Android is slightly better, since you can install alternative app stores, or apps from websites.
I have been an Apple user for 34 years and was a huge advocate for Apple in the 2000s. However, when it was clear that Apple was going to tightly control the software you could run on your iPhone, I knew it couldn't be the computer I wanted in my pocket. I've been a Mac/Android user for the last 10 years. Despite the neglect of the Mac during this time, I've had a difficult time quitting it.
That future is here. All macOS desktop apps must be signed with an $99 developer certificate from Apple. All Windows apps must be signed with a $300-ish developer certificate otherwise Windows scare away 99% of users from running the installer. I can't comment for Linux but I see snapcraft.io is getting some pretty big usage numbers...
I really can't put what I want on my Android phone. I briefly read I need to 'unlock' my bootloader using some procedure which implies getting approval from Xiaomi and/or doing a factory reset of my phone which means losing everything. Seems designed to be as inconvenient as possible.
This is due to Ubuntu pushing it, but the community mostly hates it. Ubuntu drives m derivates like Mint actually completely rip it out.
> All macOS desktop apps must be signed with an $99 developer certificate from Apple
Can't you just uncheck an option in the settings?
> All Windows apps must be signed with a $300-ish developer certificate otherwise Windows scare away 99% of users
The significant difference to iOS is that you can tell your user what to do to get the app running anyway. No such (reasonably expectable) way on iOS.
> The significant difference to iOS is that you can tell your user what to do to get the app running anyway. No such (reasonably expectable) way on iOS.
Even these aren't "reasonably expectable" for most users. Those hoops and warnings will scare away a lot of people that technically could have ran the app.
From what I've seen, on the contrary most non-tech users simply click on "accept the risk" every single time there's one of those "scary" screens. They just do, just like they bypass HTTPS warnings in browsers. After all, most informed users us included do the same, maybe after a 5-10s pause in front of the screen to read the company name.
The number of people "scared away" seems way less than 50%, and I'd imagine it is probably around or even less than 15%.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/bDj59.png
Notice that "more info" in a slightly different shade is actually a link. When you click it you get the option to bypass the security block.
How could you possibly know this, other than anecdotally?
To be fair, that is only valid at face value. Yes, you yourself might not be able to do that technically, but it is quite easy and flat out possible compared to an iPhone.
Then don't buy Apple?
The fact is that it costs money to develop and maintain the OS on the phone, and that money has to come from somewhere. Apple pays for this maintenance by charging a tax on app developers that use their ecosystem; Google pays for it by spying on you.
Right now, we can both choose: You can buy a phone that pays for the software by spying on you, I can buy a phone that pays for the software by charging a toll for applications.
You haven't explicitly advocated using monopoly sanctions to make Apple's business model illegal, but lots of people have. If those efforts are successful, that will remove my choice to pay more for no spying.
Android, if you don't login to Google, and use a more ethical app store, get's much less data.
Obvious disclaimer: The entire of iOS, and parts of Android factory builds are closed source (e.g. the bootloaders), so we can't really know for sure what more they collect.