I think the Android perks still outweigh the cost. Not that any of this isn't possible on iPhone but it's a smoother Android experience: Google Fi for phone plans when traveling internationally, some open-source apps aren't available in Apple's app store, and some apps in both stores are more expensive for iPhone (e.g. Anki). I feel like iCloud has some bad incentives as well. I think that's why live photos is a pain to turn off (I also like Google Photos).
Line, Telegram, Signal, Whatsapp, Messenger.
Why do these people insist on iMessage?
To be clear, I completely agree, and I wish they did use a cross-platform messenger. But the reality is that, in the US, the vast majority of iPhone users use iMessage primarily.
Especially considering the burdensome cost of absolutely free.
Should we expect ordinary, non-technical users to behave substantially different? It's not clear to me that we should; most people find the status quo "good enough," and the activation energy for switching is higher than the minor inconvenience of some of your social circle having a slightly worse user experience.
It's more annoying that I have three apps (signal, groupme, and discord) which each have a single friend or friend group that use them but that isn't an android/iphone problem.
None of those are issues if everyone is blue.
But if everyone is iMessage everything goes through. I’m sure it’s an iPhone bug, but it means that mentally I can count on iMessage chats to go through and mixed chats I’m frequently wondering and having to check with each member, “did you get that.” So it means that mixed chats are extra chatty with people confirming with “oks.”
It’s just a crappier experience with green chats and everything goes smoothly so try blue chats.
I wouldn’t cut out friends because of it, but I have a small iota of sadness when I start a chat and it turns green because of someone.
For kids it’s kind of brutal with friends literally not talking to people because they aren’t using emojis.
It’s not android’s fault, but it’s an easy pain to spare my child by buying an iPhone. Not to mention my iPhones last years longer than my android phones and one kid is even using an ancient iPhone 6 to chat with friends.
I'd get new friends before switching to an apple product. Actually if my friends switched to apple products, I might get new friends.
1. Video sharing is essentially unusable. Forget "potato quality", basically the videos are essentially unviewable. And this goes not just to videos that are sent to you, it's also videos you send to the group. Sharing videos in a group chat is not an uncommon activity when you're on vacation, for example.
2. In iMessage, using emoji responses is a big part of the social interaction in group chats, e.g. someone posts a photo and other people post responses. You basically can't post emoji reactions in iMessage group chats if you're on Android.
3. Messages you send randomly get dropped. "Hey, hn_throwaway_99, can you send us that group picture you took?". Me: "Sure thing". An hour later: "Why didn't you send the photo like we asked?". Me: "I did, but apparently half the group never got it."
Then, basically, everyone gets annoyed if you're the "Android man out", because everything works perfectly if everyone is on an iPhone. And, in the US, if you belong to certain social groups in particular socioeconomic classes, you will be the odd one out if you don't have an iPhone.
Nobody uses iMessage or SMS in the EU these days, but if usage was like in the US then I suspect that Apple would have already been forced long ago to open up or release clients for other platforms. The US is very unlikely to make demands, but the EU doesn't mess around with this kind of thing.
Of course, knowing Apple, they might also respond to such a scenario by removing iMessage on EU phones and keeping it the same in the US.
It sucks, but I understand why someone might be forced to swap to a specific product or device for social reasons. Shame though.
What would exclude me is refusing to go on FB Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram, etc. And it'd seem inconsistent to use those while rejecting the iPhone on principle.
So, I get that he's making a joke, but given that everyone just laughs and there is no follow up, it's clear to me it's one of those "The reason this joke is funny is because I actually think it's true" jokes.
I've been an Android user for about a decade now, but I think I'm finally going to have to throw in the towel. Between iMessage (especially iMessage) and things like this, in the US having an Android essentially marks you as a second class citizen. And to be clear, I'm not saying this from an "Androids are uncool" or some silly "green bubbles" perspective, I'm saying from the perspective that owning an Android actually makes it more difficult to interact with friends and, in this case, with government services.
No, I'm not happy about it, and I f'ing hate how Apple has used these walled garden techniques to force people onto their platform. But from a simple utilitarian perspective, owning an Android puts you at a distinct disadvantage in the US.