People have been continuously arguing about which is better: the iPhone or the Android smartphone? The debate never ends, and most people choose to be fans of iOS or Android, no matter what.
iPhone apps do not crash as often as their Android counterparts
For as long as I have used the iPhone 13, no app on it has crashed. Although the Android Smartphone I had before was a capable smartphone for its time, I have had so many issues with apps crashing on it that I felt it was normal. A positive difference is that apps are not crashing on the iPhone as often as on Android. However, there are times when some of them can lag for a second or two before responding to my taps.
The home screen on iOS is not as customizable as the one on Android
Coming from the Android ecosystem, I was used to being able to customize everything. The first big difference is the fact that the home screen on the iPhone is a lot more limited in personalization options than the one on Android.
On my iPhone, the only things I can change about the home screen are:
- Choosing a different image for the wallpaper
- Changing the order of the app icons
- Creating folders in which I can place multiple app icons
- That is not much compared to what you can do in Android. These are the features I miss most:
I cannot use widgets. The only place where you can have widgets in iOS is the Notifications Screen.
There is no apps drawer like in Android. All the apps are shown on the home screen, so you have to create app folders to get all the clutter organized.
The App Store feels better organized than the Play Store
The Play Store on Android has been significantly improved over the years, and it has become easy to navigate. My first encounter with Apple’s App Store was even more favorable. It looks more straightforward, although it is also split into categories and top charts, just like the Play Store. Since I’ve had my iPhone, the App Store experience feels more polished and friendly. This is, however, a personal opinion, and other people might feel differently about the App Store versus the Play Store.
Some apps from the App Store are better than their Android counterparts
Apple is known for its high standards regarding the apps that make it through its App Store. That means that developers must create apps that pass specific usability and quality criteria that are established by Apple. As a direct consequence, some third-party apps are more polished than what you find in the Play Store for Android.
There are more paid apps for iPhones than for Android, but there are also fewer ads
Although the essential apps everyone uses are free on both platforms, when you get out of this bubble, you find that more apps in the App Store are paid, compared to Android. That is probably because Apple’s audience is considered to be more willing to spend money on apps than Google’s audience. However, that also means that the apps for iOS are usually less filled with ads. On my iPhone, I had to adjust to paying some money for a few of the apps I was used to getting for free on Android.
The default iPhone apps that come with iOS are less advanced than the Google apps found on Android
I do not like some of the default apps that come with the iPhone. Safari, Apple Maps, Photos, and Mail, for instance, are not as good as Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Photos, or Gmail. The default apps that Google offers on Android tend to be more advanced. This impression probably depends on how much you are entrenched in Apple’s or Google’s ecosystem, and I have to admit that I still am a heavy user of Google’s services.
Media files cannot be transferred to a Windows PC, as easily, when using an iPhone
If you are a Mac user, transferring your files is not an issue. However, if you are a Windows PC user, moving media files on and from an iPhone can be daunting at first. With an Android device, all you have to do is plug it into a USB port on your Windows computer. Things are different with iPhones. If you want to transfer music or video files, you must download and install iTunes and use this app instead of File Explorer. However, if you just want to copy some photos from your iPhone to your Windows 10 PC, you can use the import feature offered by the Microsoft Photos app, or simply copy them using File Explorer.
There is no Back button on the iPhone
After a few weeks of using my first iPhone, I used to miss the Back button found on all Android devices. iPhones do not have it, and that was strange for someone who got used to using it. Sure, there are buttons inside apps and gestures that you can use on an iPhone to go back. However, the Back button from Android is a lot more comfortable. I could tap it repeatedly to get out of any app, and it was always there, in the same place, no matter what. Although the Back button is usually found at the top-left corner of the screen, the truth is that on iPhones, it can be anywhere the developers want it to be. That takes some getting used to, and it does not improve the user experience.