I've been considering switching from iPhone to Android. I've had iPhones since the iPhone 3g came out, but did have a small stint with the Galaxy Note Edge.

I like what I have seen out of the new Samsung Galaxy phones and I'm looking for a change. Anyone switched from iPhone to Android lately, after being in the Apple ecosystem forever? I played with a Fold 7 last weekend and really like it, but I know I would break it. If I switch to Android, I would probably go with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

ain't that the truth.

My wife is in a mom's group thread for the kids school and we had a new girl transfer in this year. Mom is an Android user so they can't add her to the group. Also can't have a "non-iMessage" thread with over 20 members so new mom is just screwed since nobody wants to move to WhatsApp.

This is what the OP can look forward to.

Stay with iPhone or be ostracized!

I have a company iPhone and a personal Android (Pixel 9). The only real annoyance is that sometimes message delivery between platforms is hit or miss. Random failures to deliver and switching between SMS and RCS on the iPhone end of the picture. It's been a real mystery, really. Haven't quite nailed it down yet but it may be limited to close contacts who have both of my numbers in their iPhone contact list.

AgsWin2011 said:

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I've been considering switching from iPhone to Android. I've had iPhones since the iPhone 3g came out, but did have a small stint with the Galaxy Note Edge.

I like what I have seen out of the new Samsung Galaxy phones and I'm looking for a change. Anyone switched from iPhone to Android lately, after being in the Apple ecosystem forever? I played with a Fold 7 last weekend and really like it, but I know I would break it. If I switch to Android, I would probably go with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

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I'm in the EXACT same boat...especially with our employee discount on that Galaxy S25 Ultra. I'm not too worried about my apple watch (only use it for tracking workouts mainly) or airpods that will work with a Galaxy....but I do have a few apple homekit things set up like using my iphone to tap to unlock my doors...and Apple pay. Damn I started using apple pay quite a bit this year and this is what seems to concern me the most (crazy eh? and yes...I know there is a samsung pay and more importantly a google pay...just not as universal from what I've seen as apple pay)

I thought Apple was going to change iMessage to the universal standard. Wasn't there some EU ruling on this and they were going to do that?

Also, I'm not sure I've ever even seen Google or Samsung Pay. Does not seem widely adopted.

Yep, supposed to be RCS but from what I can tell so far the implementation is buggy as hell.

I used to be the biggest android fan. Been running pixels for years. Phones are just phones now to me as far as my usage but I'm unfortunately teetering on joining the iphone crowd.

Main reason is unbelievably, there are still lots of apps that are iphone only. I feel like I come across one every couple weeks or so. Lately, it's been golf apps. When we went to japan, suica card only on iphones.

I don't want to switch but the pressure is building for me and it has nothing to do with blue bubbles...

flintdragon said:

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I used to be the biggest android fan. Been running pixels for years. Phones are just phones now to me as far as my usage but I'm unfortunately teetering on joining the iphone crowd.

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I'm in this boat, too. Been a Galaxy user for many years; everyone else in family is iPhone.

We got around the texting thing by using GroupMe.

It's not arbitrary. It's a lot easier to convince people to switch to a downloaded messaging app when 80% of people you know have a crappy default messaging app than it is to convince someone to deal with either coordinating on a single messaging app or downloading multiple messaging apps when 60+% of people you interact with have a perfectly acceptable messaging app and just accepting that the remaining 40-% of people just don't get to send you high quality photos is an acceptable tradeoff for simplicity.

The U.S. is one of the few majority iOS markets.

Lathspell said:

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Too much is locked down on Apple devices and I refuse to buy into the entire environment. Android is much more open, allowing its users to customize much more about their devices.

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This WAS my reason but after many years I just use default Pixel experience. Hardly customize anything.

Now, I have a macbook (far superior hardware). ipads are far superior to android tablets. I use as little of the Apple ecosystem as possible but take advantage of the hardware. I use chrome, google photos, etc...

Have never switched away from iPhone simply for the group message issue…. Both business and personal reasons.

Kinda nuts.

RoyVal said:

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YouBet said:

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Apple claims to be more secure/private than Google. I like that but have no idea if it's true.

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this is true. Apple has a dedicated chip that stores apple pay payment/credit card data vs Google which stores this type of date on their servers. Don't want to turn this into a debate over semantics of tokenized payment data....the fact is apple is MORE secure with your payment data that google. But google is still very, very secure as well.

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Good to know. Considering this world we live in now then that's enough to keep me with Apple even if it's just incrementally better.

YouBet said:

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Been a while since we had one of these threads. Tells you how mature this product sector has gotten because the form factor is maxed. No where else to go with it.

I've used both over the years and not beholden to either other than I ultimately settled on Apple because it's easier to use. Had major reliability issues with the last Samsung I owned which was way back in 2018 now.


I do not understand the colored text bubbles thing and why people get upset over it. I don't care if someone is green vs blue.

Apple claims to be more secure/private than Google. I like that but have no idea if it's true.

I refuse to use Apple computers because their mouse is the worst designed POS ever created. It's flat out unusable. Their other badly designed peripheral - the gen 1 Apple TV remote was redesigned with actual analog buttons because it was bad. Don't understand why they don't redesign their mouse as well.

The iPad is so much better than a Google equivalent it's laughable. I have both.

These are tools. There is no reason to become sycophants for either player....which brings me to my final point. It sucks that this entire industry is a duopoly. I wish we had a third option to pick from but understand why we don't.

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yeah I don't really like getting into Apple vs Google/Microsoft debates. I've been on the google/ms bandwagon for a very long time. But various forces have moved me over to Apple for almost everything though I try to avoid the apple ecosystem. I'm not a fanboy, just want my stuff to work.

Phone hardware wise, honestly both apple and pixel phones are awesome. I really don't want to give up my Pixel 9. But I'm envious of the app support iOS gets...

For tablets, android just sucks. Constantly running out of juice. By pixel tablet works well for me as just media consumption but half the time I use it, it's down to 5% battery just sitting there. And now I can't surf while eating breakfast. Traded in an ipad mini for pixel tablet. Regretted it from day one.

For laptops, I don't use the apple mouse. It's terrible. But you can connect any mouse; I use a trackman. If not needing a mouse, the macbook trackpad is the best on the market. There have been some windows trackpads are decent. Mostly higher end models. All sorts of wonky problems with my gaming laptop. Unless you have very specific reasons to use a windows laptop (gaming, app support, architecture needs), macbooks far far superior. traded in an old macbook pro for ROG gaming laptop. Regretted it from day one.

Trackpads were invented by Satan. I refuse to use them on any laptop regardless of make because they are inefficient and don't work.

On that note, laptops suck ass for almost everything. I abhor having to use mine. I have a Lenovo Carbon X1 for work. I got it because it had awesome reviews. It's trash for one reason and one reason only - they put the Fn key in the lower left where the Ctrl key has been since time immemorial. So, it makes it almost unusable because 35 years of muscle memory is trained to hit the Ctrl key there. Absolutely stupid and I missed that tidbit before buying it.

That's what I thought about trackpads too until I bought the topline chromebook PixelBook. That trackpad was amazing. Then work gave me a macbook pro. Even better. I know Lenovo in the past had terrible trackpads but have no experience with the Carbon line.

YouBet said:

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Trackpads were invented by Satan. I refuse to use them on any laptop regardless of make because they are inefficient and don't work.

On that note, laptops suck ass for almost everything. I abhor having to use mine. I have a Lenovo Carbon X1 for work. I got it because it had awesome reviews. It's trash for one reason and one reason only - they put the Fn key in the lower left where the Ctrl key has been since time immemorial. So, it makes it almost unusable because 35 years of muscle memory is trained to hit the Ctrl key there. Absolutely stupid and I missed that tidbit before buying it.

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See if you can remap it in the BIOS. Some Lenovos offer the option to swap FN and Ctrl.

I don't want this to come across as convincing you to switch back. But I just feel in general the first editions of wireless car play had issues. My last truck did (4 years old). It was totaled and my new one has had zero issues with it.

YouBet said:

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I thought Apple was going to change iMessage to the universal standard. Wasn't there some EU ruling on this and they were going to do that?

Also, I'm not sure I've ever even seen Google or Samsung Pay. Does not seem widely adopted.

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They updated their text messaging capabilities to support RCS recently, it doesn't work well yet. In addition to this, they still have iMessage, which is its own proprietary messaging system. Apple actively refused to support RCS, even though it's been around since 2008, in active wide use since 2013, and ubiquitous since probably around 2018. The result of this refusal is apple devices send very degraded videos when sending to android users, and there is a perception that this is the fault of android, rather than apple refusing to support RCS. They very much lean into this perception, they only adopted RCS when forced to by the EU, that is what you're thinking of.

Blue bubbles are for messages sent using the iMessage system. Green bubbles are for messages that are sent another way, such as SMS, MMS, or RCS.

iMessage is a messaging system like WhatsApp or Signal, except that it's platform locked only to apple devices. The iMessage app combines all the messages (iMessage, SMS, MMS, and RCS) into a single interface. Signal can do this also, but you have the option to keep them separate if you prefer that.

flintdragon said:

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YouBet said:

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Been a while since we had one of these threads. Tells you how mature this product sector has gotten because the form factor is maxed. No where else to go with it.

I've used both over the years and not beholden to either other than I ultimately settled on Apple because it's easier to use. Had major reliability issues with the last Samsung I owned which was way back in 2018 now.


I do not understand the colored text bubbles thing and why people get upset over it. I don't care if someone is green vs blue.

Apple claims to be more secure/private than Google. I like that but have no idea if it's true.

I refuse to use Apple computers because their mouse is the worst designed POS ever created. It's flat out unusable. Their other badly designed peripheral - the gen 1 Apple TV remote was redesigned with actual analog buttons because it was bad. Don't understand why they don't redesign their mouse as well.

The iPad is so much better than a Google equivalent it's laughable. I have both.

These are tools. There is no reason to become sycophants for either player....which brings me to my final point. It sucks that this entire industry is a duopoly. I wish we had a third option to pick from but understand why we don't.

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yeah I don't really like getting into Apple vs Google/Microsoft debates. I've been on the google/ms bandwagon for a very long time. But various forces have moved me over to Apple for almost everything though I try to avoid the apple ecosystem. I'm not a fanboy, just want my stuff to work.

Phone hardware wise, honestly both apple and pixel phones are awesome. I really don't want to give up my Pixel 9. But I'm envious of the app support iOS gets...

For tablets, android just sucks. Constantly running out of juice. By pixel tablet works well for me as just media consumption but half the time I use it, it's down to 5% battery just sitting there. And now I can't surf while eating breakfast. Traded in an ipad mini for pixel tablet. Regretted it from day one.

For laptops, I don't use the apple mouse. It's terrible. But you can connect any mouse; I use a trackman. If not needing a mouse, the macbook trackpad is the best on the market. There have been some windows trackpads are decent. Mostly higher end models. All sorts of wonky problems with my gaming laptop. Unless you have very specific reasons to use a windows laptop (gaming, app support, architecture needs), macbooks far far superior. traded in an old macbook pro for ROG gaming laptop. Regretted it from day one.

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What's wrong with the Apple mouse? My work computer came with one and haven't had any issues with it.

I was an iPhone user since the 3G and then switched to the Samsung ZFlip 3 when it came out. Switched back to the iPhone last year when my ZFlip hinge got stuck and wouldn't open all the way.

Android is a great platform and I really liked the ZFlip a lot. My biggest complaint was when people would message me videos from an iPhone, they would come across pixelated and very small (this may not be the case any more).

iPhone is also better for buying movies, etc. on my home TV because I use AppleTV. Very minor win for Apple.

The ZFlip was my favorite phone I have ever had because it had the functionality similar to iPhone (better customization though) and would fit in my pocket a lot better. It was also great for pictures (fold the phone, see the timer, and see then phone down and get ready for the picture. You didn't have to try and prop it up.

If Apple ever creates a flip phone, I will buy it in a heart beat. I ultimately went back to iPhone because of FaceTime. Much easier than my wife and kids all downloading additional apps (same for syncing our calendars). Otherwise, I would have bought the ZFlip4. In the end, both phone feel very similar.

I switched from iPhone to Android for a while, but there proved to be enough friction between my Android phone and the rest of my family's iPhones, along with the UX/UI (at the time) feeling not quite as responsive/smooth that I ended up moving back. Haven't had a compelling reason to give Android another try.

Like others, I work in both ecosystems. Mac Mini and Dell computers at home and/or work. MacBook, Chromebooks, iPads, and Pixel phones. As others have mentioned before, I'm the only Android phone user, and the rest of the family is iPhones.

One area that I have noticed in my experience that has come up more recently is that Android Auto has a lot more problems than Apple CarPlay. Again, that is my experience, but I think for those Apple users considering switching, if you use CarPlay a lot, I think it is worth examining more.