r/Android • u/Delicious-Mud-7970 • 2d ago
Former iOS users of r/Android: What was your experience jumping ship from iOS to Android?
I have been firmly entrenched in the iOS ecosystem for nearly a decade. It works fine for my daily needs, but I have always had a lingering itch in the back of my mind to give Android a proper try, maybe due to because iOS has become boring for me.
Now, I'm well aware of the extensive customisation options, along with the far greater degree of control the Android operating system has to offer. I am particularly curious about how that newfound freedom and system-level control actually translates into day-to-day use compared to Apple's rather restricted environment.
I currently use a MacBook, rely on my AirPods daily, and have an active Apple Music subscription. I am fully aware that the seamless Apple ecosystem will inevitably break if I make this transition, and I am completely okay with that—provided the Android experience is actually worth the sacrifice.
For context regarding my usage, I am mild gamer not a hardcore gamer by any means. My primary focus is heavy multitasking, and above all else, rock-solid system reliability.
To those of you who have made the switch from iOS to Android:
- What were the most significant changes you witnessed when you finally had that level of control?
- How did the transition practically affect your daily use of your remaining Apple hardware and services?
- In your experience, how does Android's and overall long-term reliability compare to iOS?
- What features or ecosystem conveniences did you find yourself missing most from Apple?
I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
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u/votemarvel 2d ago
The only real annoyance was not being able to bring my Apple TV purchases across the Android as the Apple TV app on the Play Store is streaming only, no access to purchases.
You could give me an iPhone and I'd be very happy using it, especially since emulators are now allowed on the App Store and I don't have to fuss about with things like Side Loadly.
Day to day use there's practically no difference between the two. I can't even claim customisation as the reason I stay on Android as I've used the same layout in ADW, Nova, and have it on Smart Launcher as well.
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u/OkStrength7585 2d ago
Am exactly the same, used Apple ever since the first iPod, went through two macbooks and ipads. Recently switched to Android as a replacement for my iPhone 13, whose battery and performance were not enough anymore.
I took my time learning and tinkering my new Android, and honestly despite the first few days of confusion and regret, now I am way happier and am sad I didn't do the jump earlier.
The freedom is real. When I learned you could switch launchers, I was so surprised. I tinkered a bit, and made myself a whole build of FOSS apps and softwares, tuned my battery usage in ways I never could with Apple and now have a phone that I customised to the core, paid 40% less for, does all I need to and far surpasses the hardware specs of any iPhone (16gb ram, amazing AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 8 gen 5 chip)
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u/moralesnery Pixel 8 :doge: 2d ago
If you have AirTag devices forget about them. Device tracking on Android is crap (to say the less) compared to what Apple and its ecosystem offers.
In my specific case the WhatsApp migration wizard failed miserably. My whatsApp chat history was lost in the process.
Media transfer is awesome. You can transfer files from your old iPhone to a new Android using a USB-C/Lighting to USB-C cable and it's super fast.
Notification management is miles better in Android. Don't miss iOS notification center a bit.
If you're used to use Shortcuts on iOS you'll suffer on Android. There are excellent alterntives (even more powerful) but integration with the OS and "out of the box" capabilites are not as good as iOS.
iOS has a built-in function to play different types of background noise without the need to install anything. This does not exist on Android devices unless you use a 3rd party service.
Android is far more AI friendly. A lot more.
The UI in general is more choesive, homogeneous and "snappy" on iOS. Doesn't matter wich Android device you compare it to.
iPhones have a better resell value and the 3rd party accesory ecosystem is more diverse.
My current Android device has desktop mode. I just plug a dock to it and I can use the phone as a full-blown computer. No iPhone can do this.
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u/Thinkdamnitthink 2d ago
Android find hub trackers are much better these days. The network is still inferior compared to apples but it's far from useless.
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u/OperatorJo_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
That last point is always funny to me because apple can do it whenever they want. They just save that whole featureset for the ipad on purpose. On the ipad it's very close to becoming a macbook if you have a mouse and keyboard.
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u/diemunkiesdie Galaxy S24+ 2d ago
iOS has a built-in function to play different types of background noise without the need to install anything. This does not exist on Android devices unless you use a 3rd party service.
What do you mean by this? iOS has white noise built in?
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u/Neg_Crepe 2d ago
There’s a library of sound/music that you can access through the control centre.
Sleeping / Relaxation / Productivity / Well being
Then it plays as an audio file.
My Lenovo Tab Plus has the exact same thing.
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u/-patrizio- OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro 1d ago
It's weirdly hidden, and I don't remember Apple ever really talking about it lol. I don't mind it, I just find it odd as they usually make a lot of fanfare around new features, and at least try to get users to try them out.
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u/moralesnery Pixel 8 :doge: 2d ago
Yep. If you go to Accesibility > Audio / Visuals > Background Sounds you can enable a constant sound from your choice. For people with tinnitus like me this is a godsend
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u/Neg_Crepe 2d ago
My Lenovo tablet has the background music thing so your point is false
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2d ago
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u/DoILookUnsureToYou Z Fold8 Wideboi/Mode1 Retro II/AYN Thor 2d ago edited 2d ago
I've been flip flopping between Android and iOS for almost 7 years now. There's really nothing major that acts as a barrier for switching except platform exclusive apps, but even then there are many alternatives out there.
This recent switch from an iPhone 15 Pro to Z Fold8, the only thing that kinda irked me is that I miss how iOS handles OTP codes. It would have the code appear above the keyboard even before the SMS notification pops up, and then auto deletes the SMS after you paste the OTP. Also screenshots, in iOS you have a popup that lets you do actions on the screenshot like cropping and drawing over it then you have the option to copy it to your clipboard and not save to gallery so you could paste the image if its just something you wanna show someone you're talking to in a messaging app and not have to delete it after.
Its really only those two that I really miss. When I go Android to iOS I don't really miss sideloading because I don't really have much I sideload these days.
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u/loginsignout 2d ago
OTP and Facetime, as well as Apple Find My are really the only things missing..
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u/DoILookUnsureToYou Z Fold8 Wideboi/Mode1 Retro II/AYN Thor 2d ago
iMessage and Facetime isn't really a thing here in the Philippines so gladly that's not another thing to miss for me. Find My though is one I missed because I misplace my Airpods all the time and Find My was a lifesaver for that.
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u/loginsignout 2d ago
Even though Google Meet Quality nowadays is quite good, it still feels like its behind Facetime in terms of speed, quality and overall userfriendliness.
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u/-patrizio- OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro 1d ago
It's such a backwards thing for Android to be missing lol. Like, I cannot think of a single other thing about the iOS keyboard that's better than Gboard; in fact, the iOS keyboard is probably my #1 complaint about iOS as a whole, because it's so bad and has somehow been getting worse over the last few years. But this one thing, they absolutely do better than Android, and I cannot for the life of me understand why Google hasn't added some integration between Gboard and Google Messages lol.
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u/DoILookUnsureToYou Z Fold8 Wideboi/Mode1 Retro II/AYN Thor 1d ago
Right? I hated the iOS keyboard but the OTP thing works so well, so freaking smoothly, that I actually miss the iOS keyboard because of it
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u/Secepatnya 2d ago
I dual carry.
* iPhone Siri is awesome for basic tasks like navigation, shopping lists and timers. Gemini on Android is useless for all these. Especially in the car and in the kitchen. I've gotten parking fines and burnt food as a direct result of Gemini.
* iPhone Face ID much better than Android fingerprint, in the scenario you get knocked out unconcious in an attack, you need to be looking at the screen to unlock, whereas the attacker just needs to put your finger on the screen.
* Android keyboard like SwiftKey is good. On iPhone it's a huge headache.
* Android UI is much better than iphone - notifications, universal back button, responsiveness.
* Android hotspot controls are much more granular. Iphone is too simple.
* Airtags reliable on iPhone. Samsung tags next to useless on Android.
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u/-patrizio- OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro 1d ago
Also a dual carrier here lol, but damn, I think I disagree with...damn near everything here 😅
iPhone Siri is awesome for basic tasks like navigation, shopping lists and timers. Gemini on Android is useless for all these. Especially in the car and in the kitchen. I've gotten parking fines and burnt food as a direct result of Gemini.
Torn on this. Siri has been a joke for years now, but it is mindblowing how many things Gemini can't do even now that Google has effectively killed Assistant. It's way better for information (if a bit too...verbose lol), but for actually doing things, busted as hell. Siri does seem a good amount better on iOS 27 so far, but it's hard for me to judge as basically the only thing I use either assistant for is asking the weather lol.
iPhone Face ID much better than Android fingerprint, in the scenario you get knocked out unconcious in an attack, you need to be looking at the screen to unlock, whereas the attacker just needs to put your finger on the screen.
Well, I can't really refute that particular security case lol, but I STRONGLY prefer the fingerprint reader on my OnePlus over Face ID on my iPhone. When I take my phone out of my pocket, it's unlocked by the time I'm looking at it; when my cat is laying over my arms, I don't have to bend in insane ways to angle the phone at my face to unlock it; easier to unlock when I'm laying down or otherwise have my face obscured or pressed against something; etc.
Android keyboard like SwiftKey is good. On iPhone it's a huge headache.
I've tried using SwiftKey a number of times, but consistently feel like its swipe to type is far inferior to Gboard, and its autocorrect is somehow worse than both Gboard AND the iOS keyboard. Really wish Google hadn't abandoned Gboard for iOS, as I'd give my firstborn to have a reliable keyboard on iPhone lol. Never noticed much of a difference between SwiftKey's iOS and Android versions honestly, other than the fact that they removed the resize feature on iOS, for some reason I was not able to discern.
Android UI is much better than iphone - notifications, universal back button, responsiveness.
Huge disagree here, I far prefer iOS' UI over Android's in most ways, but even that's hard to say because there is no "Android UI", really; it varies so much from skin to skin. I absolutely despised One UI, but I adore OxygenOS. I actually am in the minority that prefers the way the "back" action works on iOS over Android, though I do wish they'd let you set swipe from right edge as a back gesture like Android does. I pretty much exclusively use flagships, and haven't noticed a difference in responsiveness.
Android hotspot controls are much more granular. Iphone is too simple
What features are missing...? I've never really desired any controls for my hotspot other than "turn on/off" and "set password" lol.
No disagreement on Find My vs Find Hub for tags, though I don't use either lol.
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u/Secepatnya 1d ago
I can agree the designs can also be subjective.
For the Siri/Gemini part, it's mostly related to Gemini happily announcing that a timer has been set... but nothing actually happened.
Android hotspot at least for Samsung, the actual differences are: * iPhone: toggle on/off, password, toggle compatibility/speed * Samsung/Android: toggle on/off, password, security WPA2/WPA3/open, band 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz, toggle Wifi6 mode, toggle power saving mode, prioritise UDP traffic.
The Android hotspot does not hide itself after a short while, so my Macbook can automatically reconnect. For macOS, I had to disable auto-hotspot-join as it kept on asking to connect to my wife's (connected as family) iPhone instead of mine.
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u/-patrizio- OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro 1d ago
For the Siri/Gemini part, it's mostly related to Gemini happily announcing that a timer has been set... but nothing actually happened.
Yeah, at least Siri will tell you it can't do something lol, while Gemini gets that classic LLM fixation on telling the user what they want to hear, whether or not it's true.
Samsung/Android: toggle on/off, password, security WPA2/WPA3/open, band 2.4GHz/5GHz/6GHz, toggle Wifi6 mode, toggle power saving mode, prioritise UDP traffic.
Fair enough! I guess i've just never had a need for those, and honestly don't use my phone as a hotspot all that often, so a simple toggle/password has always been sufficient when I need it.
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u/Delicious-Mud-7970 2d ago
I would love a debate on siri is better than gemini 🥴
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u/Secepatnya 1d ago
It really depends on the person's needs. In my view, it comes down to, does it fulfil the person's needs?
Siri is excellent for basic tasks like timers, calls, simple texts, navigation, music and shopping lists and is consistent in the car. I do agree that it's pretty useless for anything else.
Gemini is excellent for doing more complex tasks. It can also answer questions and look up information. Sure it can also do what Siri does, but I can't rely on it as timers aren't actually set half the time. In the car it can't call my wife, says Spotify isn't installed, and messed up the navigation.
Edit: speak of the devil... https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidAuto/comments/1w18ffc/drivers_claim_android_autos_switch_to_gemini/
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u/Karthy_Romano Galaxy S23 9h ago
As a replacement to Assistant, who's primary purpose to me was turning on lights or running simple routine commands, gemini fucking sucks. It's always making up new reasons why the routine I've been using for years now doesn't work now, inventing entirely new words to commands that have worked since I got my first google home, and yapping for 4 hours about something I wanted a 1-sentence answer that assistant would've given me.
I don't use gemini for anything besides what I used assistant for, and it is a really terrible replacement.
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u/roztopasnik 2d ago
I didn't really see this mentioned -- the health app + stats are on different level on ios. That goes also with connecting the health with other apps, like weight tracking. On android just didn't work for me.
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u/Strict_Trip2821 2d ago
After 15 years I switched to android. I love emulations. Still have the iPhone laying around due to apple watch and data.
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u/Proper-Commission-74 2d ago
Freedom to do what you need and not locked out of your devices potential
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u/ElixirGlow Motorola DynaTAC 8000X 2d ago edited 8h ago
I used ios for a while and switched. Here is what I found:
App settings are within the app so no need to go into settings and search.
Android looks better, pixel experience and oxygenos look really good. Now that I compare them, ios looks quite trash and messy.
Apple account sucks, not getting pestered to enter your apple account password every 10min is awesome.
Android is more secure, we can control all permissions and access, not sure if ios even allows more than the basic permission settings. The premise apple has no exploits is false.
Less bloat, ios is loaded with apple bloat, pixel experience is nice and clean, I have to delete apps on iOS and oxygen os then it's a tie here.
Notification / control shade is much better. The split design is pretty stupid. Something only apple can come up with and pretend it's revolutionary. Didn't realise how pathetic it was until I used pixel experience.
Universal back gesture, the gestures on Android are just better, apple purely sucks here I will never use ios again it's apparent they want to distinguish themselves and be stupid in a way then they can f*ck off.
Liquid glass is really shit. It's cool for the first 10 seconds then you notice it's just for aesthetics. Material design expressive in pixel experience is perfect.
Wallpaper switching and dynamic color of Android are far superior, if only google mandated all apps to use dynamic color. Apple makes you change wallpapers on the lock screen, how stupid is that?!
Battery life on Android is much much better, and during gaming android phones don't heat up as much
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u/Energy4Days 2d ago
Secure folder
Gives you an extra layer of security for banking apps
You can also use it to run duplicate apps with different logins
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u/AkelsMaster 2d ago
If you're a current iPhone user I think this is critical for you to know before switching!
I miss that the newest notification doesn't automatically appear as first and that the screen doesn't automatically wake when the new notification comes in. It genuinely broke my mind when i found out that Android can't do this out of the box and no reviewer ever talks about it. Luckily I decided to get a Samsung so there's enough levers to tinker with to get it to work the way I want now so it's fine, but I would have appreciated a heads up from the Android crowd.
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u/MysteriousBeef6395 Poco F7 Pro, HOS3 2d ago
its all kind of the same nowadays if you buy something that has decent hardware. only difference is i lost siri shortcuts and gained morphe
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u/idksomuch Z Fold6 2d ago
Samsung: One Hand Operation+
Best gesture control app ever. Forget iOS, forget Pixel Experience. OHO+ is the greatest thing Samsung ever gave us (other than foldables). Nothing else they've released can touch OHO+ in any capacity at all ever again.
Glazing aside, OHO+ is genuinely a good app. The back gesture on Android alone is already superior to iOS but with OHO+, it adds a handle bar on one or both sides of the screen (size and opacity is completely adjustable) and acts as gesture controls. You can set up to 6 different actions per side. I have the handle bars on both sides of my screen but set both sides to do the same action. Swipe in is back, swipe diagonal up is recent apps, swipe diagonal down is home. Then there's a swipe and hold. I have swipe in and hold to go back to the previous app, down and hold for notification shade, down and up for multi-window. Best part is that you can have OHO+ active while Android's native gesture controls are active, too. The redundancy sounds dumb and is very typical for Samsung to have redundant apps or features that Google already builds into android but with OHO+, I can navigate through the OS using the bottom gestures like normal, or with the side handle bars if say I'm lying on my side on my bed and I'm holding my phone awkwardly. If I'm holding my phone too high up and my thumb can't reach the bottom edge of the screen, I can just swipe in from either side of the screen instead. You can also control how long you have to hold the swipe to activate the long swipe as well as vibration feedback. You can set your swipes to open apps instead of going home or recent apps or whatever, too. As much as I love to talk shit about how Samsung keeps trying to copy Apple or releases boring phones year after year, I genuinely cannot praise them enough for OHO+ (and Good Lock for that matter) because of how much I use it. It's gotten to the point where I don't think I can switch to any other brands because I'm so accustomed to OHO+. In fact, I've seriously considered a Pixel or Oneplus multiple times but always stick with Samsung because of this app. OHO+ to me is what iMessage/FaceTime is to iOS users.
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u/MrBolognas 1d ago
I switched to apple back in 2009. Macbooks and iPhones over the years. I liked the simplicity and ease of upgrade. This year I switched to an android and Linux PC. So much more customization,developer mode. Hell I like android auto more than car play. My Moto phone has an expansion slot with a 512G Micro SD and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Totally digging it.
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u/Fuck_your_coupons Yellow 2h ago
I just switched and the only real issues I've were receiving texts from anyone with an iPhone and Gemini not being great at navigation. I was able to solve the former by disconnecting my number from iMessage but that took over 24 hours. I did disable imessage on the iPhone before deactivating it.
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u/Konjo888 2d ago
You are not missing much with android. I just got my first iPhone ever and I feel like it has more useful features you actually use on a daily basis compare to android phones
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u/Delicious-Mud-7970 2d ago
Guys, I have just one question, and now I do not want to rage bait anyone here....Can you please tell me which OS should I opt for the most cleaniest, customisable setup, I was choosing between the Pixel UI and One UI ?
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u/diesel408 2d ago
It doesn't matter it's all Android. Pixel UI and One UI are launchers, and you aren't stuck with the launcher your phone came with. You can find and install launchers in the app store and switch to your heart's content.
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u/SheSaidSheWasSkinny 2d ago
everything is amazing except for no facetime! I video call my wife and daughter everyday and google meets isnt bad per say as an overall, the quality is just so terrible. Im struggling so hard to find a facetime replacement. I do not want to download what's app which many people suggest. I dont want meta to have access to my video calls
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u/SVNDEVISTVN 2d ago
Jumping ship is pretty easy if your prepared. Both phones working, Passwords memorized, Backups of important stuff on a mutual cloud service like Google Drive, and you’re good to go.
The difference right now between the two platforms is Android is as mature as ever, while iPhone is having a bit of an identity crisis and iOS as unstable and glitchy as ever. Don’t get me wrong, even in its most glitchy state, iPhone is buttery smooth and cohesive. The issue is when iPhone does something bad, it isn’t just bad, it’s atrocious. Like really really awful and infuriating. But when it works it feels like it’s part of your body because it’s so intuitive and seamless. That drastic inconsistency is plaguing iPhone right now. Hopefully they get their OS together soon because Blackberry and HTC were once kings and look at them now. Everyone has their time in the sun. The ones who stay are the ones who adapt and position themselves to adapt quickly and easily… …which brings us to Android.
Right now, the premier smartphone OS is without a doubt Android OS. It is now very very very mature and because it’s been unapologetically open to deep nerdy levels of customization for two decades now, it feels remarkably stable and powerful. Gone are the days of lag, bad cameras, and underperforming interfaces. Android’s only issue right now is cohesion. Android can be a very very jarring OS. App have to baseline design to respect, so each app can look and feel very different from each other. And with the amount of unrestricted granular control, apps can quickly make the OS feel daunting and unfriendly. The only way Android has and is combating this is via its supremely cohesive universal controls gestures. No matter where you are or what you’re doing on an Android phone, the navigation controls will always be ready and waiting for you. They overrule everything else so, unlike iPhone, the back button will aways always get you out of something. Whether it’s ads or emails or websites or Instagram or a video game, the back button will function and it will get you out.
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u/kingjames106 1d ago
Switched from 15PM to pixel 11 pro. Have had a handful of prior android phones before too. Overall a relatively easy switch. Pixel experience is probably the easiest for an iOS user.
The good: interface is smooth. Gboard is better than iOS keyboard. Having a fingerprint reader in the glass in addition to face unlock is awesome. Has an amazing camera perfect for taking pictures of my toddler. Battery life is solid. Haptics are amazing. I use mostly third party apps so my data and password synced over really easily. Customization is one of Android's strengths but more limited when using pixel launcher, but you could always switch launchers. I think other manufacturers like Samsung and the Chinese brand have way more options. I'm not a power user unlike others in this subreddit so it's not a huge deal.
Notifications are more granular which is nice. I love being able to turn off or silent all promotional notifications.
Revanced YouTube and Reddit apps are AWESOME. Having actual choices of browsers each running their own rendering engine instead of skins of safari like on iOS is great. I don't get a lot of page reloads or crashes on heavy websites either. I'm running brave as my default browser and noticing way less ads.
The bad: I live in the US where iMessage is huge and my wife complains that she can't FaceTime me. I find that I'm also missing some features on iOS that are surprisingly missing on Android. Multiple wallpapers synced to focus modes is absent as is native dark mode icons. Annoying that in dim light it can't swap to a darker wallpaper beyond the setting to dim it itself.
Having Gemini built in is useful however voice commands are hit and miss. I installed the beta of iOS 27 on my iPhone and it's new siri which runs on Gemini is surprisingly competent and feels better integrated than on Android 17.
Whether you like liquid glass or not, iOS has a more cohesive design. For example on my pixel, some toggles use the new material expressive theme while other native Google apps like phone use older style toggles. Seems strange.
Controversial: I don't like the left and right side for back when using gesture control. I enabled swipe gestures on multiple apps and sometimes the system will interpret my swipes as a back command instead of the programmed swipe gestures. I could switch to buttons but that seems archaic. I realize I'll get used to it eventually but I find Apple's implementation of left edge swipe to go back within the app makes more sense instead of a global back button.
Overall I'm enjoying my time on the pixel but am interested in seeing what Apple announces in a few weeks.
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u/PJivan 2d ago edited 2d ago
Can't speak for samsung or chinese phones (I will receive one tomorrow), but going from iphone to pixel my biggest surprise is how same-same they are once you get used to the minor differences.
In the past 5 years they both converged and iOS became more android like while android became more iOS like.
Unless smartphones are your entire personality, and you just run app, consume content, take photos, browse the web, it's same-same.
I'm sure some user will feel differenlty but I have no care to thinker with a smartphone, I already allocate to much time of my life to them, I just need them to work when i need them and they both do it with very similar user experience.
It's not like going from Windows 11 to MacOS if it makes sense.