I switched to iPhone in 2018 with an iPhone 8. Before that I used Pixel and Nexus phones back to when they first started. Since then I’ve had the 8, SE2, 12 mini, and a 13.
I’ve felt since I switched that there’s just a different philosophy. iOS seems designed to get you into apps and keep the focus there in a way that Android isn’t. They have made some changes since 2018 though.
When I first switched, the homescreen was just icons, notifications were worse, and they hadn’t implemented shortcuts. The notifications in iOS have always seem designed to make you open the app whereas Android can often just tell you what the app is trying to tell you and let you respond without making you open it.
Another difference is that Google’s apps always seemed to have many more options. They try harder to be everything to everyone and the result is increased complexity. Apple seems to try to be everything to about 80% of people and those who need more options have to turn to third party apps. For example, I never felt the need for another calendar app on Android, but on iOS (and Mac) I use different email and calendar apps because Apple’s don’t have enough options. The result for Apple is that their apps are generally simpler, but also easier to learn because they have less options.
Apple has really muddied the waters here over the last few years though. They have added shortcuts and focus modes which seem like bolt-on additions to cover perceived gaps. Neither are particularly beginner-friendly and both require significant effort to get set up. I went through the effort to set up focus modes and it accomplishes what I need as far as who can reach me at what time of day. Your method of using a specific word in a text as a keyword could probably be accomplished with shortcuts, but that’s not an area I’m particularly familiar with.
The homescreen also now has widgets, which is great I guess, but they aren’t interactive. I have a whole homescreen page that’s my calendar, email, and task widgets. It takes the place of the Notification Center for me generally. But because they aren’t interactive I can’t just check off a task from the Home Screen. I have to tap it and then do it from the app. Which I’m used to at this point.
I really don’t use the pull down Notification Center at all. It’s a mess, has been a mess, and will probably continue to be a mess. I don’t feel like Apple cares about it and that it’s only there at all because people complain about iPhone notifications all the time. I don’t think that’s the way they want you interacting with your phone. But I don’t really know what they’d prefer you do instead.
Unless there are other parts of the Apple ecosystem you really like, I don’t know that switching would benefit you if you already have a system set up. I think you could accomplish most of what you want on iOS, but it would take a lot of tinkering to get there. Which is ironic because one of the things I loved when I switched was that iOS didn’t let me tinker with my phone like Android.
tapiringaround t1_j5ljm73 wrote
Reply to comment by ChowboyDan in I can’t get over how terrible the notifications system is on iPhone. by tertiarytheory
I switched to iPhone in 2018 with an iPhone 8. Before that I used Pixel and Nexus phones back to when they first started. Since then I’ve had the 8, SE2, 12 mini, and a 13.
I’ve felt since I switched that there’s just a different philosophy. iOS seems designed to get you into apps and keep the focus there in a way that Android isn’t. They have made some changes since 2018 though.
When I first switched, the homescreen was just icons, notifications were worse, and they hadn’t implemented shortcuts. The notifications in iOS have always seem designed to make you open the app whereas Android can often just tell you what the app is trying to tell you and let you respond without making you open it.
Another difference is that Google’s apps always seemed to have many more options. They try harder to be everything to everyone and the result is increased complexity. Apple seems to try to be everything to about 80% of people and those who need more options have to turn to third party apps. For example, I never felt the need for another calendar app on Android, but on iOS (and Mac) I use different email and calendar apps because Apple’s don’t have enough options. The result for Apple is that their apps are generally simpler, but also easier to learn because they have less options.
Apple has really muddied the waters here over the last few years though. They have added shortcuts and focus modes which seem like bolt-on additions to cover perceived gaps. Neither are particularly beginner-friendly and both require significant effort to get set up. I went through the effort to set up focus modes and it accomplishes what I need as far as who can reach me at what time of day. Your method of using a specific word in a text as a keyword could probably be accomplished with shortcuts, but that’s not an area I’m particularly familiar with.
The homescreen also now has widgets, which is great I guess, but they aren’t interactive. I have a whole homescreen page that’s my calendar, email, and task widgets. It takes the place of the Notification Center for me generally. But because they aren’t interactive I can’t just check off a task from the Home Screen. I have to tap it and then do it from the app. Which I’m used to at this point.
I really don’t use the pull down Notification Center at all. It’s a mess, has been a mess, and will probably continue to be a mess. I don’t feel like Apple cares about it and that it’s only there at all because people complain about iPhone notifications all the time. I don’t think that’s the way they want you interacting with your phone. But I don’t really know what they’d prefer you do instead.
Unless there are other parts of the Apple ecosystem you really like, I don’t know that switching would benefit you if you already have a system set up. I think you could accomplish most of what you want on iOS, but it would take a lot of tinkering to get there. Which is ironic because one of the things I loved when I switched was that iOS didn’t let me tinker with my phone like Android.