I’ll go first: pinch to zoom and justify any text in any app.
What is your favorite Android feature that Apple has not been able to improve on, replicate, or compete with?
DiscussionThis and the terrible keyboard were the worst for me when I first switched. But I got used to most of the downsides.
Edit: yes I know you can switch keyboards, but I choose to pick stock so everything I type isn’t being shared with google and Microsoft. But that’s just personal preference.
That’s how they get you！complacency with mediocrity
Before I switched I would have agreed. But iOS does a lot of things better that mattered to me more than the customization android offers. I might have to settle for a few things on iOS, but if it wasn’t for my needed functions straight up not working on android I wouldn’t have needed to.
Honeslty I love the iPhones keyboard more than androids. But I’d like to see customization
What kinda customisation?
Like having the numbers on the main keyboard instead of another page. Personally I wouldn’t change it but the more customization the better
You can download Gboard or Swift on iOS
My phone is always on mute
This is the way
give me different vibration patterns for different apps. use case: baby monitor
I don't understand..you can have different sounds for different apps?
Wait, I have them on by default. Maybe it’s determined by the app developer?
Yes
But who has there sound on? It’s been 20 years..
"their" not "there".
I do. I make and receive phone calls and I get notifications and alarms throughout the day. It would be nice to be able to individually adjust volume for ringtone, alarms, notifications and media.
It’s possible in iOS. Setting > Notifications > Select app > Sounds > choose whatever sound you want.
I’ve been hoping for this for probably 10 years and it still has not come
I wish I could have different vibration patterns for different apps (on my watch mostly)
You CAN do this…
Volume control
Video about to play
Changes volume
Lowers ringtone
Video still about to play
Holds down volume preemptively
Video starts playing
LOUDEST VOLUME EVER
OMG please.
In Android I loved having my files in one local folder, e.g. music or electronic books (where several apps could access it from). On iphone I have to copy the same files (explicitly or via Share) to the specific app folder in most of the cases.
this - easy access to all files and being able to move them to devices easily without being in the ecosystem
EQ. There’s absolutely no suitable system wide EQ, I don’t want to keep toggling my Spotify EQ when I get in my car. An EQ that can save to different bluetooth headphones would do wonders. I’ve had airpod pros from when I had Android, and they sounded better there where I could EQ them accurately.
It's a Samsung only feature but individual app volume so for instance I can watch a YouTube video in the app muted with subtitles while listening to music and a podcasts at the same time
I believe you can do this with MIUI devices, as well.
At least I could on my old Poco F3.
wow thats really cool
Oh that’ll be so cool
Yup it is it's one of the reasons why I switched form my iPhone to a galaxy phone
precise cursor placement with 1 tap
Jesus Christ this is my #1 problem. Who designed that?!
Just hold the spacebar
Spacebar in hand now what...
Freely move the cursor around. It’s not a solution but it takes a bit of the pain away.
App pop-up view and split screen window
Allowing me to set a default maps application…
A functional keyboard
Came here to say this. Having to switch keyboards to get to the numbers is absolutely nuts to me.
Just install a third party keyboard. I agree that the default keyboard is nuts and unusable (if you're used to a better one) but you can just install something like SwiftKey and have the number row
there's so many threads constantly complaining about the iOS keyboard. I have literally never had an issue with it. Do I just not know what I'm missing?
Yes. You’ll feel like you fast forwarded 10 years in a functional gboard.
Switched from Android to iOS just last year and the keyboard is one of the things I miss. I tried downloading Gboard on my iphone but it just doesn’t have the full functionality like it does on Android.
That’s because gboard is just a skin of the iOS keyboard. Between the keyboard (biggest gripe I’ve had), notification freedoms, sound freedoms (I really need to do some wacky hack with GarageBand to make a custom sound tone??), default app alternatives, to the universal back gesture, I’m just ready to go back.
Each has their major perks, but I just miss the PC-like aspects of Android more than iOS’s cleaness
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The back gesture hasn't been an issue at all for me but the keyboard is crazy bad. I use GBoard and why the fuck is the question mark the first character to appear when long pressing the period key? Why isn't it the comma?!
But text selection and editing takes the cake. Every time I have to edit text I don't know where the cursor will end up. Sometimes it's like on Android and it lands where I touch, sometimes the magnifying lens places it somewhere else, sometimes the selections pins appear and I can't select the words I want. I can't believe Apple would release such a shockingly bad user experience.
I loved the editing features of using Gboard on an Android. Text selection and drag and drop were fantastic. Even something as simple as selecting a word and then double tapping the caps arrow to toggle the selected text to a capital or lowercase first letter or the word in all caps
I have no reason to doubt that another keyboard might be better and this isn’t really a pro-Apple comment, but I think much of this is just learned. It totally makes sense to have the number row showing but my left thumb that invokes the number row doesn’t think or even pause before jumping into action. At this point I would be thoroughly frustrated trying find special characters on an android phone.
Being able to select any text in any part of an app or in any picture on that app… on the app switcher
Also more recently the addition of circle to search. I'm getting ready to switch back to an iphone and these are what I'll miss the most
And I'm getting ready to switch back to android. They both definitely have their flaws and perks, but I just prefer some of the freedoms Android provides.
Feeling the same - I'm on the edge of switching back to Android. I gave iPhone a good 7 month try but I feel like I'm in someone elses house. It's been fun, a nice change, but I need to go back home now...
It's the handling of notifications that annoys me the most. Not seeing the little icon in the top bar when using the phone. Not having Danish built in to the native translate app. The keyboard doesn't auto correct the way android does. When taking pictures the tone of people's faces seems darker that when comparing to my wife's Samsung phone. Plus lots of other little annoyances...
iOS can sort of do this, but not quite as conveniently.
Take a screenshot and click on the preview that eppars, then you can select text in the screenshot preview.
Yeah I know, it’s not even close to the same level of convenience.. but i used the feature daily. Even this shitty Reddit app, I’d LIKE to just select some text, but I can’t because i need to click the dots then select ALL text in their UI to them paste and delete.
Then needing to remember to delete the screenshots… if you don’t copy/delete
Notifications. Android just does it better.
My biggest gripe with iOS notifications is not being able to clear a notification that just arrived. I have to swipe up to dismiss, pull down the notification shade, then swipe to clear the notification. Being able to swipe to clear the notification when it pops up would make them so much better for me
You used to be able to dismiss them when they just arrived, idk why they removed that.
I miss not being able to snooze notifications. Like I don't wanna deal with this now, I'm at work.
If you swipe it up or ignore it until it goes away, the notification will stay in Notification Center. Then, pull down from the upper left to access it.
I fully disagree. I hated notifications on Android. I love them on iOS.
Did you hate the fact that there's always a reminder on screen that you have notifications? I appreciate that in iOS I'm notified when they arrive and then they are tucked away on Notification Center but otherwise there's no indication. However it means sometimes I miss or forget notifications. For a busier person than I, this might be a problem.
Yes. I absolutely hated that constant reminder. Made me feel like I needed to deal with the reminder instantly even if I didn’t want too deal with it until later, like a non urgent reminder. On iOS I can leave it there for days and it never bothers me
Clipboard
Being able to have different volume levels for ringtone vs text tone
Split Tunneling with a VPN
You can with wireguard
We do this at work with official wireguard app.
A simpler always on display
'Add To Wishlist' in AppStore.
Swipe down from the home screen to see notifications 😭😭😭
I was with Android for 12 years before moving to ios. Here is what I miss :
The settings menu: it's way more organized. The ios menunseems to have settings in the weirdest places, often very difficult to find.
Customization of home screen.
Open source: Can do more stuff (sometimes borderline illegal). Ios way to restrictive.
Cut and paste abilities : with Android if I wanted to copy a phone number or email, it just knows exactly what I want to copy. With ios, it not only does not know and I need to adjust the markers, but for email it copies the email address and pastes the annoying mailto:[email protected] which by far the most annoying thing of ios
I know it was finally announced, but since the update hasn’t actually released I can still say it: Scheduling text messages!
I’m a flight attendant and I can be in multiple time zones within one trip. Scheduling text messages used to be an amazing feature on my android and I greatly miss it.
Yes! That has been the singular thorn in my side issue with iPhone since switching over 6 years ago. If people work different shifts, you can send them something when you know they'll be awake rather than waking them up. Can't wait!!
Secure folder
Circle to search
Notifications and keyboard keyboard keyboard keyboard
iOS requires way too many swipes to get things done
Going back to my single Home Screen from an app that was opened from the App Library requires at least two swipes up and often 3 or 4
Notifications control per app, being able to allow notifications for specific categories but not others.
Spam call filtering
I keep the setting on that only allows contacts to come through
Gestures, sound control
Call screening, the main thing keeping me from switching back
I keep the setting on that only allows contacts to come through
A number row. It’s really not that hard Apple.
Usable notifications
Importing and exporting photos to a pc.
Installing apps, without using the Apple app store or Google Play store.
I don’t think that’s a feature Apple cares to improve on, replicate or compete with anytime soon.
My feature is very simple.. its an archive ability for iMessage. Android has had this for ages........... Telegram, FB Messenger, WhatsApp etc all have archiving. But iMessage does not. Drives me up the wall
Volume mixer. I hate the fact that I only have two options silent everything or don’t silent everything.
And Notifications. Android does it wayyy better at handling the notifications and grouping them.
keyboard customization
Keyboard sucks, notifications suck, clipboard manager, volume control, custom icons.
Notification management
A clipboard 📋 for copy & paste. Multiple accounts on Google play.
Notifications
Better notification management!
Photo app - better organization, albums and mostly camera photos sort only
I hate that the “recents“ is all photos. I wish when you put a photo in an album it no longer showed in recents. It’s hard to tell whether it’s been placed in an album without using a Mac.
I wish it has "sort by size" so I can easily delete the useless sh** that's been taking up the storage.
I was only going to go with delayed texting, but, you are right, the photo organization is terrible!!
Yea But The delayed teaching at least they are implementing it. They updated the photo app but it look like a mess
Predictive typing. Voice recognition.
I thought iOS did have predictive typing?
Keyboard and notifications
Rotate phone sideways for landscape mode in apps and on home screen
The first part of this exists but only when supported by an app developer.
Call recording.
It’s coming in the next update.
Yes someone mentioned it.
I seriously need this, especially since there are so many scam calls nowadays. I need to document it and submit it to enforcement agencies.
Expandable storage. I'm still bitter that nearly every phone manufacturer has removed this feature, if they ever had it. And then there's Sony, who makes great phones with all the features, but man, that pricetag!
Keyboard
Notifications
Consistent back gesture
Text input, selection, copy and paste work great on Android. They are absolute trash on iOS, especially in Safari's address bar. I made posts about this and nobody responded. I don't understand how y'all type addresses when Safari autocompletes and highlights the text. Touching the text turns on the copy and paste pins. I have to touch the text 3 or 4 times before I can finally type what I want. Especially frustrating when I want to visit a subreddit.
On Android, if I start typing "reddit" it autocompletes the base domain only - suggested subs are available below - and I can simply touch to the right of the text once and continue typing what I want.
In general, the ability to place the cursor where I want. Even with long press + magnifying glass and slide, the cursor just ends up where it wants, forcing me to retype entire sentences from the beginning. Add to that that I need to type in 3 languages, often simultaneously, and it gets maddening real quick. And this is with GBoard, which is so much worse on iOS. On Android punctuation marks are available on long presses under each letter, there's a number row and it's fast. Don't get me started on the stock keyboard...
Clipboard, volume controls, notifications, more privacy controls, cache management
File management
split screen
Swipe back button from both sides
top-down split screen
backup apps , load from different sources
MORE GRANULAR NOTIFICATION CONTROL
customisation still isn’t as good as android
Interactive widgets for 3rd party apps
Open files with you wanted add.
Actually functional 3rd party keyboards. Three language limit is abysmal. Or at least, if stock keyboard could combine auto-correct/suggest from several languages using the same lettering - that would be great already, since it would at the very least enable Swype typing in a convenient fashion. And don't let me start on the awkward way the keyboard switching is working.
Having switched to iOS recently: Home Screen customization. Like why?
Background tasks, like when uploading a file to Google drive, I have to keep my screen on or it stops uploading. In Android this happens in the background while you can do whatever you want on the phone or turn the screen off.
Notifications and the keyboard are the tops.
universal back gesture.
Keyboard & Notifications.
How is pinch to zoom better on Android?
A usable file system. That's all I ask.
Back button and app drawer.
Custom launchers are kinda amazing.
Customer keyboards. Yes you can download keyboards on the App Store, but (at least with G Board) it creates a big button in the corner that instantly switches it back to the default Apple keyboard. I like G Board way better but this is such a big issue that I just stick with the default.
You can set other keyboards as default.
Just don't press that button.
Notifications and global back button/swipe gesture
a universal back button
Let me delete app labels.
You'll be able to hide app labels soon with iOS 18 by making your icons large. This removes the text underneath them.
I wish you could do this without making the icons large though. They should be two independent controls. Icons: large/small. Labels: on/off.
not inside iOS but being able to charge your watch in the back of the phone.
- Speed dial - write numbers on keypad and it finds contacts
- Call history contact wise
The first one is now coming with iOS 18
How exactly does the speed dial feature work? Wasn’t sure what you meant by “write numbers”?
Like for example, on a Samsung phone if I need to dial a number of Aromatic, I'll just dial 2766282 and before completing this string, even on first three digits, it will give me suggestions from contact list and I'll just click and dial.
I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just type Aromatic.
If I want to ring my wife, I just drag to search and start typing her name. By the time I’m two letters in, her contact card has appeared.
Why apple don’t have close all tabs 🤣
Tabs? If you mean tabs in Safari, then you can close them all.
because iOS works differently from android, apple themselves said on their website that you don't even have to close your apps in the background unless they crash or theyre not working properly in fact, it consumes more battery ehen you close the apps in the background and then relaunch them again
Voice to text, especially on the Pixel devices. So much faster and accurate.
This is more of a Samsung specific feature as far as I'm aware but pinning a screen snip to the screen as an overlay whilst using another app. Then being able to then select text from that image makes it a game changer.
Sound Assistant from Samsung
Chat bubbles. They’re extremely useful.
App cloning, for apps that don’t support multiple users.
theming! i also miss the gboard. it was good, at least it was on my last android back in 2019.
Work profile.
Having two version of an app one managed and one personal is great.
just the way the camera works really. Even my old pixel phone is so much faster than my brand new iPhone and it works so much better in the dark
Excellent file structure and file manager. I can choose to backup my photos and not to back up any videos.
I can even choose individual photos damn it
No one?
I'm going to go with a simple one - long press to start selecting multiple items.
Notification Channels🙁
Long press factory keyboard for numbers and symbols. Don’t get me wrong I love the cleaner look of the keyboard but that was really hard to get over
The thing I will never get over is how utterly atrocious dictation voice to text is on iOS keyboard and it only seems to get worse every year. For some reason dictation in the car is 100% unusable for me and anyone in my family and that is the one time I need it most.
Screen-off gestures
maybe this is spesific miui feature, 3 fingers for screenshot, even samsung doesnt have this
Keyboard (greek), notifications, volume control, Rotate screen (a little button would pop up to put in landscape), phone dial (it was connected with Google maps)
Volume control. Shortcuts in keyboard. File drag from Mac to iPhone without going through cloud. Photos( google is much better at syncing to cloud your library).
The option to choose left or right swipe to go back, a functional keyboard, custom snoozer timer
Background processes and services. Why do I have to manually sync my contacts and calendar simply because I don't use one of the few services Apple deems worthy?
A subtle notification pop up on the screen instead of the whole thing lighting up on full brightness.
And of course, more customization like let me change the colors in iMessage. What dummy thought it would be smart to pick a bright white font on a bright blue or green background?
Also, separate volume controls - just give it to us already. And the keyboard sucks, the swipe function is useless and always wrong. Remove the dumb period. That. I. Always. Type. When. Entering. A. Website. URL. And please please can I set an alarm function that crescendos in volume?! I have more.. but they won’t listen. The Apple ecosystem is a gilded cage.
Double tapping the god damn lock/unlock button for camera shortcut. Way more consistent and fast than any other shortcut
Volume buttons on the right side of the device.
Chat heads/bubbles! Very useful while gaming or watching movies. This is the feature I missed most since moving from android to ios.
Pixel call screen
Who are you? Tim or Craig?
Navigation gestures!
Let me control media and call volumes separately please ios i beg
Copy and paste directly from recents. Makes life a lot easier.
Notification center and a good files app
Pixel camera color science
Browser extensions. On ios I can count them on one hand.
Call history per contact
T9 dialling
-Numbers above keyboard
-different audio levels (alarm, system, media and ringtone)
-a do not disturb function that mutes incoming notifications while the phone is unlocked and active
-installing third party apps like youtube vanced and adless instagram
-On samsung i could game and mute notifications, now i need that stupid silent mode to be turned off so i can hear my game audio, while in the meantime i get annoyed by all the pings and messages :/
-a close all function for active apps
Also the autocorrect is so trash on ios compared to samsung.
Wish I never switched….
Start typing numbers in the keypad. With each number in, it filters a list of contacts with the same digits.
I first seen this on nokia/windows phone 10+ years ago. It's awesome.
icloud is so buggy for me. literally back up my pictures in google photos now bc iclouds so shit 😭
I've primarily only used Android, so I honestly don't know if IOS has these features or not. But what I like are the availability of modded apps for Android. For example, Youtube Vanced, and Youtube Music Vanced, to be able to get premium Youtube features like playing music will the screen is off, or downloading music and videos for offline use. Maybe IOS has something similar.
Long press on keyboard for special characters without having to go away from QWERTY keyboard.
Notification. App should be able to dismiss them, and it should be synced across devices.
Keyboard
Light notification.
Having different sound notifications for different apps