I am currently an IOS user, however, as the title suggests, I wish to switch to android. This is because I would prefer to use free software and not be locked into the apple ecosystem. That being said I am already locked into apple and would like to know how anyone else here has managed the switch.
I for one know I will face problems regarding group chats with friends and family on IOS, I will lose out on iCloud+ features, I will have to buy a replacement for my HomePod, I will need to replace apple home, etc.
How did anyone else here who has made such a switch replace or solve these issues?
Apple’s Messages app is a total dumpster fire. Literally every other chat platform out there has figured it out. Snapchat, Telegram, FB Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, etc., all work just fine across platforms. Only Apple wants it to suck for their users whenever a non-Apple device enters the conversation. I can’t understand why people willingly subject themselves to that misery and still somehow feel smug about their iOS echo chamber. Pathetic.
Probably because most people have iOS devices, atleast in the US. In my group of friends and acquaintances of say 30-40 people I am the only one with an Android phone.
I also work in IT services for small businesses (setting up email, etc.) and rarely come across Android phones. iPhones are everywhere.
So if everyone has iOS in the group chat it’s not really an issue.
Android market share in North America is around ~45%. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/north-america
Globally, Android is ~70%. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/worldwide
There are regional bubbles for each of course.
What are the chances that the decision to make it suck was deliberate? This is apple we’re talking about here, after all.
it’s deliberate. Tim Cook and team have essentially said “yeah we know it sucks but we’re keeping it this way for business reasons”. Can’t find a quote but just look at how they treat literally anything non-Apple.
I believe his exact words were “you don’t like it? Buy your grandma an iPhone.”
They chose to not create an Android client for iMessage to preserve the lock-in effect and keep people on iPhones.
There’s a separate conversation around how well the existing Apple clients interoperate with non-Apple clients. And I think that is a mix of preserving lock-in effects, but also just not wanting to spend the money on developing things they don’t care that much about. RCS is a shit protocol, and Apple doesn’t really gain anything from supporting it, so they don’t. It might be part of that decision that they don’t want using Android with iPhone friends to be more pleasant, but it can also just be that they don’t care enough to spend the money to do it.
pretty sure Snapchat is still not very cross platform, can’t use it on pc
Who is bringing a PC into a discussion about mobile cross platform apps? Many apps have the option, but I don’t think anyone primarily thinks of anything but being able to work across iOS and Android.
Plus it seems once it works outside of Apple’s fortress, it can find a way to work on a non mobile device. It’s kind of in the DNA.
It does matter. Take iMessage. It’s cross platform enough for most people. You can text an Android-using friend and they can text you back. There are annoying limitations, but if you use a Mac, having the same messages available on your computer while you’re sitting at your desk at work is a feature that you may use, and if so, that feature is probably more important to you than whether you can directly share a video clip at full quality versus having to share a link or whatever.
apps like discord and telegram would desktop clients, making them more cross platform if that makes sense
You can use it on pc though.
I didn’t know, since when?
You kinda of can use it on PC though?
how
They’ve been pushing using a browser to access your conversations for quite a while now. Are you just not looking at the screen when you open it, or what?
didn’t know that actually