1y ago

Moved from Pixel 5 to iPhone 15 Pro - my reasons/experiences…

I had an iPhone 3G, then 4, then switched to a Nexus 4, LG G4, LG G5, Pixel 2 and then Pixel 5. Just in case anyone else is thinking of moving from a Pixel, I moved (back) to using an iPhone because:

Pixel 5 reaching end-of-support for OS/security updates. Battery life starting to show its age. Pixel 8 is (still) too big. Really, really not a fan of the camera bar on the later Pixels. Apple’s physical presence in my country makes repairs etc. quicker and easier. Switch to USB-C meant cables and chargers could be kept. Although not limited to Google, OS features are often US specific. Started getting adverts in Google Feed. Fed up with Google deprecating things (bitten by stadia). I realised I didn’t actually customise my phone much.

The Good: Pretty much identical in size to the Pixel 5. OS is fast and polished. Apps are generally very good quality. Anecdotally, there seem to be more apps with (albeit expensive) lifetime purchase options. Nice touches like reminding me that I’ve left my iPad behind. 80% charging limit is nice to have. Video quality good. Photos seem fine but maybe blurrier than Pixel? Seems to be easier to have apps from two different country’s stores installed on the phone. Notification system not as bad as expected.

The Bad: The glass back is a constant source of worry. Muscle memory for the volume buttons and fingerprint reader will take some time to forget. Volume opposite power button means I keep accidentally taking screenshots. Slightly jealous about Pixel 8’s new camera abilities. Can’t use credit cards from two different countries with Apple Pay (I think). Anecdotally, more apps seem to require subscriptions.

The Ugly: Losing Threema and Signal chat histories. Have to keep the Pixel to keep my late mum’s original chats. Just let me put app icons where I want, please. App settings are all over the place. Notification volume much louder than ring volume but (often) can’t be individually changed? Notification system not as good as it could be. Ancient and irritating limitation on using own ringtones. Let me remove, not just blank, sources in the News app. Needs to learn that I swear continuously much more quickly. I miss Öffi.

Despite the bad/ugly points, the good, in combination with my original reasons for switching, mean I’ve no real regrets.

If I find any other points I’ll update this. Please let me know if I’ve got any of the iOS limitations wrong, and apologies in advance if my formatting is crappy, or anyone considers this sort of post pointless - just trying to add some content to Lemmy - being the change I want to see… :-)

55 comments

I’ve been using 14 Pro for a year and notification system is not getting better :) It’s just so bad compared to Android.
- :-(
  Going to have to hope the many remaining years of iOS updates result in something better if I don’t get used to it.
- +1 switched from a Pixel 2 to iPhone 12 for a year and a half. Ultimately went back to Pixel because I was missing too many notifications
  
  What was causing you to miss notifications? My experience is that on iPhone you get too many notifications, because of the lack of fine-grained control over notification categories.
  
  What was causing you to miss notifications? My experience is that on iPhone you get too many notifications, because of the lack of fine-grained control over notification categories.

Unless you’re a YouTuber angling for views you don’t need to worry about the back glass. Independent testing by consumer reports has confirmed it’s just fine.
- I just put my finger through my wife's new iphone 13's back trying to take off her case.
  
  Which has nothing to do with an iPhone 15 but thanks?

I personally like the notification system. Everything comes in in order and stays in that order. I can remove things if I want, or just ignore them, and they never really feel like they’re all piled up.
- Maybe it’s just familiarity on my part, but the Android one seemed much more straightforward in terms of acting on notifications, replying directly to messages there, and so on. I’m sure/I hope I’ll get used to the iOS one.
  
  The quick action buttons are great on Android, but I otherwise prefer how iOS keeps them out of the way. On Android, my status bar is always full anyway, so I'd prefer to have empty, like on iOS, since I'm not getting useful information anyway.
- I have the opposite issues. I’m constantly overloaded with notifications and I get teased all the time because I end up with a notification history going back a full week. I’ve had N iPhone for 2 years and I just haven’t seem to have got a hang of iPhone notifications lol.
  
  Just clear the Notification Center often and use the feature to get some notifications from specific apps at specific time you yourself choose.

You can use any ringtone you want! I wish I recalled how I did it, but it involved me cutting a part of audio out with Audacity, transferring it into iTunes, and converting it to a specific file type. If I can find a how-to, I’ll post it here. I’ve always just had the original ringtone for the last… many years though, because my phone is never off silent mode.
- Thanks - yes, that’s sort of what I meant by limitation - can’t just download an mp3 and set it as ringtone :-(
  
  Ahhhh yeah you definitely can’t do that, which I also find silly.
  
  Open mp3 in garage band and choose "export as ringtone". This gives you a m4r file which is a m4a file that has max 40s playtime. You can rename m4a files manually, and those should be syncable with iPhone as well. They want to make it harder to add free ringtones and instead sell you ringtones with good margin.
- You can import custom ringtones using the GarageBand App. It isn’t very straightforward but definitely possible.

Switching from a Pixel 5 to IPhone 13 Pro was difficult for me as well. iOS just has such an… antiquated feel compared to stock Android on Pixel phones. Every day there’s something I end up missing about my old Pixel but I’m sticking with Apple for now due to a vetted effort to de-Google.
The good news is, with every new iOS update, they steal just a few more features that Android has had for years, so over time iOS does feel more and more like a flavor of Android.
- Just a little reminder, that apple collects as much data as google does. You have to make many tradeoffs, if you want a privacy iPhone (many apple services have to be turned off)
  
  Apple does collect data, but not nearly as much as Google does. There is a lot more processing and storing done on-device than with Google, and Apple in recent years has been leaning into E2E encryption. Apple also does a slightly better job currently of protecting your data from third party apps.
  I pick and choose which Apple services I use based on the varying importance of privacy/usability for each one, and I did opt into the advanced data protection, which is a killer feature when it comes to OOTB privacy.
  You’re right that Apple is no saint either, but they’re definitely the lesser of two evils, and your only real alternative after Apple is an open source OS like Graphene.

I have Apple Pay with German and Polish cards.
- Yeah I have Dutch and American cards on my 13 Pro’s Apple Pay. Wasn’t an issue at all.
- Oooh! Did you just add the card(s) or did you have to switch countries in your main (not store, if it’s different) account?

I started with Motorola Atrix, then Motorola Moto X, Samsung S8, S10, Note 10+, and earlier this year got a used iPhone 13 Mini to give it a fair try.
iOS takes more steps to do things that Android can do. It was disappointing coming from the multitasking beast that the Note series is. I miss being able to do scrolling screenshots system-wide, no matter what app. iOS limits it to a few core apps and makes it a PDF… I miss being able to swipe back from either side of the screen. I miss split screen. I miss Samsung’s sandboxed Secure Folder and vastly superior One Handed Mode. I miss a better keyboard experience.
But those are things I gave up for the convenience of a local Apple Store, faster security updates, and being able to troubleshoot iOS better for my partner who’s always used iPhones.
I went almost all in with the 15 Pro; still using my Galaxy buds because they’re comfy. Continuity is nice, already having a MBP and iPad. And I’m having fun messing around with Shortcuts and reading people’s ideas for the action button. It’s not as powerful as Tasker, but that’s only because Apple limits what we can do. Scrolling with 120 Hz is nicer than 60 Hz, comparing the 13 Mini and 15 Pro side by side.

Anecdotally, there seem to be more apps with (albeit expensive) lifetime purchase options [...] Anecdotally, more apps seem to require subscriptions.
I've worked in mobile apps for nearly 3 years. We charge iOS users more because they consistently pay more.
This does also translate to better quality, since if one app has 80% of the profit coming from iOS, we're going to put more effort into that.
The glass back is a constant source of worry.
I've dropped my work one a few times and it's never cracked. That said, for personal use, I'd get a case
Slightly jealous about Pixel 8’s new camera abilities
Considering every service compresses the crap out of images, don't worry about it
Losing [...] Signal chat histories.
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages
Might be too late if you already have lots of chats on the iPhone you don't want to lose, but Signal restore is your friend
I realised I didn’t actually customise my phone much. [...] Notification volume much louder than ring volume but (often) can’t be individually changed? Notification system not as good as it could be. Ancient and irritating limitation on using own ringtones. Let me remove, not just blank, sources in the News app.
I spy a contradiction
- Sorry - not sure how to reply to individual points but:
  Yep, got an otterbox case, but would probably be more relaxed if they made one that my 2 year old could fit in!
  My photography is to - mostly - capture said toddler’s life, not share socially, so image quality still important to me.
  Sadly there’s a rather important “can’t transfer between iOS and android” point in the link you kindly shared.
  And yes, perhaps a contradiction, but only if you consider those points as customisation rather than - as I did - a minimum quality/standard. Still, there it is, one person’s expectation is another’s luxury!

I’m a pixel to iPhone convert but when I did when the 12 pro came out and just got the 15 pro.
Maybe I misread but a couple confusing points:
Isn't the 15 pro titanium back not glass?
you can customize the Home Screen easily. Moving apps or even removing apps from the Home Screen and only accessible via launcher. Something iPhone didn’t have back in the day.
the pixel 8 camera might be better than 15 pro but I don’t believe the pixel 5 is better.
app settings are all alphabetically organized in the settings app. Very easy to find and change app settings.
my phone always on silent so I haven’t used custom ringtones in years (even when I was on android) but this guide seems to be good https://www.trustedreviews.com/how-to/set-song-as-ringtone-iphone-free-4324630
never realized the different country cards on Apple wallet. Seems like a niche case issue but i understand if you did it before it being a problem. Thankfully American cards on Apple wallet work when in other countries (at least in Canada)
If I can help at all let me know. I’m the person that everyone was in absolute shock to see me move from android to iPhone lol so I’ve heard it all.
- Nope, sides are Ti, back is (textured) glass.
  I can’t have a gap between icons though, can I? Single icon in the middle of the screen? Be great if I’ve missed something.
  The pictures seem slightly more processed/compressed with a lack of fine detail, but I’ll admit I haven’t tried saving as raw/unprocessed images. I’m also very used to how the pixel photos look though.
  Edit: sorry, didn’t see all of your points in my inbox (Memmy).
  Sometimes/some settings for apps are in the respective app, other times they are in the iPhone settings. This is weird.
  Thanks for your other points and offer! Yep, the cards thing is a slightly niche case, but both Google and Apple are shockingly bad at realising people are mobile or might have e.g. family members using different country’s app stores. No family sharing for me, and no Apple Pay with cards simultaneously linked from more than one country - seems to be linked to iCloud account country rather than App Store country. Google Pay was more forgiving.
  
  Good to know about the back. I do see that now. Damn it feels good for what it is lol. Thankfully I use the Apple MagSafe case.
  Having a gap between icons didn’t occur to me as something lol. I didn’t do it on my pixels.
  I’ve taken some crazy good pics with this phone. Much better vs my 12 pro. Macro camera is cool too.
  Edit about settings: If app developers are doing it right, iOS specific settings (like notifications, permissions, etc) should be in the settings app where app specific settings should be in their own app.
  
  Technically you can have transparent nameless shortcuts that do nothing and add them to make gaps. There’s a blog somewhere with hacks like that.
  If you like customizations you should look into shortcuts.
  
  No you cannot set icons anywhere on the screen. They all start and arrange left to right, top to bottom.
  App Settings should be located in the Settings app. But developers don’t always follow Apple’s guidelines.
  The App Store, region locks, restrictions, border policies, and other regional locks or hurdles are mostly set by governments, not Apple. Borders still very much exist even digitally.

Man I love my pixel 5 because of the form factor. It's like the perfect size. I switched to the pixel 6 and went back to the 5 because it's just so comfortable in my hand and pocket. There's no way I would ever switch to Apple because I like to customize everything and I don't want to be tied to Apple's ecosystem. It feels to restrictive. I have lineage os on my 5 and I used Cyanogen on many prior phones. It gets the job done but lately I've been eyeing the pixel 8 and graphine os. I don't like the larger size and the candy bar cameras but I want a newer cpu/gpu more ram etc.

The glass back is a constant source of worry
Do you have AppleCare+? Definitely get it - that way the repair cost if you break the glass back will be negligible.
In fact - my latest AppleCare+ repair was completely free, even though it was well out of warranty and I considered it my own dumb fault... Apple's support team disagreed and decided the phone should not have broken under the circumstances.
It's not the first time that's happened either - more than half my AppleCare+ repairs have been completely free. And they haven't been "repairs" either, they usually just give you a brand new device.
- For me, my insurance of my home includes broken glasses including glasses from smartphones. It reduces repair costs to 100 bucks. I used it twice, told apple to also replace battery sent the bill to endurance company and they paid it including the battery. I’d say thats a good deal, especially for the back which would have been something like 400 bucks to replace.

It’s so weird how similar your journey is to mine! I also started with the 3GS and then upgraded to iPhone 4. Ever since then I made the switch to Nexus 4 and have been an Android user since a few weeks ago.
My last Android phone was a Galaxy Fold 4 which I absolutely loved. However knowing that the crease was getting deeper and deeper and that the screen protector started cracking, I didn’t want to baby the phone any longer so I sold it and got the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
To be completely honest, Android and iOS are so close nowadays. The gap used to be way bigger last time I owned an iPhone. The main thing I’ve noticed is that iOS is slightly more polished in animations and the OS is generally more organised, such as how the settings are better categorised compared to Android’s mess of settings.
I do really miss Samsung DEX and am a bit sad how there’s no iOS alternative for when I dock my phone.
Overall both OS’ are excellent, it’s just that with Android you only get a decent experience on high end Samsung Phones or Pixel devices (it’s a shame I think the camera bump is super ugly like you do!)
Will I go back to Android at some point? Maybe. Am I currently enjoying the iPhone? Absolutely!

Google does good photos and image processing. My last Pixel was the 3 and it initially took better pics after 2 years than the latest iPhone that replaced it. After a while I got used to the camera and other iOS settings.
If you want some good videos on with tips on settings and features check YouTube for Brandon Butch. He walks you through everything and covers every iOS update.
- I’ll do that - thank you.

Good Öffi alternative: ÖPNV Navigator

For swearing to work immediately and not “take learning time,” make contacts in your phone (lowercase) for all the words you want to use.
- You can also set custom words in the dictionary in settings so swearing words work as expected.
  Look under General —> Keyboard —> Text Replacement
- Ha, excellent! Ta!

I miss Öffi.
I have never used Öffi myself (always had an iPhone), but have you tried ÖPNV Navigator? It seems to provide similar functionality.

One thing that drove me nuts when I was back on iPhone is lack of customization and personal camera backup. I use my own server and it just works better with Android and there are so many more options. I seen to recall having a time with things like network scanners and ssh clients which was annoying. Happier on android.

55 comments