My six year old iPhone still receives software updates
As an android user, I looked at the phone list for iOS 18, and I was jealous.
Google and Samsung now provide updates for 7 years, and Fairphone provides updates for 8 years.
From what I can tell, Apple doesn’t promise a set number of years for updates. The iPhone x got about 5 years of updates before support was dropped, but Apple will occasionally give security updates to older devices if they’re severe enough.
With Fairphone 5, they guarantee at least 8 years of software updates but they will actually try 10 years! [1]
And Apple was recently forced to disclose their software support commitment in the UK due to regulations. Apple guarantees at least 5 years of software updates, which is less than Google, Samsung, and Fairphone. Apple is no longer the leader in software support! [2]
This is why I made the switch from android to iPhone too
Good to hear, but I don’t think I will have a phone for as long as six years, because for one thing the battery probably will have become unusable by then - they can only be charged so many times.
You know you can replace the battery, right? Like, 10 minutes with some basic repair knowledge and you can have it done. I usually do a battery replacement on my iPhone ever 2 years just because it will inevitably slow down and the battery life becomes unusable.
No way. You need more than 10 minutes and way more than “basic” repair knowledge.
Iphones are by design extremely hard to repair.
Proprietary screws, glued in components (which needs to be removed and reapplied) and battery management components which need to be resoldered to the new battery so that the phone accepts it.
Its been a while since i have repaired an iphone but i doubt its gotten better.
If you can do it in 10 minutes I will gove you 10 bucks though.
But updates for what? You gain very little from security because nobody is targeting you and no new major features, so what’s it really worth? Maybe I’m wrong about my perception of those things though… I’ve used 2 androids for around 8 years each no problem.
Updates to secure the operating systems are worth it. Apple has a fantastic track record of supporting the older phones. It shows they’ve really planned ahead and thought about the entire lifecycle of their device. They will also accept your old phone after its life is complete and responsibly recycle it.
You gain very little from security because nobody is targeting you…
It’s not about being targeted, it’s about being caught in the big fishing net that scammers are throwing. You don’t have to be targeted to have security concerns.
If a phone isn’t receiving regular security updates, I won’t use it. My Pixel 5a just got replaced because it’s coming up on end of support. My new Pixel has 7 years of support, so I feel a lot better about keeping it longer.
My Pixel 4a has LineageOS on it, and is installing an update from two days ago right now.
Sure, the general OS is getting security updates but hardware-specific updates have stopped.
- Cross-device integration/the Apple ecosystem. I use a Mac for my userland computing, and the ease with which it works together with my phone is a killer feature. Also in this category is integration with my family’s Apple devices.
- The software ecosystem. Apple’s first party apps and services are really nice across the board, and once again the ecosystem integration is the single biggest reason I use an iPhone. (the user facing apps, at least–Xcode and everything related to it are hot trash).
- Purely subjective, but Android is ugly to me. The hardware, the OS(es), and the apps just look bad to my eye. The iPhone looks and feels nice in a way that I haven’t experienced in an Android product.
- I don’t trust Google and I can’t be bothered to spend any time configuring my phone. I spend too much of my life installing shit and tinkering with config already; I want a phone that just works out of the box.
Pretty much the same for me. I try to do zero business with Google. I tried android several times and it just felt like a rough draft of a real product.
Never trust Google. But do you trust Apple?
More than Google tbh
That’s my take. I really dislike Google. I avoid using anything Google. I am not saying apple is perfect but they are not Google
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- There is no reasonably sized android phone. They’re either huge (>6“) or tiny (<4“) and the smaller variant usually has ancient and slow specs.
- I passionately dislike google. Big parts of that is privacy, which Apple might not care about as much as they should but Google isn’t caring about at all. And yes, it’s possible to use Android without Google but it’s quite a hassle.
- I prefer the UI of most apps on iOS to the equivalent on Android. It’s fairly consistent, usually following certain standards (like the menu bar on the bottom).
- Most android phones I’ve used over the years have an ungodly amount of bloat. Why would anyone want to use a second, worse app store? Why are facebook and tiktok preinstalled and can’t be uninstalled?
- I also have a Mac and an AppleTV. The iPhone fits right in.
- I’m used to it. It works. As long as Apple doesn’t do a major privacy oopsie or someone releases a small android flagship phone again, I have no reason to leave because android offers nothing I desire beyond what I already have.
Edit: structure
Same, no reason to switch. The iPhone just works and it actually never slow down while I had this problem with my parents android phones and my old android
After exclusively using android for 10 years I switched to an iPhone. Only regret is not doing it sooner.
Yeah, I got tired of being the product. It used to be Google phones were significantly cheaper, that’s just not nearly as much a thing anymore.
Then you have to take the additional steps of finding privacy focused roms etc… It just wasn’t worth the savings to me. There’s things about Android I miss, but the fact that my phone is good for years and years is such a game changer.
I have been gradually transitioning over to proton for additional privacy and I’ve basically completely divorced myself from Google at this point.
Google.
I just switched back to iPhone a couple of months ago, after 10 years on Android.
In short, I trust Apple more than Google. That’s not to say Apple is 100% trustworthy, but I definitely trust them more than Google.
First thing: Privacy. I am aware that iOS is not entirely private too, but I trust Apple Photos much more than Google Photos. You can even enable end-to-end encryption iirc.
Second point is control over my data. I can easily export my photos from Apple Photos as files, whereas Google maliciously separates Photos and Metadata upon export. In my experience this is the same for a lot of other services as well. Being able to easily export my data enables me to escape the walled garden more easily should I get fed up with one system. I also try to use as many open source services as possible for this as well as other reasons.
Apple has a lot of malicious practices too, especially when it comes to EU citizens and third-party app stores, etc. - but in my experience Google is no better.
Lastly, I considered switching to an Android with Graphene OS (privacy focused Android derivate) a couple of times, but the added control over your data comes with a lot of other inconveniences. So for now, I’m just sticking to iOS.
Apple Photos is more private than Google Photos
Sure, but if you care about privacy at all, then surely you wouldn’t use either of them anyway? You’d use Ente Photos (available for both OS), or Immich (available for both OS), or any other private solution? So this shouldn’t really be a factor in choosing between Android and iOS. Same with the export point. Both have good options for photo backup, and neither Apple Photos nor Google Photos are one of them.
Pretty sure on iOS any other gallery app is just a frontend to the photo stock app. Beside, you can encrypt the whole thing on iCloud so it’s safe (which is what I do)
Yeah, all gallery apps show the same on-device photos, the difference is where they backup/upload them, which is the part important to privacy.
Apple iCloud having the E2E encryption feature is definitely an advantage over Google Photos. All I’m saying is that neither really have much to do with the OS. Google Photos isn’t even a preinstalled app on most Android phones, just one of many options you could install, same as on iOS.
Yeah but if you disable the iCloud upload for the photos app they are all on-device
Same goes for any other app, including Google Photos
Except google photos will nag you every few days to enable cloud sync if it’s disabled when you open the app and uses dark patterns to nudge towards accepting. I doubt iOS does that.
So don’t install it, use a better app. It’s just some app, not part of the system like iCloud on iOS.
- Live Photos. I love having a little video attached to every photo. I wish high end mirrorless cameras would do this.
- I can use my phone without and Google products. Apple Maps is especially useful. YouTube and Google Voice are my last two I haven’t ditched. yt-dlp and PeerTube with help, and I’m looking into VOIP providers.
I trust Apple more than Google. May be misplaced faith, but that’s the primary reason.
Using Google services is not a strict requirement to run Android. There are whole online communities around unGoogled Android.
I’ve long considered making this switch from iPhone to an ungoogled Android device. What always bothered me is still basically having to install proprietary apps from a Play Store adjacent source. Like the Aurora store is basically just the Play Store logged under someone else’s account. I know you can side load but that’d be a pain to maintain updates. Wish there was like a Flathub-like store on Android I could use instead.
Its called F-Droid
There’s no proprietary apps on F-Droid. It doesn’t even have Signal which is open source.
I’m not sure what’s your pain point then? With Aurora you can install and automatically update proprietary apps. You can use anonymous accounts so you are not officially logged in (does this still work?). If you want FOSS, then fdroid. There’s more updating tools such as unobtanium, but seems what you want is Aurora.
I’d just like to be completely free of Google’s app distribution infrastructure if possible. I’ll have to look into unobtanium. I haven’t heard of that one previously.
So first, I will say that the phrase “stopping me from switching” kind of implies that I’m looking to switch but can’t.
I used to have android between the iPhone 4s and the iPhone X. Back then, there were significant features that I wanted that I couldn’t get from iOS. Tho now there isn’t much that android has that I don’t feel I have access to that is significant .
As for what keeps me around and happy with iPhone is
- I’m in software engineering and I have always been mac person. I know windows has had the Linux subsystem for a long time now but it feels like a new feature and clunkier than max being freebsd based. My current job forces me to use windows, and I hate it but it’s been 4 years, so I’ve adjusted. That said, the Mac/iPhone/iPad interoperability is great
- I love my Apple Watch. I’m sure Android wearable have gotten better but the integration feels complete and well supported. I don’t have to worry about my phone getting updated and my watch stopping working
- The find my network is pretty great. I know there are other solutions but airtags are great. All of my devices also have seamless location tracking and sharing out of the box.
- I pay for the TB of iCloud storage (it’s outrageously priced but I’m used to it now). It’s great to have all my devices able to just all be using it. Latest addition to my icloud usage was using the Logitech Circleview doorbell and camera. It saves directly to icloud. I don’t have to worry about storage and I also don’t have to worry about the company sharing my footage with cops cause the data is stored in my icloud drive.
- it’s not flawless nor perfect but knowing that there is app review before something gets published makes me feel better about the entire ecosystem. Kind of like how a bouncer at a bar let’s ya know that when you go inside, the riffraff had to at least sneak in
- apple pay works great for me
- having all my devices made by the same company is a pro for me but I know others might see it as a con. But my Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePods, AirPods, etc all just being from apple means I have less to keep up with. I don’t have to worry about a matrix of who makes what and when it’s gonna get updated or dropped
- resell/trade in value is great cause old devices have such a long life due to software updates
- my shit just works and I’m happy
- I know it might be contraversal but I trust Apple. Be it them having a pretty good record on user privacy, or them not allowing bloatware cause of user experience, or them not cramming AI into shit the same way everyone else did (even with the upcoming IOS, their implementation seems well thought out and conservative
- backups and transferring to new devices has been completely painless (which I do suprisingly often)
Over the years, I’ve gone from being a major tech enthusiast to now not wanting to have to futz around when I’m not on the clock. I still like getting tech and adding it to my home, but I don’t get in the weeds anymore. I just want my shit to work. I want my stuff to just work for my family.
I dunno, tweaking and futzing used to be important to me. But now confidence and simplicity matter more to me now
It’s so funny that this post was only a bit below this one: Google Wants To Start Tracking 300 Million iPhone Users Within 5 Years
I hate google.
Google.
I used to have Android, from HTC Desire upto Pixel 4a 5g. But Android 11 and 12 really ruined the experience for me. And I went to iPhone. I’m not going back anytime soon.
Why would I? My phone works fine tyvm
As long as you stay in your box.
Most people don’t need and thus don’t want to exit the box in their daily lives. They just want something that works and both iOS and Android provide that. It’s not shameful to stay in that box, if all you need or want is a functional box.
For those that can afford to enter the box and maintain all of its required ancillary pieces, you may very well be able to have that experience and save yourself “the burden” of thought or choice, yes.
Voting is hard too, having to research multiple candidate’s histories against their stated intentions, marketing and funding sources can be downright exhausting at times, maybe you can let Apple do it for you?
Raising your kids includes so many difficult and impactful choices… Maybe we can send our kids to Apple, pay a subscription, and they can raise them as might best boost shareholder value?
It’s not shameful.
