iPhone Pros and Cons

A coworker recently asked me how I liked my Oneplus 3. I had to answer honestly and say I didn’t like it that much. I think Android in general is just not appealing to me anymore, and Google is not committed to anything so it’s hard to buy into their phones. The conversation shifted to the possibility of moving to an iPhone, so I thought I’d make a pros and cons list of an iPhone. This is specific to my uses, but I hope others will find it interesting as well.

If anything on this list is incorrect, please let me know in the comments. I’ve never used an iPhone and have very little experience with them.

iPhone Pros:

  • Break free of Google Voice but still send texts from my computer (iMessage)
  • No more worrying about google killing google voice/hangouts/whatever
  • iMessage is actually really good
  • Consistency
  • Knowing I’ll be supported for at least 4 years
  • Higher quality apps overall (debatable)
  • Built in f.lux (night shift)
  • Ad blockers (apparently this only works in Safari, not Chrome)
  • Larger ecosystem of accessories
  • Good (consistent) camera
  • Better customer service. If I break the screen I can go to an apple store.
  • All google apps are on iOS so it’s like the best of both worlds
  • iOS is iOS. No skins, or carrier bloatware.

iPhone Cons:

  • Siri is a joke (compared to Google Now/Assistant which I use a lot, mostly for navigation). Update: according to recent videos, it’s not that much worse. Biggest downside is that siri won’t use Google Maps for navigation.
  • You can't make Google Maps the default navigation app

    You can delete Apple Maps and use voice navigation once in it.

  • No third party web engines
  • No sideloading apps or my own apps

    Apparently you can sideload as many apps as you want if you use xcode on your computer. Not as easy as downloading an apk, but the possibility is still there.

  • No removing stock apps. I'll be stuck with apple email and inbox

    This is not true in the latest version of iOS. Nearly all apple apps are removable.

  • No emulators (there may be some emulators but you have to go through alternate routes to get them installed)
  • Can’t send texts with my chromebook
  • Generally more expensive (debatable)
  • Getting more locked into the Apple ecosystem. I’m locked into Google right now though so I’m not sure if that actually matters.
  • Doesn’t work as well with devices not in the ecosystem (pebble time)