The crux of my dispute over the iPhone vs Android debate has long centered on my razor-sharp-witted, cut-throat, and mirth-filled group chats. So what, I was late to the smartphone adoption game – I spent my college career withbrick flip-phonesthat promisedwater-resistanceand drop protection. My friends dubbed me a techy luddite early on. So, I was that person with a green bubble in group chats as the only Android user for almost ten years.
Finally, April 2023 came around, and I had to call the time of death on my favorite four-year-oldSamsung Galaxy S10– whose screen had a hole in it for three of those years. Of course, it made everyday work tasks a bit difficult to complete, but I was undeterred and used it until its last breath. I stubbornly clung to my familiar platforms even whensoftware bloatand battery issues plagued my phone in its first year.
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If you can relate to the fear of learning a whole new phone operating system or the panic that comes with transferring data – I’ve got your back. I made the switch to anew iPhone SE(2022) after never owning an Apple device, and I have to admit: My group chats were right. I’m never going back to an Android phone. Here’s why.
1User-experience
Starting up in the Apple ecosystem for the first time
Before my switch to the iPhone, I thought the promised intuitive user-experience was over-inflated. I am happy to admit I was, again, wrong. I used the manual setup option whenactivating and using my iPhone for the first time, completing the step-by-step instructions in about 20 minutes. By the end of my first week, I felt like an iPhone wizard. Widgets look stunning, homescreens are easy to edit, and locating system settings is a breeze. I’ll talk about the camera a bit more below, but the camera user-experience is one of my favorite improvements.
One year on, and the serendipitous discovery of a cool new feature on my iPhone still happens each week. Each epiphany is a fun addition to my habits, not something that I was missing for basic functionality and entertainment. We all have different learning styles and attractions to certain software design.
Personally, I find the iPhone to better meet my needs to intuitively operate my device than my previous Androids.
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I appreciate the infrequent but helpful notifications that pop up reminding me of the different access I’ve allowed certain apps to have to my images and files – and the option to change them quickly. As a former librarian and information professional, data privacy is an ever-present concern, and this allows my phone to take care of some of this anxiety.
2Image sharing and Airdrop
Quick sharing across the room
I argued with my friends for a decade that they just needed todownload WhatsApp to share photosand videos with me, to which they refused and continued to ask me if I had sent them CCTV footage from 1996 every time I sent a video – as I said earlier – cut-throat, but witty. Airdropping silly images to my partner from across the room is a new joy and favorite game.
While some of the media sharing pain points may become history soon, the screenshot examples above were from as recently as January. In a group chat with only one Android user, my friends wanted to share their incredible trip to Italy over the holidays with five other friends. They’re both pretty private and don’t post to social media, so group chats and emails are how we keep up with these two. As the gorgeous, but grainy, photos came in, I finally experienced the other side of the photo sharing pain.
With an iPhone, sharing photos and videos is simple.
I now get live photos, videos, and portrait mode snaps of my favorite 11-month-old who lives six hours away. I was lucky to have such great friends who would find ways to share photos of their little one with me working around my Android. But, with an iPhone, sharing photos and videos is simple. It allows them to share a single photo album with all of us, and it’s easy for me to view their weekly updates with two button taps to my shared photo albums.
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3Software bloat
Bixby was the bane of my existence
I rarely get a pop-up or operating system notification from my iPhone. And so far, knock on titanium, and I’ve yet to accidentally enable Siri to take over my screen when I don’t want it to. Sadly for my Galaxy S10, the Bixby side button hit my hand at least four times a day, until I was annoyed enough to look up how to disable that feature. Fans of preinstalled bloatware and apps are few and far between, but I’m particularly vicious towards them.
One of my first steps when activating a new device is to go through apps and settings and turn off, remove, or uninstall unnecessary apps for my lifestyle. I’m delighted to say that I spent about 15 minutes total removing pre-installed software after activating the phone and there were only a handful that had to stay, unlike my previous Android which was packed to the gills (or gigabytes) with Samsung apps and settings.
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4Battery life and quick charging
You mean I don’t need an external charger on me at all times?
Charging times and longevity have impressed over the past year I’ve used my iPhone SE. While this is a new phone versus an older Galaxy model I replaced it with, it’s not a 2023 or 2024 release, it’s a 2022 one. I have yet to experience a battery drain like my past Android’s experienced after a year of use. I also live in a very cold climate and so far have been able to keep my iPhone in my coat pocket without worrying that the slight exposure to the cold would tank my battery.
With Apple now embracing both Qi2 and USB-C charging standards, is it time for the company to resurrect its MagSafe Battery Pack?
Apple first introduced us to its new MagSafe wireless charging protocol with the launch of the iPhone 12 series back in 2020. In short, MagSafe introduces a circular ring of magnets to the rear panel of newer iPhones, which helps to align the inductive charging coils used for Qi wireless charging. Since then, a wide variety of MagSafe-ready charging stands and accessories have hit the market, including some from Apple itself. A fan favorite – the company’s own MagSafe Battery Pack – was released in July 2021 and then unceremoniously discontinued in September 2023 after the launch of the iPhone 15 series. Other peripheral makers have since filled the external magnetic battery void left by Apple, including excellent offerings like the Anker MagGo Power Bank or the brand-new UGREEN Magnetic Power Bank. These newer devices benefit from Qi2 certification, which is an open standard that fuses together the original Qi wireless charging specification with Apple’s own MagSafe magnet attachmen
5Camera and screenshot simplicity
Straightforward photography with high resolution
I’m a point and shoot camera user. I’ll aim for cool angles and attempt to capture visually interesting frames – but I’m not one to play around with settings. My shots are forInstagram and close friendsonly, and occasionally work. Androids and iPhones pass the baton of camera greatness back and forth all year with new model drops and software update releases. There are pros and cons to every model, especially if you like the addition of generative AI. For example, therecent Google Pixel 8series andSamsung S24 phonesare packed with thenewest AI featuresenhancing their cameras.
I struggled with the over-eager alerts, extra advice, and constant tips and tricks that were on full display in Samsung’s camera app.
The iPhone’s camera offers simplicity for basic users like me, while still providing all the bells and whistles for more pro users. Even when it was brand new, I struggled with the over-eager alerts, extra advice, and constant tips and tricks that were on full display in Samsung’s camera app. Live photos, portrait mode, and quickly changing aspect-ratio are some of my most used iPhone camera features.
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Screenshots play a more important part of my life than I ever thought they would. I now take screenshots constantly for product reviews, app instructions, and sometimes still to roast my friends in group chat with a Facebook post from 2009. I appreciate the quick edit options on my iPhone SE to crop, share, and then delete the screenshot, preventing myimage storagefrom taking such a hit.
6Streamlined organization and app management
Between storage, searching, and suggestions, my information organization heart is happy
My iPhone has a few organization features that edged out my old Samsung model. I adore the quick set-up and visually dynamic folders on my homescreens as well as the App Library organization on the back end. I edit and customize these every couple months, depending on what I’m using most often. The drag and drop touch controls are user-friendly and don’t take surgical precision to edit, something I found issues with on my Samsung model.
While I haven’t upgraded my cloud storage on my phone, I find the occasional update cycle provides me enough feedback on my current storage capacity – organized, easily findable, and highlighting my usage – that I don’t mind popping into my apps for a quick delete of unused apps taking up space. In fact, I really prefer this and use it as my regular phone cleansing to purge apps I thought I’d use, that didn’t make the cut after a few weeks. It makes my device feel more usable to get rid of extra bells and whistles. I end up using it for its actual purpose, more so than living my life scrolling.
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The OCR functions on iPhone are such a delight too – I recently photographed all my bookshelves with Live Text on so that I can search my photo library to locate book spines I can’t remember where I last placed. There’s always a new way to use an older function that levels up my iPhone game.
7Group chats customization
Stickers, text effects, reactions, and more
Regardless of the bullying to get an iPhone from my friends, I truly enjoy the group text functions and features. The simple act of naming a group chat, reacting with hearts, haha, or exclamations, and replying directly to threads sold me on my iPhone on the first day. As all of my reasons listed here are subjective, I think this one is the most based on external forces.
My Android was trusty when searching for past photos shared in group chats or messages, a feature iPhone shares, but tracking shared links on the iPhone is an incredible improvement. My partner and I have been the stereotypical Millennial house-hunters, constantly sending Zillow links to homes we can’t afford to everyone we know. Between house-hunting and planning multiple bachelorette parties in 2024, locating the past links in a messaging thread has saved me hours of frustration.
I got sick of being the only green text in my circle.
Maybe it’s a generational pull or regional preference, but I got sick of being the only green text in my circle. Whenever the combined iPhone and Android group chat used reactions, I received a play-by-play text of the reaction, fully written out.
Eventually, you may have to go with the flow if the dam won’t break. But if you decide to stay loyal to either side of the iPhone and Android battlefield and can’t take the heat of your funny friends, check out my colleague Hillary’s instructions on how to leave a group chat below.
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Save your friendships – here’s how to quickly remove yourself, mute, or block a group text.
