Being forced into the apple ecosystem. If I could use iphones with other products not specifically designed to work with apple (i.e. android auto instead of apple carplay) then I would maybe consider it.
Not saying that apple car play or android auto is better or worse, just that it would be nice to have the option to choose which one especially if other family members have androids.
Why should I downgrade?
Apple’s stuff is:
- Locked down hard, meaning you get completely vendor-locked-in, and you can’t install alternative OS (there is none I think) or even apps from different sources without voiding warranty or using unsupported, unreliable hacks like jailbreaks for specific models.
- Privacy-invading. Sure, not as bad as proprietary Android distros, but still far from privacy-respecting
- Account-bound. Everything is tied to your Apple account. To even set up or use the product you need an account.
- As proprietary and closed source as it gets
- Ridiculously overpriced, so very low value for the money
- The company is known for its anti-competitive and monopolistic, even mafia-style behavior (e.g. when insisting on their 30% cut for all apps, insisting that apps use the in-app-purchasing system and not allowing “subscriptions from outside of Apple’s ecosystem”, stuff like that. If app developers don’t comply with ridiculous rules, they get their apps taken down, and since the AppStore is the only source for apps, this means they have 100% control and can kill any app which they don’t like or which they perceive as competition for Apple’s own apps.
Use GrapheneOS. It’s a secure, fully privacy-respecting open source distro of Android (based on the open source Android) without any Google services/apps by default, but with full Android app compatibility.
I don’t like paying more for less, and I am devoutly opposed to the Apple design aesthetic.
He asks, in a FOSS community.
What’s stopping you from switching to iPhone?
My lack of desire to switch to iPhone.
I have two phones as daily drivers, one Android and one iPhone. Compared to Android, the iPhone is very restrictive and locked down. Adblockers don’t work and you’re forced to use whatever iOS interface it throws at you. Buttons and gestures move around with every update. There’s no way to view and manage internal files, no sideloading, lots of options that are just not accessible to normal users.
The positive side is that iPhones are very optimized and I can get similar performance to my Android phone despite the iPhone being older and having worse specs. The closed ecosystem also has its benefits, because it makes data very hard to get out, so I use the iPhone as a device to sandbox all the Meta crap that I’m forced to use.
