I was an original iPhone user in 2007. The halo effect has led me to Mac, iPad, AirPods, Watch HomePods and TV. I used to be willing to sacrifice features for the superior UX that Apple provided. The "it just works" adage kept me in the ecosystem all these years.

However, I'm to a point where I am considering abandoning the thousands of dollars I have invested in Apple tech. The experience has gotten so bad, I now regularly refer to my experience as "Crapple". Siri has gotten practically unusable. Handoff between AirPods and my various devices is as reliable as an automatic soap dispenser in the men's room. And don't get me started on the failings of Apple Intelligence especially compared to what I'm seeing from Gemini and ChatGPT.

Anyone else made the switch after being so completely invested in Apple? Any suggestions?

I've been more disappointed with Apple as the years have gone on. I've been an Apple user since my first-gen Intel MacBook Pro, which I followed up with an iPhone 3G the next year, and then a slew of other iPhones (currently have a 13). It seems things have been going downhill since Steve died; the innovation really did leave with his passing.

I'm planning to buy a desktop PC soon, and while It would probably be fun to have another Mac, I'd rather have a PC for a number of reasons, a big one being I can upgrade it.

I'm still 100% in Apple for phone, iPad and AirPod PROs, but I have certainly noticed my one use case for Siri which is in the car using ApplePlay has totally degraded. I'm not sure what happened with that but the ***** no longer recognizes anything I tell her to do or ask. The Siri graphic pops up and then it either just dies on the vine with no response or she tells me she no dice. Probably been this way for well over a year. Useless.

It is interesting how the whole Apple Intelligence AI announcement back with iOS 18 has been largely memory holed as well.

Doesn't make me want to go back to Android because my phone is still pretty new and hopefully lasts me several more years.

YouBet said:

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I'm still 100% in Apple for phone, iPad and AirPod PROs, but I have certainly noticed my one use case for Siri which is in the car using ApplePlay has totally degraded. I'm not sure what happened with that but the ***** no longer recognizes anything I tell her to do or ask. The Siri graphic pops up and then it either just dies on the vine with no response or she tells me she no dice. Probably been this way for well over a year. Useless.

It is interesting how the whole Apple Intelligence AI announcement back with iOS 18 has been largely memory holed as well.

Doesn't make me want to go back to Android because my phone is still pretty new and hopefully lasts me several more years.

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This is where I'm at. We use Siri on our HomePods quite a bit. It's total ****e now.

Apple jumped the gun last year with Apple Intelligence they decided to delay the new Siri indefinitely (likely 2026). The temporary fix right now is subscribing to ChatGPT and connecting it to Siri, but that only works for trivial questions and then it just prevents you from furthering the conversation. I do find Visual Intelligence quite handy, I mapped my iPhone 15 Pro Max Action button to Visual Intelligence. It's great for doing annual company online training courses when you get to the quiz sections. But yea Apple is behind in the AI race. They're behind on a lot of things. Rumors are they had to shelve the cheaper version of Apple Vision after Meta showed off the new Raybans with a screen.

The new Alexa is out on beta if you have Prime. It's a fancier way to set timers and sorta understands when you forget what exactly you named your smart bulbs. I never went to HomePod because Amazon kept giving me $1 pucks.

I don't have experience with Gemini.

Anyways, I haven't been having a whole lot of issues. I'm all Apple too, but for it all to work smoothly, you have to keep your hardware and software up to date. iOS 26 is a big update on the backend because Apple opened up on-device AI models to developers.

Imo, we are still in the early adoption phase for generative AI assistants.

So, I've generally been OK with waiting for Apple when it comes to new features that other platforms have because they tend to nail the experience once they release something.

If it was only a smarter AI assistant, I wouldn't be considering changing. But since the release of Apple Intelligence Siri has gone backward. My wife will be in the same room as me and say "hey Siri" so she can do something on the HomePods. 10/10 times Siri will respond on my iPad instead. It never used to do that.

About 20% of the time when my wife asks Siri to do something, it responds with "who is speaking?"

Not related to Siri, but handoff of audio between AirPods, Mac and iPhone/iPad is infuriating. (I still love my AirPods and think they are the best product Apple has released since the iPhone).

I don't know…I'll probably wait until new Siri and see if they get it right. iCloud sucked too when they first released it and now it's great.

My wife has an Android phone but an Apple laptop, and I have an IPhone (SE IOS 18.6.2), and then a Windows laptop.

I get all of that but it doesn't explain current state Siri regressing to the point of being an Alpha version of her generation one self. It should at least work like it always has and it doesn't.

Eskimo D. Walker said:

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Anyone else made the switch after being so completely invested in Apple? Any suggestions?

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I did a long term experiment a couple of years ago when I finally got an iphone and MB. I had had airpods and an ipad for a few years previous and liked them a lot but never considered myself fully invested until the other two were had.

Phone died and made the jump to apple after nothing but android and PC.

Long story short, after this iphone dies, I am going back. Which also sums up the situation for me. I like Apple hardware. It's well made and lasts forever if you take care of it. Its' the main attraction that drew me to it in the first place. That and the airpods. Still the superior earbuds hands down.

The software is on the line of ok/assho to me though. The only real deal breaker for me at this point is the music app. Can't stand Apple music and how you are locked into it. Even if you have your own music. But the rest is just good enough to not dump it immediately but enough to piss me off that I won't renew when the time comes.

So the conundrum is that I don't want to jump back until my phone dies, but the phone won't die because it is robust. I barely use my MB and often forget it even exists. I straight up regretting getting it now. The forced ecosystem is ass. Didn't think it would be that bad until I was in it.

To answer your question, the Galaxys have always been good to me. Nothing has a line of budget phones I have been eyeing as well.

One of the issues at hand is that hardware innovation is maxed. There is nothing else left to do with these phones. All that's left is for Apple to make a flip phone which, of course, Samsung has already done. And that is mostly gimmickry although I like the idea of a smaller footprint for carrying. Beyond that...nothing. Just incremental battery improvements and camera improvements.

So, that leaves software which they are clearly now behind on and frankly have always been a step behind their competitor when it comes to phone software. Never really bothered me because I'm not a phone fan boy. I just want stuff to work.

What I really, really want is a ring device or something less intrusive than a smart watch but more robust than Oura for fitness so I can ditch my smart watch. I like my Garmin, but I would rather wear my real watches. That's a different topic though.

I have an android phone and macbook. What apple ecosystem? I just use all google apps. I turn off literally everything Apple. Except maybe FindMy which is probably a good thing to have.

No siri, no safari, no photos, no icloud, no music

As a flip flopper, the watch and the AirPods are the only reasons I'm on Apple now. Are Android airbuds better with connecting between PC and phone seamlessly? It's part of why I went back to Apple.

tfunk02 said:

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As a flip flopper, the watch and the AirPods are the only reasons I'm on Apple now. Are Android airbuds better with connecting between PC and phone seamlessly? It's part of why I went back to Apple.

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AirPod PROS are great. I can't stand talking on the phone without my AirPods in. Regular AirPods are trash.

The Sony's are supposed to be equivalent to AirPods and actually better for sound based on every review I've ever read. If I ever leave Apple, I'm switching to the Sony's.

YouBet said:

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tfunk02 said:

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As a flip flopper, the watch and the AirPods are the only reasons I'm on Apple now. Are Android airbuds better with connecting between PC and phone seamlessly? It's part of why I went back to Apple.

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AirPod PROS are great. I can't stand talking on the phone without my AirPods in. Regular AirPods are trash.

The Sony's are supposed to be equivalent to AirPods and actually better for sound based on every review I've ever read. If I ever leave Apple, I'm switching to the Sony's.

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Aye, the pros are GOAT'ed IMO. The money I spent trying desperately to NOT have Apple with the number of other earbuds I tried before I submitted could have bought me like 4 pairs of airpods. Granted, this was years ago so I am sure the differences have probably tightened somewhat.

Airpods is what I blame for getting me into Apple in the first place. Before there even was a Pro model. My gateway drug. Took me to the iPad which at that time in my life as a college kid, was a lifesaver. Then I tried the other stuff and it just never held the same trajectory.

I'm on AirPods Pro 3rd gen now. The microphones are WAAAAY better than the 2nd gen ones. Audiophiles don't like the new sound signature, but I can't tell. ANC is a noticeable step up too.

How convenient that I have had my air pod pros for just over a year and the right one just quit working. I love the AirPod pros, but I feel like they didn't sound as good and the noise cancellation got worse over time (maybe I made that all up in my own head).

I've seriously considered switching to Samsung. I still think I'm going to switch eventually. I really just want to make sure I download all my photos from my Apple devices. Other than that, "starting over" by switching to Android wouldn't be a big deal to me.

If you have Amazon Prime, then you can back up your pictures for free there (very limited on videos). That's what I do along with Google Photos to be safe.

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Excel is more stable in Mac than in Windows,

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But the shortcuts suck and macros and VBA are much better on a PC. I have to keep a PC for Excel alone.

powerbelly said:

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Excel is more stable in Mac than in Windows,

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But the shortcuts suck and macros and VBA are much better on a PC. I have to keep a PC for Excel alone.

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Yeah the loss of the Office 2003 keyboard shortcuts was and still is annoying. The tradeoff was not losing work for a forced update every Tuesday night.

Great discussion here. Thanks everyone for chiming in.

Sounds like the ecosystem for Home Assistants and Personal Assistants has just oversold their ability to deliver to this point. Across all platforms.

I still love my Mac and wouldn't take money to go back to Windows. I like my iPhone but would be happy with a Pixel or other high end Android. It's the services that I want to work better…messages, device handoff between phone/computer/AI etc. This has been the sweet spot for Apple in the past and what pulled me into their walled garden. Have been happily living in that walled garden because everything just worked.

Guess I'll wait a bit longer to see if anyone builds a better mousetrap.

Eskimo D. Walker said:

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Great discussion here. Thanks everyone for chiming in.

Sounds like the ecosystem for Home Assistants and Personal Assistants has just oversold their ability to deliver to this point. Across all platforms.

I still love my Mac and wouldn't take money to go back to Windows. I like my iPhone but would be happy with a Pixel or other high end Android. It's the services that I want to work better…messages, device handoff between phone/computer/AI etc. This has been the sweet spot for Apple in the past and what pulled me into their walled garden. Have been happily living in that walled garden because everything just worked.

Guess I'll wait a bit longer to see if anyone builds a better mousetrap.

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Tim Cook isn't Steve Jobs. We all knew it when Jobs died as this is the result. Cook is an administrator and IMO doesn't even try to push the company towards innovation. It's almost like he's a PE raider milking value but not seeking to lead the way. Apple has become a company that doesn't innovate in anyway and is typically a couple of generations behind with cool new stuff. That was great when it all fit together like a hand in a glove but if that starts to fracture Apple isn't the best option anymore. Gonna be interesting to see how they move forward.

The only apple thing I own is my work phone which I use maybe once a week and a pair of iPod pros I used awhile back when I misplaced my OG pixel buds. A few thoughts:


-I just upgraded to the Pixel 10 Pro and love it. One of the big complaints I had with the Pixel 8 Pro was lag on the camera when taking full resolution photos and that is completely gone now. The night sight feature on pixel phones is better than anything that Apple has IMO. If we are in a darker venue my camera always outperforms my wife's iPhone because of that. I've also taken some great time lapse photos of the night sky when I was in big bend.

-I generally don't use any sort of AI, but the overall opinion is that Gemini is the weakest one out there. What I do like is that Google has sectioned it off from their Google Assistant. You can have Gemini take over assistant duties or stick with the OG Google Assistant. I have stuck with Assistant because it works well for what I need. Turning on lights, playing music, taking notes, etc. Just simple tasks. I don't need it to tell me who won the 1927 World Series (although it weirdly can do that) or answer complex problems, etc. If I wanted to switch to Gemini, I can though. You can hop back and forth.

-I still love my navigation buttons so I have those enabled as opposed to using their gestures system for navigation. It part of the customization aspect that I think people have grown to love with android phones.
New Pixels have built in magnets just like the iPhone for charging. And on that note, they are all USB-C which is really nice IMO.

-In reference to an above post, you can message from a computer on Google's native messaging app. It's web based so you can use it from any browser on any computer without having to install an app. To avoid opening a browser and logging in every time, I have it saved as an app on my desktop.

-The Pixel Bud 2 Pros are a huge step up IMO. The ANC is great and they have a host of features that were previously missing. You can ANC, No ANC, or Passive ANC. The Passive ANC will pause if it senses someone talking to you, hears an emergency siren, baby crying, etc. They also have google assistant (or Gemini) which I use the crap out of (pause/play/next/timers/ volume) I also like that I can tap the ear buds to use pause/play/skip and swipe forward or back to control volume. I haven't had a chance to play around with the real time translation feature on the new ones, but it worked pretty good on my last pixel buds when I was in Japan (you end up using the google translate app).

-One thing I think is underrated or not talked about is Google's spam filter. Google maintains a pretty robust list of spam callers and will notify you when they call so you can decline. You can also enable automatic spam screening that will decline any incoming call flagged as spam so your phone doesn't even ring. Spam texts occasionally get through, but google is quick to flag them so you can block them. I was shocked at how many calls and texts make it through on my work iPhone and wife's phone.

-Pixels also have a built in VPN. While obviously not as ideal as a third party VPN (that google doesn't control) it still provides a pretty high degree of security. Once enabled it's basically always on and I don't have to even think about it. Sometimes it will interfere with some online food ordering systems or ticket purchase systems but it's easy to pause from the swipe down menu.

-Another security feature has to do with gov surveillance systems. Stingray phone trackers basically trick your phone into connecting to a monitored network so it can be tracked or have it's transmissions and data logged and siphoned off. The typically use a 2g network as no one uses those anymore. Android phones allow you to disable connection to 2g networks (iPhone does something similar). What's new to the Pixel 10 phones is the ability to detect when a network requests a unique identifier (IMEI) or attempts to force an unencrypted connection.

I am sure there are a lot of other things I could add, but these are just a few things that I thought might be helpful.

I'm shocked at how bad Apple TVs are. I so wanted to like the device but man the remote experience and onscreen display are such a deviation from how well iphones and ipads work. I understand the remote has gotten better but not good enough to switch all my Roku devices which are cheap and easy to Apple TVs.

Such a complete fail.

AgsWin2011 said:

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Mega Lops said:

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I'm shocked at how bad Apple TVs are. I so wanted to like the device but man the remote experience and onscreen display are such a deviation from how well iphones and ipads work. I understand the remote has gotten better but not good enough to switch all my Roku devices which are cheap and easy to Apple TVs.

Such a complete fail.

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I've actually had a different experience. Yes, the remotes are terrible and don't last. What I do enjoy about the Apple TV is how fast it is in comparison to Roku when switching channels on YouTube TV. On Apple TV, when I change the channel, it's like old school tv and is instant. The Roku would always have a 4-5 second buffer which is annoying, especially during football season.

Are the newer Roku's better than Apple TV? This has been one of my bigger drawbacks funnily enough.

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What are you doing with your remotes. I have never had one break.

Absolutely nothing. I even had them in a case. They just stopped working and/or couldn't hold a charge. The TV remote actually works with the Apple TV, so I just use it.

AgsWin2011 said:

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Mega Lops said:

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I'm shocked at how bad Apple TVs are. I so wanted to like the device but man the remote experience and onscreen display are such a deviation from how well iphones and ipads work. I understand the remote has gotten better but not good enough to switch all my Roku devices which are cheap and easy to Apple TVs.

Such a complete fail.

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I've actually had a different experience. Yes, the remotes are terrible and don't last. What I do enjoy about the Apple TV is how fast it is in comparison to Roku when switching channels on YouTube TV. On Apple TV, when I change the channel, it's like old school tv and is instant. The Roku would always have a 4-5 second buffer which is annoying, especially during football season.

Are the newer Roku's better than Apple TV? This has been one of my bigger drawbacks funnily enough.

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Same, I've always been very happy with the AppleTV, particular with regards to speed it's so much better than most everything else I've tried.

I'm pretty invested in the ecosystem and like others you'd have to pay me to go back to Windows. Things could certainly be better and Siri isn't great (though no worse than Google Assistant in my recent experiments), but everything just works and my issues overall are small things. As mentioned the AirPod Pros are tough to beat, I too did the "let's try lots of other earbuds" thing and just came back, they're too good. None of the AI features are good enough to use as a significant deciding criteria at this point.

Apple does pretty much force you to stay pretty current which is a pain, and the insane cost to upgrade things like RAM and hard drives is annoying. But as a whole things work with minimal headaches and my complaints are minor.

FWIW, I've never been happier than I am now with my phone. It's a Samsung galaxy s25 ultra. People send me their pictures to edit with AI because about 90% of the time it can remove things you dont want in pictures and it not leave noticeable blurring or artifacts. It might be my favorite part of the phone and it's a feature I hadn't even been wanting

Now that apple has to work with all for texting then you longer have compression issues that make pictures and vids look like crap. You just have the stigma of eww green texts... idgaf... I can make your texts any color I want because I can actually customize my phone

I'll add that gadgets like airtags are nothing special and the integration is nothing to brag about. I got my first galaxy smart tag 2's recently (after having used tiles) and the second I pulled the strip from the battery it then popped up on my phone. The hardest part was typing in a name. There's no longer a "apple is better at working together" thing anymore