the device. It’s the most absurd scenario ever. Where with Android you just have to lay your finger on the device. So no, not my favorite biometric method of verification.]
The lack of fingerprint reader to me was the greatest shock and disappointment, when I realized how adversely it affected me practically.
There are plenty of other small and annoying things that just make the experience absurd.
T9 Dialer
One such super simple software fix is a T9 dialer — which I am certain is not in the phone simply by design, and not because it’s not possible to implement or in high enough demand.
In 2022, I can say that I know exactly 2 phone numbers or so, by heart. These days I use the dialer, or at least I did so on the Android, to start typing a person’s name and then selecting them from the list and calling them. I have no idea what anybody’s phone number is today because I never dial it.
The T9 dialer feature is only available in third-party applications that have very limited capabilities, as noted above, as access to other APIs required to make them more useful applications like on Android is denied. So, it’s either use the Apple phone application which is highly limited or third-party phone applications that are highly limited.
That’s when people tell me: ‘You’re using it all wrong! You’re not supposed to use the dialer that way on Apple, you need to just use the search contacts feature.’
Which renders the dialer, as an application, completely useless. Like their Clock which only has one format clock-face not digital — I’m surprised they didn’t add a rotary phone, and think it’s the bee’s knees.
Caller ID
There is no caller ID app that works, or at least I haven’t managed to get them to work. Drupe, Contacts+ and Truecaller on Android all provided me with detailed information in real time about who the callers are. I’d often discover how numbers appear in my friends’ address books because of how their names showed up on my screen, for an unidentified phone number (like Danny - dog walker). However, the most important feature was the historical information, which is completely unavailable on iPhone because the recent phone calls API is restricted to third-party applications. Apple also does not provide caller ID out of the box.
On Android, if I would receive a phone call from someone I didn’t know, I could later go into one of my caller ID apps and scroll the list and it would have suggested names for the callers. This was particularly helpful when I forgot to save a contact to my phone immediately after they called. I would use this all the time to save contacts later.
None of the apps on iPhone, that I previously had on Android, provide a similar functionality. None of them was able to access recent phone calls or identify any of the callers in real time.
Truecaller will even note on their website that the caller ID will not work if the caller did not call from within the Truecaller application. Who on gods earth is calling from within the Truecaller application?! Basically they’re saying ‘no our app does not work for real time caller ID’.
The Beloved Back Button
But I guess the greatest feature that is lacking for me, and I thought I would get used to it — but I cannot, is the lack of a back button. You are completely dependent on the behavior and logic of the application that often fails you consistently — this is particularly true with shoddy Israeli applications.
I had a situation where I had a pop-up on my screen from Instagram that required me to click on a button, but for some reason the Apple keyboard stayed on the screen, and unlike with Android there is no way to force it down. The keyboard covered the pop-up button, so there was no way to get rid of it, and there was no way to downsize the keyboard. Therefore, the only way back (without a back button) was to completely restart the application. This to me is not a good experience.
It’s just so simple to have a back button that enables you to go to the previous screen seamlessly, and not get stuck in such a stupid boot loop simply because there is no back button.
This has now happened to me 1 million times in different applications. If you get stuck on a screen that doesn’t have back, and there’s a conflict between iOS behavior and application behavior, you’re basically screwed and have to restart the application.
The Good Stuff
OK. So that was probably tough to hear when you’re Apple fan people. I’ve heard people say so many times things like ‘iPhone just works’ — but you know what — that’s old news. So does Android, for a very long time already.
My Samsung served me flawlessly for 3+ years without any need for service, rooting or anything else associated with Android. Samsung devices are pretty solid and have great specs and performance.
One thing that is extremely convenient, but doesn’t override the downsides, is indeed the cross device simplicity. If you have additional Apple devices it is really easy to share & apply settings across devices. There is no doubt that copy on iPhone and paste to MacBook is so convenient. I used to have to send pictures to a private WhatsApp group with myself to access pictures on my laptop, for example. Now I just use the copy on iPhone and paste to MacBook. AirDrop is also really easy and convenient, as well as focus mode on all devices.
I’ll also give credit where it’s due. I don’t know how to take pictures. On top of fat finger syndrome, I also suffer from My Cousin Vinny picture-taking syndrome, where all of my pictures come out blurry and taken from like in a tree. Even when I just point and shoot quickly with this camera, it somehow corrects my personal shortcomings and the pictures come out great. I have yet to take a blurry picture and that is an achievement for me.
I also like that it’s basically a bloatware free OS, as there aren’t duplicate apps that come with the OS and from the provider, like with Samsung & Android.
And even if there are applications installed when you first receive the device, everything can be uninstalled and removed (and even reinstalled later if you have any regrets). On Android, there are applications that are baked in to the rom that you can never remove, that take up excessive amounts of storage.
Last but not least on the good stuff the battery life is truly incredible. With my previous phones end of day if I had 20 or 30% battery life it was a huge victory. With this phone I get to the end of the day with more than 50% and sometimes even 70% battery life. That is indisputably incredible, and one of the greatest features this phone has to offer.
One silly feature that I like, and might even be doable in Android (I honestly never checked this) is post-screenshot behavior. On iPhone after doing whatever you plan to do with your screenshot, it actually takes you back to the screenshot itself and you can delete it (which I often do…because I rarely need to save screenshots for posterity). On Android, if I needed to — I’d go in and delete screenshots once a month or so. (Which is a small comfort to weigh against the multitude of small features I detest and can’t actually override in iPhone’s behavior).
So that’s it folks, that’s my take after about two weeks with the iPhone. Perhaps I’ll get used to all these little quirks and I’ll also forget some of the still ripe Android pains. perhaps I’ll also even discover new wonders on this phone. I just thought I should share exactly what an honest transition has been like, so others in a similar position can make an informed decision if they have a preference for the Android OS.
Feel free to start a flame war in the comments. ❤️
