Why iPhone users "hate" Android: switching from flagship iPhone to folding Android in 2024

After using iPhones for a good number of years, my (non e-)SIM card is finally back inside an Android phone yet again – the Galaxy Z Fold 5.

As part of my quest to freshen things up for 2024, I figured switching not only to Android, but to a foldable phone long-term would be fun. And so far – it has been!

However, now that I've gotten well accustomed to how iPhones and the iOS operating system work, my sudden transition to Android really gave me a good perspective of the roadblocks and discouraging quirks Android has, that an iPhone user might have a problem with.

Let's check what those are, based on my personal, still going experience…

Android's quirks are instantly noticeable

Can you just leave me alone, Samsung, Google, and third parties?

The first thing many will notice when going from iPhone to Android is all the different companies fighting to get your attention on the latter.

See, on iPhone – Apple is king. It alone has all the control over the operating system, and it makes sure you don't get overwhelmed with popups from third parties, especially when you just want to use your phone in peace, and they have no business bothering you in the first place.

But on Android… Say you buy a Samsung phone like I did – now you're dealing with two ecosystems out of the box. Both immediately start spamming you with notifications, recommending their cloud services, dropping unwanted tutorial messages at the most inopportune times…

And because Android often comes pre-packaged with tons of bloatware apps that you'll immediately want to delete, also from other third parties, also capable of sending you notifications when they feel like it – your experience, and first impressions of Android can turn super unpleasant.

What the heck is "Android system intelligence" and what's it doing in the background…?

Here's a tip for Google for the next Android update – the last thing a new user wants to see is something as ominous-sounding as an "Android system intelligence" popup showing out of nowhere.

What's a new Android user supposed to think when they see that? "Is the NSA tapping into my phone already? I've used it for a total of 30 minutes…"

This is just one example of unexplained popups showing up when they feel like it, doing things that are not explained to the user, only to needlessly mystify and confuse them.

After researching the app in question I discovered that it's not necessarily as ominous as it sounds, but the way it's presented definitely makes a negative impression.

I'd be fine if Android's core systems just didn't send notifications, and did their thing without needlessly bothering the user, especially when the user can't really do anything with them, or about them anyway.

Let's not needlessly overcomplicate things for the average user, and scare them away from Android, shall we, Google?

Why are all these apps I don't want pre-installed? Why do I have to spend all this time decluttering my new $1,800 Android phone? Why can't I delete some of them?

Most of the apps an iPhone user gets out of the box are actually useful things to get you started. If you don't want the iMovie video editor, or GarageBand – you can delete them. It takes just a minute to declutter your iPhone from what little clutter you might even feel like is there.

But when I switched to Android – oh wow. I switched to a flagship Galaxy Z Fold 5 phone, no less, and it's still jam-packed with apps I didn't ask for, nor will I ever use, from third parties, out of the box.

So now I have to spend a good 20 minutes deleting all these apps, and cherry on top – some don't even show up in the app drawer, so I need to find the apps menu in Settings and search for bloatware apps to uninstall there too. And cherry on the cherry on top – some apps can't even be uninstalled, or even their notifications disabled! Needlessly complicated and inconvenient!

At one point I discovered apps I didn't even know I had, just by using the phone, minding my own business, and getting spammy popups from them at random.

No, Google, and no, Samsung. I don't need two browsers, two app stores, I didn't ask for LinkedIn, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Outlook, Amazon, Facebook, and all that other stuff. If I wanted them, I'd download them myself.

This is a $1,800 Android phone, and Google or Samsung still felt the need to push up their profit margins higher by making all these deals with Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, pre-installing tons of their apps on these Android phones, at the extra cost of inconvenience for the user. Who already paid nearly, or in some cases over 2k for this experience.

SMS codes don't autofill? Call me spoiled, but...

Everything else I've mentioned so far was short-lasting, but this… See, on my iPhone, when I use my banking apps, or websites that use two-factor authentication and send you an SMS code to enter your account, as soon as the code arrives, my iPhone would automatically get it and suggest to paste it. Very convenient, and worked perfectly.

But on Android, well, that same SMS code autofill thing, with those same apps and websites – it hasn't worked once.

I tried switching from Samsung's pre-installed keyboard app to Google's own, hoping that at least that one will be smart enough to get an SMS code and suggest to paste it where it belongs, but alas.

This is a pretty major oversight, and I'm so certain it's supposed to work, that I'm starting to think it must be an issue exclusive to my phone, for whatever reason. But regardless – it is there.

Every time I get an SMS code now (which is every day), because I'm on Android, I have to go to my messages, copy the code manually, then go back to the app, hoping it won't refresh, and paste it manually.

My iPhone did all of that for me automatically, and it's just one example of lack of polish on Android's side.

I have to hold the Bixby button like I'm on a walkie-talkie?

When I first got my Galaxy Z Fold 5 and decided that this would be my main phone from now on, I knew I needed a new smart assistant.

I didn't actually use Siri for anything complex, just mostly setting timers, so I was certain I wouldn't face any quirks just because I'm on Android now.

You press and hold the power button to summon your virtual assistant just like on an iPhone, so that's good. But – because I'm on a Galaxy phone, the virtual assistant turned out to be Samsung's Bixby, not Google Assistant.

I didn't care too much which one it was, as long as it can set timers, so I gave Bixby a go, and oddly enough, it couldn't understand me.

Turns out, the reason for that is – I pressed and held the power key until Bixby popped up, then I'd let go and say my command. Evidently, you're actually supposed to press, hold, and keep holding the power key for as long as you're speaking, and only when you're done – release the power key.

Everything about Bixby functions exactly like Siri on the iPhone, except for this walkie-talkie quirk, which wasn't explained to me either, so it took a minute or two until I figured out what the problem was.

I don't know why Samsung decided that complicating things for the user on this one single occasion was a good idea.

I sure miss Face ID, and here's why

A lot of people seem to prefer fingerprint scanners on their phones, rather than Apple's Face ID, but I've gotten really used to it.

Using an iPhone with Face ID, you completely forget it even locks and unlocks, because it's happening so seamlessly and behind the scenes. You just pick up your iPhone to use it, without pressing anything, because it has already detected that you've picked it up, it has already scanned your face, and it is already unlocked for you. Once again, it's a matter of convenience and simplicity.

Now on my Galaxy Z Fold 5, I have to go through the process of registering at least three fingerprints one by one, which not only takes longer, but in this cold weather right now, the fingerprint scanner can be a bit fiddly until it recognizes a finger. At least I assume it's due to the cold weather.

Not only that, but you have to deliberately press the power key that has the fingerprint scanner, not just rest your finger on it, like on iOS devices with Touch ID.

It took a surprisingly long time for me to start remembering that I have to physically press the fingerprint scanner. Turns out Samsung thought of that, and gave us the option to not have to do that and just touch to unlock, but the result was countless unwanted, "wrong" scans going on while my phone was in my pocket, resulting in lockouts, and forcing me to enter a code.

Lack of polish? iPhones with Touch ID and iPads can unlock by just me touching the scanner, with no accidental scans locking me out, so why can't this Galaxy?

Some major apps are legitimately downgraded on Android, vs. iOS

At this point it's widely known, at least in the tech space, that apps on Android are less polished in contrast to their iPhone counterparts. Companies tend to focus more resources on the iOS versions of their apps, and unfortunately for me, one of my most commonly used apps – Instagram – is a perfect example.

Regardless of how good your Android phone's camera is, the Android version of Instagram really tends to downgrade the quality of your photos, which isn't something iPhone users have to deal with.

In addition, I'm noticing a lack of small, but important features, such as "seen ago." Let me explain – on iPhone, when you message your buddy on Instagram and they see it, you can then open the chat, or even just glance at your messages list, and see something like "seen 1h ago." This is useful.

On the Android version of Instagram, all you get is "seen" without a timestamp, and even that's a bit buggy and shows up with a delay sometimes.

Another app that I use a lot is the video editor LumaFusion. It's been the most popular iPhone and iPad video editing app for many years, and only recently did it make its way onto the Android platform, so I was excited to use it on my Galaxy Z Fold 5, just like I used to on my iPad and iPhone.

Turns out, it's lacking a major feature on Android, that lets you switch between camera feeds, which is pretty useful when you're editing a podcast, for example.

Sorry I don't have more commonly used apps to give as an example, but those are the two I personally noticed, and I know for a fact they're far from the only ones.

Android users deserve polished, fully-featured apps too, but unfortunately, they don't get them, unlike iPhone users.

And I can't really blame the app developers for pouring more of their resources into the platform that's considered more profitable. But still, it's pretty unfortunate, and as an Android user now, I'm required to just accept it.

"Developer responded to your review." Cool, so may I actually read the response, Google?

This is yet another odd quirk that exemplifies Android's occasional lack of polish or inability to function as expected, especially if you're coming from an iPhone.

As mentioned above, the LumaFusion app I use all the time to edit videos is not as fully-featured on Android, so I left a review asking its developer whether the particular feature I used on iPhone will be coming to Android.

They promptly responded, and I got a notification telling me that they did. So I press it, and… I'm taken to the Google Play store.

Not the app review page, nor a page that shows my review and their response, just the homepage of the Google Play store, which makes zero sense.

So I manually went to the app's page to look for my review and their response and… the review isn't even showing up.

Yet I know I left it, and I know they responded to it, but what I'm getting from Android is a broken popup that leads to nowhere, and an app store that doesn't show my interaction with the developer at all.

I had to fiddle and find a workaround in order to read their response, but yeah… I've done this on iPhone and it just works as expected. I was hoping for the same experience on Android.

The Android positives range from significant, to minor pleasant surprises, but they all matter

This is truly exciting and fresh

Most of the things I mentioned can be resolved or (less preferably) ignored, but I'd say they're well worth the compromise for the awesome form factor of the Z Fold 5.

This phone is actually different, exciting, and fun to use. Only on Android!

While we used to hear rumors of Apple experimenting with folding phones, possibly planning to release an iPhone version of the Z Flip 5, at the very least, this never happened.

Apple is sticking to the for-the-masses slab iPhone form factor, because that's not financially risky. Tried and tested to sell, and the people love it.

So I really appreciate Samsung's willingness to take risks, especially when it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold series, because this is by far the most for-tech-enthusiasts-only phone that ever was.

Samsung single handedly made foldables universally known by now, yet they're still a niche thing. But that niche thing happens to be extremely cool for me. I love my Z Fold 5, even despite my minor gripes with Android.

I actually get my mail on time; wow, Apple, is that so hard?

I have my own website, with its own email service, and for whatever reason, Apple's Mail app always had a really hard time fetching my mail. Like, it didn't, at all. I had to open the Mail app and manually make it fetch new emails, in order to see them.

And I tried troubleshooting, tried contacting Apple, but didn't really get it working.

But on Android my mail is coming through perfectly fine. Kudos to Google's Gmail app, I suppose?

Bixby isn't as bad as people say, or perhaps Siri just isn't a high bar to beat

As previously mentioned, all I need a virtual assistant for is to set timers with voice commands. When I'm cooking a pizza, for example, I often completely forget about keeping track of time, because I start doing other things. Easily distracted!

Siri was there for me, reminding me when it's time to take that pizza out of the oven, and now – Samsung's Bixby does the same, perfectly well.

It's interesting that setting a timer with Bixby is slightly different. The command is the same, but the way you deliver it is like you're on a walkie-talkie (as I said earlier), but also – your timer then shows up in a popup window for some reason, instead of just a notification bubble.

Odd choice by Samsung, but I don't mind it, And again, this, and all the other things I've tried with Bixby have been working perfectly. I know Siri is far from the smartest assistant, especially compared to Google Assistant or Alexa, but it got the job done. So does Bixby.

Bixby really deserves a better reputation!

I super love all the things a Samsung phone can do, in contrast to the iPhone and its limitations

We'll talk about customization later, but the reason I love Android, and Samsung phones in particular, are all the features you get that you don't have on iPhone. A desktop mode for power users, stylus support if you need it, split-screen multitasking – it's all here!

But that's not all – you can download and install apps from the web; from any source, not just Google's app store of pre-approved apps. Sure, that's considered insecure, but if you're a tech enthusiast – it's awesome, if anything.

I just love the fact that I can hook my Galaxy phone up to my TV, and Samsung DeX will launch, giving me a full desktop PC experience, with the phone's screen conveniently becoming a perfectly functional trackpad. On iPhone – all you get is basic screen mirroring. Just a blown up iPhone screen on your TV. No mouse cursor, no windowed apps, nothing.

But yeah, on Android, and Samsung phones in particular, you're in tech enthusiast heaven. Like the Z Fold 5's design itself, this freedom to do whatever makes it worth it for me, despite my minor gripes with Android.

Yes, yes, customization…

I've seen people with some crazy customized Android phones. You really can take an Android phone and make it truly your own; unique. Wallpapers, icon packs, launches, widgets – sky's the limit.

Samsung itself gives us an app to theme our Galaxy phones out the box, which if you're into that – is pretty cool.

Now, I'll be pretty brief here because I don't actually customize my phones as much as I used to. The fact that I'm using a folding phone is unique enough for me, but yeah – Android customization is still undefeated, and I'm willing to bet it'll always be.

Oops, there goes the walled Apple garden! My Apple Watch no longer works (and I don't care)

We can't not talk about it – the fabled Apple walled garden. A lot of people claim it's hard to get out of, and they're right, especially if all of your friends use iMessage.

But guess what – I don't, nor most people I know, so I'm completely fine using Instagram's messenger, or Viber, or SMS. There's plenty of options out there, and dropping iMessage couldn't have been easier for me.

It's not just that, of course. Until now I used iCloud, and most notably – Apple's Notes app. As you can probably tell, they're not available as apps on Android, so what am I to do now?

Well, you can actually access your Apple Notes via a web browser, or do as I did and simply copy and paste them in Google Keep, or whichever other notes app you plan on using on Android. Pretty simple.

The biggest hurdle I'm actually facing, switching from iPhone to Android, is that my Apple Watch is suddenly just an expensive normal watch now. Meaning I can't get my notifications anymore, or get phone calls on it, or do all the things that made it useful for me.

I can still wear it as a normal watch, though, so I guess I can live with that.

But to be fair, I can imagine someone that's deeper into the Apple ecosystem would have a pretty hellish time switching to Android, or just be completely discouraged to do so. Their AirPods won't sound as good, their ability to easily transfer files from their Mac or iPad to their phone will be gone, iMessage, iCloud, Apple Watch no longer working…

It's totally understandable why it's so difficult for some, to the point that they don't even consider Android an option. But I'm happy I definitely wasn't one of them. As I mentioned, I love my new Galaxy Z Fold 5, and all the Apple-only apps I used are replaceable.

In conclusion

I need to point out again that this isn't some definitive iOS vs. Android list, but merely the things I immediately noticed and had to deal with, as I switched to Android after many years of using iPhones.

If you love Android – you're right to do so, but if you were curious why an iPhone user might feel a bit discouraged from switching – hopefully those were some interesting examples.

It took me about a week to become fully familiar and comfortable with Android, as I had been in the past, and now I'm pretty in love with it again, but even more so, in love with my Galaxy Z Fold 5's unique and exciting form factor, and features.

I believe Android can be made friendlier, less bloated with third party apps, and less spammy with notifications and unexplained, visible background system tasks. Its small quirks can be polished too.

Will Google and Samsung make the effort, as its kings? We'll see, but I'm hoping, because I'd like to see more iPhone users give it a shot.