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Comment by beervirus | Hacker News Reader

For all those billions of people with a Mac computer and an android phone...

I have a Mac and Android. I dislike iOS because of the locked-down nature, something that (arguably) macOS and Android don't have.

iOS has certainly opened up over the years. Perhaps apart from the lack of side loading capability, what kind of freedom do you seek?

Sideloading, the freedom to run Linux directly on the device, much better widgets (I use widgets heavily in my workflow, such as showing my account balances, calendar, todo list, habit tracking, etc) are the freedoms I seek.

Widgets will significantly improve in iOS 14.

I've seen iOS 14, it's still inferior to Android. Widgets in iOS 14 will still have to conform to the size of the home screen apps, which is a 6x4 grid. In Android, you can make them whatever size you want and place them wherever, especially with Nova Launcher or similar.

Isn't that one of the biggest issues without which any other 'openness' is not worth that much? By having all software distribution going through a single channel which rather arbitrarily gets to choose what is allowed and what is not the system ends up being controlled by that channel.

Uh, would be nice to be able to change the default browser and SMS app, for starters.

Default browser and mail reader can be set as of iOS 14. SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest if the OS ships with a decent one. I get it on Android because the default app is shit.

My biggest problem is that, something like a third party browser can't be more than a re-skin of Safari. Apple's App Store guildelines require something like Firefox for iOS to use WebKit, and doesn't allow add-ons period. In this instance, I would argue the default browser can only be skinned and not changed outright.

It's the same gripe I have with iOS keyboards, unless something has changed there. The feel and layout of every third party keyboard is the same as the default keyboard. During my short period with an iPhone I gave Gboard for iOS a try, tweaking it as much as I could to get a similar experience to what I was used to on Android. In the end it still felt like the system keyboard more than anything.

Yeah I did this with Swiftkey but was quite disappointed. I regularly communicate in four languages and the iOS version only allowed two or three simultaneously so had to constantly switch. On Android I'm running four without issues (might be able to add more, haven't tried).

And the "long-press top row for numbers" option wasn't available so had to switch back and forth between keyboard and "numpad" when typing something like passwords or strings with a lot of numbers.

And the default SMS app being fine? Such an annoyance every time I had to use it. Don't remember specifics (as I was just trying to get away from it ASAP) but there was at least some kind of cringy emoji bar always visible.

Horrible experience all in all and I'm so glad to be back on Android.

You can change the wrapper for Safari, but you can't change the actual browser itself.

For a lot of people, it comes down to being to run uBlock Origin/cosmetic and dynamic ad and content blocking (e.g. not a simple blacklist) and running other extensions and customizations.

> SMS app I don’t get why it is critical to be modifiable to be perfectly honest

It lets any third party messaging system become a viable SMS replacement (like Hangouts and Signal does on Android), by making it seamless to send all messages from one app.

Like iMessage and only iMessage does seamlessly on iOS, because Apple has given it a monopoly on handling SMSes.

It’s anti-competitive as fuck.

> SMS app I don’t get

Choosing Signal over iMessage. Signal can serve as your primary messaging app, prioritizing the Signal protocol but falling back to SMS as necessary per contact.

Except that it can’t, because iOS won’t route SMS to it.

Side loading, ability to access the underlying file system, have their applications like iMessage work across platforms, have better support for cross-OS applications are a few that come to mind.

What part of the "underlying file system" do you want/need to access?

What do you mean by "have better support for cross-OS applications"?

There is now a pretty functional file manager (since iOS 12 I think). It lets you download, upload, zip, unzip, do folder management, export, etc.

What other file functionality do you need on a mobile phone?

> what kind of freedom do you seek

I want spywares/adwares to be allowed without any restriction so I can install a adblock pro to block them.

Could you explain this in more depth please? I’m baffled. You want the bad thing so you can block it and not have it?

I should have added /s

Jailbreaking an iDevice could not be simpler.

If you pick up a used iPhone X, it is impossible for Apple to prevent you from sideloading whatever you like on the device.

Not really, exploits are very quickly patched up by Apple. You would have to get a used phone that is also not on the latest version of iOS, something that might be harder than you would think.

>exploits are very quickly patched up by Apple

Nope. The SOC on the iPhone X has an unpatchable Boot ROM flaw.

There is nothing Apple can do to prevent you from sideloading anything you like. This will work with any future version of the OS.

Interesting, I didn't know that about the X. Regardless, why would I buy then jailbreak a 2 year old phone when I could just buy the latest Android and sideload and add adblockers without even rooting it?

I can see where being two years old would be a drawback in the Android world, with a limited software support window and limited SOC performance.

However, those things aren't an issue for iDevices.

> I dislike iOS because of the locked-down nature

If your overall issue is wanting the ability to sideload anything you like on an iDevice, there is a simple solution.

It's not just the software, I can root and load a custom ROM on Android just as I can jailbreak iOS. The issue is inferior specs on iPhone X vs the latest Android in almost every category for around the same price. No notches and 120hz on the S20 for example, or even cheaper devices.

I'm still not sure why I'd go through all the hassle of iOS when I can clearly do the same in a superior fashion with even non-rooted Android. Is it just that you like iOS more than Android? It seems by your comment history that you're only commenting on Apple-specific threads and topics.

I'm beginning to suspect that you weren't being honest with yourself when you claimed that your issue with iOS was not being able to install anything you like.

Hm, but it was though. I never said that was the only thing however, it was merely a necessary condition for me to use iOS, not a sufficient one.

> The issue is inferior specs on iPhone X vs the latest Android

Not really? iPhone X still blows flagship Android devices out of the water.

The iPhone A series processors are better, yes, but everything else is worse.

At the price point of a used iPhone X, it's not even a contest.

You'll have a better device that will get more years of support.

I can think of approximately zero Android devices that will get that much support. Do you have something in particular you’re thinking of?

Unpatchable bootroom bugs are not a dime a dozen–it's unlikely we'll see another one anytime soon. So for newer devices, it's going back to the slow drip of regular iOS exploits that get patched constantly.

Probably not the biggest market. But as someone with an Android phone, a MacBook, and a Windows/Linux dual boot desktop I'm happy this exists.

This isn't a particularly strange situation, lots of folks have Macs and Android phones, especially among the sort of folks who are on HN. Not every product needs to have a total addressable market of billions.

I had a MBP iPhone and Pixel C. I loved my android tablet. However it showed it age and I got an iPad. This would have been perfect for me.

Is that incredibly uncommon in your experience? In my country people still buy Mac computers for the cachet, but many Android brands are considered just as fancy/desirable, so there is a not insignificant number of people who do have Mac computers and Android phones.

I know plenty of people who have Windows or Linux computers but still use an iPhone. I don’t know a single person who uses a Mac and an Android phone.

I know many people with a Mac and Android.

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