He asks, in a FOSS community.

Sideloading apps, tons more choices (price range, design, manufacturer, specs), 'more' control, used to Android environment

What's stopping you from switching to iPhone?

My lack of desire to switch to iPhone.

• inability to unlock bootloader and run custom rom

• not having enough money to buy iPhone

• why is this post getting downvoted?

I don't like paying more for less, and I am devoutly opposed to the Apple design aesthetic.

I don't want to switch to something that costs more and that I like less?

Why should I downgrade?

Apple's stuff is:

• Locked down hard, meaning you get completely vendor-locked-in, and you can't install alternative OS (there is none I think) or even apps from different sources without voiding warranty or using unsupported, unreliable hacks like jailbreaks for specific models.
• Privacy-invading. Sure, not as bad as proprietary Android distros, but still far from privacy-respecting
• Account-bound. Everything is tied to your Apple account. To even set up or use the product you need an account.
• As proprietary and closed source as it gets
• Ridiculously overpriced, so very low value for the money
• The company is known for its anti-competitive and monopolistic, even mafia-style behavior (e.g. when insisting on their 30% cut for all apps, insisting that apps use the in-app-purchasing system and not allowing "subscriptions from outside of Apple's ecosystem", stuff like that. If app developers don't comply with ridiculous rules, they get their apps taken down, and since the AppStore is the only source for apps, this means they have 100% control and can kill any app which they don't like or which they perceive as competition for Apple's own apps.

Use GrapheneOS. It's a secure, fully privacy-respecting open source distro of Android (based on the open source Android) without any Google services/apps by default, but with full Android app compatibility.

I dislike being locked in to an ecosystem, no matter how pretty it is.

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

There's no reason for me to switch. It would be going to a worse product in my opinion. I only use phones that can run lineageOS or another custom rom on it now, and have been doing so for the past 6 or so years.

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 don't like how restrictive the apple ecosystem is. I have an ipad because the android equivalents just weren't doing the job, but use android and linux for my daily drivers. I feel like the adblockers aren't effective, and I can't sideload apps.

Why would I?

Ton of paid apps + no reason to switch + sideloading + don't like or trust apple

Apple really doesn't offer me anything I want to do above and beyond what Android offers that makes the cost of transition worth it. I've been on Android for 13 years, I'm very used to it, know all the tricks. I like the level of control Android gives, I've loaded custom roms in the past and I side load apps now. I've also never had a (modern) Apple product and never had the need to set up any Apple accounts, so it'd be a pain starting completely fresh.

Privacy and security through custom ROMs like CalyxOS and GrapheneOS, which are the number one reason why I use Android. However, the average person doesn't necessarily care about their digital privacy or security.

As for reasons to use Android that the average person may care about, there is a greater variety of device options to choose from when it comes to Android. Many different companies produce Android devices, including eco-friendly options like the FairPhone!

In addition, another advantage of using Android is the ability to side-load apps. I can easily install and use apps that are not available on the Google Play store, such as Thunder, my Lemmy client, which I use daily. Moreover, even if an app is not available in my region on the Play store, I can still use it by side-loading.

Another feature I appreciate is the direct access to internal storage through a USB cable, eliminating the need for any additional software. For managing my apps, Shelter is a must-have for me. It allows me to separate my personal apps from my work apps without creating a completely separate device profile, and I can easily disable the work apps whenever needed so I don't receive notifications.

You can even use iMessage on Android via apps like BlueBubbles or AirMessage. Even FaceTime works on Android, natively so long as an iPhone user sends you a link first.

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.

When I purchase somethung, I prefer to own it instead of just renting it. Lol.

I have an iPhone for work. The UI is unintuitive, unresponsive and restrictive. It's like a child's toy version of my s23. The fingerprint reader is useless, the screens color range is dull and the build quality is plastic trash. Plus my phones camera array beats the iPhone array to hell and back.

The iPhone is the phone for old people, children or the infirm. Why would I limit myself?

I am so goddamn bad at using the apple UX

It's Fisher Price, it does not let me do poweruser things.

Freedom.

All the reasons I switched to Android.

Customization, file structure, sideloading apps, etc.

First of all, the cost. An iPhone does nothing more than an Android but costs significantly more.

Second, Android is a more open platform. I can rip apart the OS and look at its guts. I can alter it or replace it altogether. I can make my hardware do exactly what I need it to do, the way I want it done.

Lastly, I can fix the hardware if it breaks and do not need to buy an entirely new phone.

Why would I want an inferior device?

Price and closed ecosystem. (closed for users and devs)

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

The lack of consistently in how Apple devices work, as hey truly feel like a black box where anything beyond basic functionality is held back from the user.

Not having any restricts placed on me as to what software I can install on my devices. Seriously, not allowing sideloading is ridiculous in 2023.

Moronically overpriced hyped product which misguides humanity into capitalism and surveillance

Right now I'm using a custom ROM, ~10 magisk modules, 2 Xposed modules and a handful of other things that require root.. My phone is almost 5 years old and I am on the latest Android version with no signs of community support stopping. Half my apps are open source, and the paid, proprietary ones are actually affordable hobby projects (and not VC backed startups) with one time payments and worth the price.

I can load up a non-Android Linux distro on it and everything except the camera will work. Mainline kernel, too.

And I didn't need to take out a loan to buy it.

Lack of customization, lack of options, lack of compatibility.

With iPhones you choose from iPhone 1, 2, 3, or 4. They're all the same, and frankly they all suck. They're overpriced and the charger always breaks.

Apple, iOS, and the iPhone.

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.

There's a lot of features on a pixel that I'd miss out on in an iphone.

However, the biggest is the back gesture.

I love the back gesture, I just swipe from the side to go back a page instead of reaching allll the way to the top left to go back.

I can also actually develop on this without paying $2,000 for a Mac.

I prefer the openness of android as well.

For me it's the price first, the interface second. I find anything Apple very counterintuitive to use.

In saying that- I'm reading all these amazing answers here and realising how much I've taken for granted. I didn't know "side loading" was a thing though I've done it many times. If I'm understanding things right- you can't install whatever you want on an iPhone???? Crazy. I definitely wouldn't want a phone like that.

Also, someone mentioned accessing the phone via a usb cable. Another thing I took for granted! Hey! I even have portable USBC storage drives I can plug and transfer files to/from my phone and to my computer if I wish.

Back gesture / design

Whatsapp portability. Last time I checked Whatsapp data couldn't be moved to Android. I have a decade of chat history id like to preserve.

Integration with Google Photos. I am not switching to icloud or any other. Google Photos is just way too good. I can even search photos with text!

Notification system. I'm not entirely happy with how android does it, but apple does it worse.

Charging port. All my cables are USB C that charge both my phone and iPad. I'm not thrilled about getting 3 more chargers and cables.

App prices. Android has great KeePass clients for cheap / free. I use strongbox on my iPad which is like $30 a year

My 5 years old android phone still working perfectly. And then, when it finally isn't enough I'll just take an alternative ROM/linux phone hoping for it to have better quality/price ratio in the future rather than Apple because that company is bullshit and Google is bullshit too.

The lack of LDAC bluetooth and native FLAC playback support is a deal breaker for me.

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.

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.