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Android's Now Better Than iOS, Instagram Boss Says (businessinsider.com) 137

Which is better: iPhone or Android? Instagram head Adam Mosseri weighed in on the topic earlier this week, reigniting a debate that has waged on since the dawn of smartphones. From a report: "Android's now better than iOS," Mosseri posted in response to tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, who had asked for people's best tech "hot takes." Mosseri didn't get into why he felt Android to be superior, but his use of the words "now better" implies that he may have previously felt Apple's iOS had the edge.
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Android's Now Better Than iOS, Instagram Boss Says

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  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:07AM (#63711518)
    I use an android phone, albeit a cheaper Motorola. I prefer it because I actually have some measure of control over it (I can side load my own software, even compile and write a lot of it if I want, and if I really wanted to get crazy I can buy a phone and run open source software for 99% of everything on it with only a bit of radio code locked up).

    I didn't like iOS because I was constantly hitting road blocks that would go away if I just gave Apple money. e.g. if I bought into their ecosystem more. I'm not exactly made of the stuff (money) and an extra $50-$100/mo for a slightly better UX isn't worth it.

    As an App developer too I think Android does a much better job caring about their developers. iOS docs are pretty awful and even when I've talked to Apple folks they tend to take a "not it!" approach to their APIs leaving the devs to figure out stuff that really ought to be in the docs. Google just seems to give a lot more and better developer support.
    • by EMB Numbers ( 934125 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:33AM (#63711608)

      iOS development is free!

      Without spending a single cent beyond whatever it cost to get your iOS device, you can write your own iOS apps using the same free development tools Apple uses. If you are able to connect to an iOS device via USB and you can unlock the device's Home Screen, you can install any software you want. Again, you do not need to pay anything. You can even do all this with Apple's iOS simulators for free without having a physical iOS device. The only time you need to pay Apple's $99 annual fee is right before you submit an App to the Apple's App Store. If your app is free open source, Apple may even waive the $99 fee.

      I put up with Mac OS's shitty limiting nonsense getting worse user interface because I enjoy writing software for iOS so much. I also write software for Android, and I can tell you that iOS development is much easier and much more productive than writing Android software. Apple's free tools are faster and generally better than Android studio by every dimension of comparison.

      With regard to learning how to program iOS, you need to start by understanding the software design patterns involved. The patterns are not optional. They are ubiquitous in iOS, and if you fail to understand any one of them, you will find software development to be confusing and error prone. Once you understand the patterns, you almost never need to consult Apple's developer documentation. You can guess method names, and you know exactly how and when to use each class.

      Don't get me started on Swift UI though. I like Functional programming as much as the next person, and I understand the potential elegance of functional programming to implement user interfaces. In my opinion, Swift UI is STILL half baked, and those design patterns I mentioned do not always work well with Swift UI. My advice is to stay away from Swift UI for at least then next decade. When Apple rewrites Xcode in Swift UI, I might consider using Swift UI.

      • by Xenx ( 2211586 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @12:51PM (#63711818)

        Without spending a single cent beyond whatever it cost to get your iOS device, you can write your own iOS apps using the same free development tools Apple uses.

        This is factually incorrect. You need to have a Mac as well. Sure, if you're part of the minority that owns a Mac you don't have to spend more. However, the majority of people do not.

        • That is true. But you can pick up a generation-before-last mac mini pretty cheaply. I use one for iOS development. XCode isn't excessively resource-intensive (at least compared to my daily driver, "IntelliJ"... and even that relatively dated mini runs pretty decently.

          • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
            Oh, I agree that for most people it's not going to be prohibitively expensive. This is especially true if you're an active dev. But, it would be something to consider for people just getting started.
            • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

              by Malc ( 1751 )

              Well, the OP did try to claim it's "an extra $50-$100/mo". Doesn't sound right, does it?

              • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
                I don't know what they're talking about specifically, but within context they're not saying the $50-$100/mo is a required cost. They're claiming they're effectively convenience fees. Either way, it's not relevant to my response.
        • This is factually incorrect. You need to have a Mac as well.

          No serious developer uses an Android device to develop for Android devices, thus to be factually correct you need some kind of desktop or laptop computer (Windows, Linux or OSX) to develop for Android too.

          • Except most iPhone owners don't have a Mac, but most Android owners do have a PC. And actually man iPhone owners have a PC as well.

            I think you missed the parent's point most spectacularly.

            • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
              Yeah, I had originally explicitly noted that point to prevent a reply like theirs. When I re-worded it, I felt that the last two sentences implied it well enough.
            • Except most iPhone owners don't have a Mac, but most Android owners do have a PC. And actually man iPhone owners have a PC as well.

              I think you missed the parent's point most spectacularly.

              Wrong.

              By definition, all iOS Developers have a Mac.

              But honestly, most of them already had one.

              • All iOS developers own a Mac, but with iPhone at close to 50% market share in some places, and Mac market share around or below 10%, the point stands that most iPhone owners don't have a Mac.
                • All iOS developers own a Mac, but with iPhone at close to 50% market share in some places, and Mac market share around or below 10%, the point stands that most iPhone owners don't have a Mac.

                  But the Mac is the only Platform that is actually enjoying increasing sales (with a bullet!) in this stagnant PC Market.

                  https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com]

                  And Mac marketshare in the U.S. is more than double that 10% figure. In fact, at 23%, it is nipping pretty hard at the heels of Windows, at only 35%.

                  https://www.computerworld.com/... [computerworld.com]

                  https://gs.statcounter.com/os-... [statcounter.com]

                  • by Luthair ( 847766 )

                    And they went down by 40% this year which is more than PC manufacturers - https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]

                    Likely Apple happened to have capacity reserved in the pandemic and was able to take advantage of that while there was a component shortage that affected other OEMs which limited their growth.

                    • And they went down by 40% this year which is more than PC manufacturers - https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]

                      Likely Apple happened to have capacity reserved in the pandemic and was able to take advantage of that while there was a component shortage that affected other OEMs which limited their growth.

                      The component shortages affected everyone. Apple was ok longer than most; due to excellent purchasing strategies; but eventually, they were affected, too.

                      Honestly, That precipitous and obviously historically-anomolous drop looks like a typical "market adjustment", likely caused by a bunch of people buying new M1 Macs during the Pandemic. I predict it will bounce right back by the end of Summer.

                    • by Luthair ( 847766 )
                      The pandemic computer sales boom robs from the future - the typical lifecycle is 3-5 years. People and companies aren't going to be looking at new ones until 2025.
                    • The pandemic computer sales boom robs from the future - the typical lifecycle is 3-5 years. People and companies aren't going to be looking at new ones until 2025.

                      So you agree with me about the cause of the Mac sales dip.

          • Droll. Would you prefer to continue coding on paper?

          • Whatever device you use to develop Android apps on, it's not likely from the Android phone manufacturer, much less required to be from the phone manufacturer. Which was the point about iPhone and paying Apple.
        • by mjwx ( 966435 )

          Without spending a single cent beyond whatever it cost to get your iOS device, you can write your own iOS apps using the same free development tools Apple uses.

          This is factually incorrect. You need to have a Mac as well. Sure, if you're part of the minority that owns a Mac you don't have to spend more. However, the majority of people do not.

          This, I don't own any Apple devices (and never will), I could start developing for Android, Windows and Linux today with what I have... Any Apple product, not so much. If I have to buy into their ecosystem, then I have costs. If I have to use it exclusively then it definitely isn't free.

      • For what I can't do is make an app that a consumer or just frankly anyone I want can install. It's not about the money I like to be outside the wild garden if I want. Ironically on my phone I don't really leave the walled garden anymore. Back in the older days of Android I wrote a bunch of simple apps to do things that the phone just didn't do. And overtime the phone started doing those things so I stopped. But on the other hand if I want to play Fortnite I can just go play Fortnite. Or if Apple decides the
      • what about a fecking Mac you need to buy just to compile code. Screw that.

        • what about a fecking Mac you need to buy just to compile code. Screw that.

          You don't need a Mac to compile code (for targeting iOS/iPadOS/tvOS/watchOS/visionOS).

          You only need XCode and macOS.

          • You only need XCode and macOS.

            The licence of the latter forbids you from running it on anything but Apple hardware (which usually tends to be on the more expensive side, and Apple has a tendency to make it difficult to repair and maintain said hardware long-term).

            Meanwhile, you can find developer tools targetting Android, Windows or GNU/Linux on almost anything under the sun.

            Though SSH and Git are available on almost anything under the sun and several cloud providers (e.g.: GitHub, Azure, etc.) have OS X runners as part of their CI/CD w

            • You only need XCode and macOS.

              The licence of the latter forbids you from running it on anything but Apple hardware (which usually tends to be on the more expensive side, and Apple has a tendency to make it difficult to repair and maintain said hardware long-term).

              Meanwhile, you can find developer tools targetting Android, Windows or GNU/Linux on almost anything under the sun.

              Though SSH and Git are available on almost anything under the sun and several cloud providers (e.g.: GitHub, Azure, etc.) have OS X runners as part of their CI/CD workflows. And sometimes those CI/CD runners are free for opensoruce projects. So it is possible to develop some software targetting Apple devices without needing yourself to spend money on Apple stuff.

              So, in the end, you agree with me. Thanks!

      • Aside from the cost of the actual Mac you need to build your iOS app on, it costs about $1000 more for me to release an app on the app store. I will of course need to pay the $99 developer fee, but in addition I will need to register a corporation if I don't want to publish the app under my personal legal name and basically dox myself. In California the minimum annual corporate filing fee is $800. In addition I will need to file taxes for that corporation annually and the annual tax preparation fees will ea
        • Aside from the cost of the actual Mac you need to build your iOS app on, it costs about $1000 more for me to release an app on the app store. I will of course need to pay the $99 developer fee, but in addition I will need to register a corporation if I don't want to publish the app under my personal legal name and basically dox myself. In California the minimum annual corporate filing fee is $800. In addition I will need to file taxes for that corporation annually and the annual tax preparation fees will easily exceed $100. So all that together is going to be over $1000 annually to publish a free iOS app on the App Store. Publishing an Android app on the Play store is free as in beer. Apple is not, has not been, and likely will never be developer friendly.

          Why would those purely business steps, e.g. :

          I will need to register a corporation if I don't want to publish the app under my personal legal name and basically dox myself. In California the minimum annual corporate filing fee is $800. In addition I will need to file taxes for that corporation annually and the annual tax preparation fees will easily exceed $100. So all that together is going to be over $1000 annually to publish a free iOS app on the App Store

          not apply to an Android Developer?

          Fucking Liar.

          • Why would those purely business steps, e.g. : {...}not apply to an Android Developer?

            Fucking Liar.

            One word: Side-loading.
            As long as you have an .APK (e.g.: produced as part of the CI/DI of your github repo) people can directly download and install it.

            Other example: additional/alternative applications stores - some users could install FDroid on the phone and you could publish your app this way.
            (This also has the added benefits that FDroid is a source-based repository. If Android becomes available on another arch, let's say RISC-V, FDroid could also compile any binary dependency (e.g. native libraries) fo

            • There are sites that distribute many Open Source iOS titles in Source form, free to download, build and install (ya know, like many Linux titles are distributed). Most of them are primarily Swift-based; but there they are.

              And nothing prevents an iOS Dev. (Or anyone with a Mac and XCode) From using TestFlight to Distribute precompiled Apps (.ipa files) of their own design to a group of up to (IIRC) 100 of their closest friends.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Can you install proprietary software for which you do not have the source code?

        In any case, clearly most app developers do not think this convoluted method, which seems to require a Mac and some degree of knowledge, was a reasonable alternative to the App Store. Presumably they couldn't push updates for apps installed that way.

        On Android you have a thriving open source app store, F-Droid. You have alternative commercial app stores, like the Amazon one. And you can side-load Fortnite.

      • Wow. I really feel bad for you. This reads like it was written by someone with Stockholm syndrome.

      • Despite various replies adding and correcting things, it's still not quite clear to me what my options would be. I have only Linux machines, if I were to get an iPhone in my household, how could I install open source apps, what do I need and how much effort would it be? My base for comparison is Android with F-Droid and Aurora Store, no Google account on the phone. (Yes I know the services track me anyway.)
    • Sadly due to Google trying to protect users from themselves, the gap in ability is now smaller than ever between the two and some basic ability to sideload and perhaps root is now all that gives Android a leg up. And increasingly to do anything beyond basic sideloading, you need root access. The OS has been locked down so tightly by Google recently that I've decided that I'm going to avoid installing Android on my next phone, I'm looking into GNU/Linux-based alternatives like SailfishOS and Ubuntu Touch.

      • by UpnAtom ( 551727 )

        Welcome to Sailfish! No ripoffs, no phoning home, no ugly material design or bloated apps.

    • I'm assuming he means from an app dev's viewpoint

      No, he means from a data collection / profiling point of view. He is instagram after all, and apple is doing more and more blocking of data collection.

      I develop for both Android and iOS. I find most devs who are enthusiastic about one being a better dev platform are usually just telling me where they started out. It's usually nothing more than that. Once familiar with both APIs and both document sets, choosing one over the other is a "meh, do the users lean one way or the other? Start there."

  • So says... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jerry Rivers ( 881171 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:08AM (#63711522)

    ...the boss of a company that tracks you all over the internet if you let it.

    • IG users will also know him very well as the king of double-speak and taking IG in a direction that's at odds with the majority of it's users/creators. I wouldn't put weight into anything is MF says, much less his preferred mobile OS lol.

    • I did a quick search because I had never heard of Adam Mosseri, and it turns out his opinion is probably not more or less valid than yours is because he 's just another member of the American ruling class.
      As you guys say: He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.
  • i will say iphone builds better hardware but iOS is locked down so i can not install anything outside of Apple's app store, so i use my android more for entertainment like audio & video and games,
    • by u19925 ( 613350 )

      Agree. Think Android as a blade and iOS as a cartridge. I have used blades for sharpening pencil, cutting papers, nails, biology lab dissection and so on. Cartridges are only for shaving but much safer.

    • iPhone + Amazon Fire tablet hacked to run the Google app store.

      I only install essential apps on my iPhone - maps, authenticators, home automation stuff. No social media apps or dodgy free games. The rest of the storage is eaten up by music and pictures.

      My tablet is loaded up with games and apps for non-home-automation devices, like the Lego app for my kids.

      It's a perfect balance. I want my phone locked down, and my tablet open. If my tablet blows up I can wipe and restore it without worrying about loosing a

  • Junk Reporting (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crunchy_one ( 1047426 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:11AM (#63711532)
    Without an explanation, this is like quoting one random guy who says, "Pepsi is better than Coke".
    • "Coke is better than Pepsi." There. Fixed that for you.
    • No this is different because I agree with this guy but the one who prefers Pepsi over Coke is wrong.

    • Without an explanation, this is like quoting one random guy who says, "Pepsi is better than Coke".

      In the era of mainstream clickbait-for-profit, I'd love for you to define "junk" reporting.

      • Back in my misspent youth I took Journalism 101 and wrote for the school newspaper. We were taught that a story had to answer the 5 W's: Who?, What?, When?, Where?, and Why?, preferably in the first paragraph. This bit of reporting fails to answer Why?, so it gets thrown into the junk reporting bin.
        • Back in my misspent youth I took Journalism 101 and wrote for the school newspaper. We were taught that a story had to answer the 5 W's: Who?, What?, When?, Where?, and Why?, preferably in the first paragraph. This bit of reporting fails to answer Why?, so it gets thrown into the junk reporting bin.

          Why? Because people will click on it, and generate revenue.

          Pretty much sums up Why no one even needs to bother with any of the rest. Plain old "news" is not profitable enough anymore, because facts are not as entertaining.

    • by Tarlus ( 1000874 )

      "Random asshole on Internet has opinion in the tech industry's largest pissing contest."

      "News at 11."

  • by u19925 ( 613350 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:13AM (#63711534)

    It is so much hard to track people on iOS.

    Seriously, why is this a news? FB has publicly said that it is losing billions of dollars due to tracking changes in iOS. He gave no reason why Android is better (can he say it publicly that they have trouble tracking people on iOS?).

    Many other developers too may be feeling the same as Apple polices lot more than Android when it comes apps in the App Stores .The final arbiters of which is better should be the users and not developers, and specially not competitors.

    • Harder for apps. However the browser is a, massive weak point in iOS and a, lot of tracking happens on the web.

      On android, I have firefox work no script, u block and privacy badger.

      IOS is far behind that combo.

      • Harder for apps. However the browser is a, massive weak point in iOS and a, lot of tracking happens on the web.

        On android, I have firefox work no script, u block and privacy badger.

        IOS is far behind that combo.

        Because iOS and Mobile Safari already has the equivalent of that third party stuff built in:

        https://support.apple.com/guid... [apple.com]

        https://support.apple.com/guid... [apple.com]

        https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]

        https://apple.stackexchange.co... [stackexchange.com]

        And there are also several third-party Ad Blockers available:

        https://www.imore.com/best-ad-... [imore.com]

        That's all I could dig up in 5 minutes. I'm sure I'm missing some tools and settings.

        Do try to keep up.

        • Because iOS and Mobile Safari already has the equivalent of that third party stuff built in:

          You didn't actually read any of the links, did you?

          Those are a pale shadow of what's available on Firefox. And there is absolutely no equivalent of noscript. And no, a global enable/disable is not equivalent. All that gives you is the choice between many sites being completely broken and full javascript. No way of allowing javascript but blocking google analytics, googleadsystem, amazonadsystem and doubleclick.net on

          • Because iOS and Mobile Safari already has the equivalent of that third party stuff built in:

            You didn't actually read any of the links, did you?

            Those are a pale shadow of what's available on Firefox. And there is absolutely no equivalent of noscript. And no, a global enable/disable is not equivalent. All that gives you is the choice between many sites being completely broken and full javascript. No way of allowing javascript but blocking google analytics, googleadsystem, amazonadsystem and doubleclick.net on your iPhone.

            So really the iPhone is less good at privacy because it restricts privacy options in the single biggest attack vector.

            Do try to keep up.

            Yes I did read them. But I admit I was pretty tired, and so didn't go far enough in my brief research.

            I agree that just Disabling Javascript is impractical for all but the most paranoid, but fortunately, there are alternatives.

            There appear to be at least three NoScript equivalents for iOS.

            This one seems the most sophisticated:

            https://apps.apple.com/us/app/... [apple.com]

            Then there are at least a couple more:

            https://apps.apple.com/us/app/... [apple.com]

            https://apps.apple.com/us/app/... [apple.com]

            That's all I could find in a couple of minutes.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      That doesn't seem to be true any more. Android has granular permissions and doesn't allow background tracking.

    • Or he meant what he said.

      Not everyone loves iOS and when they state they don't, they don't need you making up a fictional story of counter points of what they "really mean".
  • Both operating systems are fantastic, but each has their pros and cons. iOS is definitely more polished. It just seems like a nice interface. Lots of attention to detail. But.. some people don't care about that. Android on the other hand has more open features and less lock down. Great if you care about that, but so many don't need that.

    I would say which one you use is a mix of personal preference and the right tool for the job you have to do. Saying one is better is probably a bad choice of adjectiv

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      I switched to an iPhone 13 mini a few months ago, because I wanted a nice phone that wasn't a phablet.

      Now I've been using Android since 2009. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to have a single, well-thought-out, multi-vendor platform after years tearing out my hair over J2ME and it's endless, vendor-specific device profiles. I like Android, I always have. I'm glad it exists.

      But I was surprised by how little difference the switch to iOS made to me as a user. Most of the apps I used were available on bot

      • by Xenx ( 2211586 )

        But I was surprised by how little difference the switch to iOS made to me as a user. Most of the apps I used were available on both platforms, and when you're using an app it really doesn't matter whether it's on Android or iOS. When you have a competitive duopoly market, I suspect it's almost inevitable that the competitors end up with roughly equivalent products. You *may* prefer a Toyota Camry to a Honda Accord, but in the end it doesn't make any real difference which you choose.

        I would disagree on that, and from both directions. On average, people probably aren't going to care. I'll agree that far. But, there are polarizing aspects that would keep you on one vs the other. This isn't intended to be any kind of exhaustive list. On Apple's side there are more/better accessories, and more updates. On Android's side, there is better integration with Google software. Things like better Google Voice integration, and Android Auto have better support for 3rd party. There is also the extend

        • by hey! ( 33014 )

          Well, sure, there's enough differences to a fuel fight between opposing camps [fandom.com] of loyalists. But they don't spell the difference between being productive and unproductive. It's a choice of minor conveniences and inconveniences that soon fades into the background.

          • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
            The integration benefit of Android alone is more than a "minor convenience". As someone that has both, just about everything outside of playing music will not function on iOS and does on Android.
            • by hey! ( 33014 )

              I have no trouble at all using Google applications on iOS.

              • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
                I didn't say Google apps don't work on iOS. I said there is better integration in android, as well as better 3rd party integration on android. The things I use most just straight up don't work in CarPlay, and do work in Android Auto. It's not relevant to everyone, but it's extremely relevant to me. I know I'm not alone, but I'm by no means saying it's a problem for most people.
                • by hey! ( 33014 )

                  I see. I think that we just represent different types of user. I can see how if Android Auto was a killer feature for you it'd be a reason to prefer Android, but I've tried both Android Auto and CarPlay and my reaction to both was "meh, I don't want this". Still I think it likely over time that the products are going to converge in features. That is assuming Apple can maintain it's very substantial market share to keep iOS development robust. If they ever fail I'll then just switch back to Android, if

    • by nosfucious ( 157958 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:56AM (#63711676)

      I agree. IOS is more polished.

      Not that Andriod is bad. But holy carp, is the shit loaded by the device manufacturer bad. It makes the days of Win 95 and 98 OEM windows install look refined.

      Only two members of the extended family use Andriod and there are 5 different ways of doing everything. Great, if you know YOUR phone. Terrible if you are trying to tell 2 80 year olds what to click, to get back to the embedded web app so they can continue to register to buy train tickets. The web browser was probably Chrome underneath, but was wrapped in some other shite and called "Internet". I guess it was from Samsung. But, with such a generic name, who knows. No idea how it was installed? Side loaded - or via dodgy web site? Perhaps.

      Disclaimer: Don't trust Google, so never owned a personal Andriod device. Google knows too much and isn't accountable. Don't trust Apple either. But picking 1 poison, rather than every poison.

      • by dryeo ( 100693 )

        But holy carp, is the shit loaded by the device manufacturer bad.

        Besides the stock Google apps, my cheap phone came with a help app, a gesture app and an FM radio app. I see you mention Samsung, which is your problem, they have their own eco-system so you get two of everything and whatever else someone will pay to put on the phone.

  • crapple (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:20AM (#63711576)
    From the developer perspective, I can develop for Android on a 12 year old laptop with linux if I want, for iOS you need to dump at least a grand on a system and then if you buy a basic system they will be hobbled in certain ways like only allowing one external monitor. And the UI library makes way more sense. UIKit in iOS is a clusterfuck, especially auto layout rules. Many things cannot be done in the UI builder and need to have programmatic overrides.
    • for iOS you need to dump at least a grand on a system and then if you buy a basic system they will be hobbled in certain ways like only allowing one external monitor

      You can get a Certified Refurbished M2 Mac Mini for $500. It supports two external monitors (one at a max of 4k 60Hz, one at max of 6k 60Hz). You could probably find cheaper used Macs if you're feeling adventurous.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        for iOS you need to dump at least a grand on a system and then if you buy a basic system they will be hobbled in certain ways like only allowing one external monitor

        You can get a Certified Refurbished M2 Mac Mini for $500. It supports two external monitors (one at a max of 4k 60Hz, one at max of 6k 60Hz). You could probably find cheaper used Macs if you're feeling adventurous.

        So you can get a used computer for the price of a new one that doesn't have an Apple logo... What are savings.

  • by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:36AM (#63711626)

    At this point the two platforms are so segmented that I would say 80-90% of users are locked in one way or another.

    I myself have been on Android for something like a decade now and my last 3 devices have all been Google Pixel's. All my apps are on Android, my Google services tie in there, my company uses Google for Business and I am very used to the interface and where everything is. The hardware is pretty much on feature parity outside the the detals and edge cases.

    I have very little reason to switch over and all the people i know on iPhones are the same way.

    People are silo'd and without some sort of legislation that forces combined purchases on both app stores it's very likely going to stay that way.

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      At this point the two platforms are so segmented that I would say 80-90% of users are locked in one way or another.

      Not really, it's easy to go from Android to IOS, even with a lot of your purchases. It's very, very difficult to go from IOS to Android.

      I suspect that not many Android users have a lot of paid applications they can't live without. Android doesn't really operate that way, you get a lot of functionality in the OS and web browser (most apps these days are just single use web browsers anyway).

  • But we are still talking about two polished piles of shit.
  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @11:48AM (#63711658)

    OMG some guy thinks Android is better than iOS! .. Quick .. send out an Amber alert!

    Also, what's his take on the best place to get ramen in the Bay Area? Is it Ramen Nagi or Marufuku?

  • not gonna lie. apple has let software quality slip for the last several years. so if someone says Android might be better, there is a non-zero chance it is true.

  • Someone I have never heard of says that something I don't care about is now better than something else I don't care about? And he's the President of Instagram (which I also don't care about or use?) Is that it?

    • Is that it?

      You left out the bit where you clicked through to the comments section, posted, and sent a signal to the Slashdot editors that this type of content attracts engaged eyeballs.

  • Androïd is very easy to abuse in the process of tracking users everywhere they go and do...

  • by kriston ( 7886 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @02:21PM (#63712090) Homepage Journal

    For business users, Android is far superior due to its containerized functionality like Samsung Knox.

    No need for your employer to wipe the entire phone--just the container that has the business apps on it.

    Why doesn't iOS have this yet?

    • For business users, Android is far superior due to its containerized functionality like Samsung Knox.

      FYI, work profiles are a standard Android feature, nothing to do with Samsung proprietary stuff.

      • by Hydrian ( 183536 )
        Samsung Knox also defines that there is a software-defined one-way hardware fuse. If the fuse is triggered, via an untrusted firmware or some long brute force attacks, it will trigger that hardware fuse and let boot-loader/OS know. Then it will alert the user that the phone has been compromised. Sensative/security minded app can block use if the fuse is triggered.

        I also seem to remember that users with GSuite/GoogleApp/Google Work accounts on their phone, an admin can remotely trigger the fuse to be broken.
  • You can download apps from google play that have malware preloaded. What a time saver.
  • Meta claimed that allowing iOS users to determine how/if they would be tracked would cost them $10B.

    Not a surprising announcement. Also not surprising that he neglected to give any explanation. I'm sure he assumed the fact that he works for Meta explains it all.
  • Instagrams bottom line
  • Apple is the distilled essence of evil

  • Instagram executives should try to have a little bit more awareness and spend their time and effort on creating the best application experience on all devices in which they desire a presence.

The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable. -- John Kenneth Galbraith

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