this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Gen Z here. Even if I could (somehow) afford an iPhone, I can't imagine buying them because they're just so locked-down... How can you use a phone you can't even access file system on? Hell, even load apps the manufacturer doesn't like? AND sell a kidney for this? Around me, iPhones are a minority but still prevalent, but I am living in a major, pretty wealthy city.
Stock android doesn’t want you to access the file system either. And the stock file manager on iOS/iPadOS is more than enough to do any kind of reasonable file management. And their are legitimate security and data privacy/protection reasons to want to use an abstracted file manager and give apps limited access to the underlying file system.
As far as sideloading, you can do it with a developer account or you can use web apps to fill in the gaps for a big chunk of those use cases. But if you need better performance from sideloaded emulators or virtualization host or programs of those sorts which apple doesn’t allow on the App Store, you will have better luck on android.
iPhone makes a design choice to be more restrictive by default than android but it’s for good reason. If full control of your privacy is something you value then you should definitely consider running an open source ROM on an android phone but you should also consider why you are doing something and consider if it is something that is secure and if there isn’t a better workflow to accomplish the same task.
For instance, on device ad blocking. Do you really trust that ad block developer with permission to inspect network traffic on your device and potentially modify ui elements to block ads (but maybe more). Or is that something that is better left on the edge of your network on a device running pihole.
Sorry to get so wordy on you, but I always getting slightly amused when someone criticizes an iPhone for being locked down and then runs stock pixel ROM with like a couple pirated apps and a shady web blocker on it
My mom was given an iPhone as a gift years ago, so I remember my reaction to this. When you connect it to a computer, you can only see the photos folder. So you can't even drag-and-drop music there. How is this "more than enough"? Maybe something has changed, I don't know.
You just spoke in favor of not being so strict, lol. But also there are far more common cases where this can impact regular people, such as bank apps being deleted due to sanctions. I personally don't use mobile banking, but that's pretty important for a lot of people, isn't it?
If its code is open to be inspected by anyone - why not?
That's not the only alternative. I personally don't yet use a smartphone properly so haven't tried, but there are options for custom, more private OSs. Also pixels are pretty expensive so not the best comparison for "common" user.
I really can't agree when you say Pixel phones are expensive. Just look at the value proposition for the 7a. It is currently $444 on the Google store with all the features of the 7 except for a slightly smaller screen and just slightly worse water resistant (we're talking literally one step down). The closest competition would probably be the Zenfone 10 in terms of value,
$444 is pretty expensive for me. More than half a price of my LAPTOP. Most people I know cannot really dish out this much cash for a phone. Maybe it's different in the West.
I don’t remember when it changed, but it was quite a few ears ago. The solution is iCloud. Your phone has iCloud files enabled, and seems to prefer it (at least for me), and your Windows laptop can be configured with iCloud, similar to how you might use OneDrive or Google Drive. Once you have it setup, you don’t have to think about it. It just works.
That's not access to the file system lol. That's just apple's cloud storage/transfer solution that requires an account and Internet. I mean you can do the exact same thing on Android with Google drive or whatever storage/sync cloud service you prefer.
You can transfer music via iTunes and it doesn’t have to be music with DRM from their store. You can rip MP3’s from any source and transfer them via iTunes. You don’t need direct file access and prevents a third party device from potentially transferring malware to it.
On device, the files app gives you access to the “on my iphone” directory (basically the users home directory) as well as app data directories, and extensions for browsing installed cloud storage. You can create directories, move and copy files, rename and change extensions, or whatever else you might need to do to the files on the device. That’s more than enough for managing files on device.
Android is better for certain workloads and use cases. I’m not advocating that anyone replace android. I’ve used both operating systems and I don’t think either are better than the other. As for banking apps, banks block root on android as well, and they ought too. In the US, by regulation, banks have to reimburse customers for fraud losses from any unauthorized transaction. And the CFPB is very liberal in their definition of unauthorized. So even if you download an app called “Definitely Malware, This app will steal your banking info”, you can get your money back when the hacker logs into your account and drains all your funds. So it’s better for banks to block devices that have root or are jailbroken. As for trusting ad blockers, unless you are downloading and building each update yourself. You are still susceptible to a supply chain attack or bad actor even by using open source. Just because it’s on GitHub doesn’t mean it’s secure. If you are putting your trust in a project just because it’s open source without verification you may as well put your trust in Apple or Google.
I’d recommend everyone look into running an open source, degoogled ROM on android. Whether that’s AOSP or GrapheneOS or something else. I’m just trying to make the argument that iPhone isn’t inferior to android and vice versa
What malware lol. ClickForFreeMoney.apk? Even then, the applications are sandboxed pretty well. Even if you install "malware" it won't be able to do much unless you also grant it permissions to access personal data.
Most adblockers (all the good ones) don't require frequent updates. They frequently update filter lists, which don't execute any code and therefore can't do anything malicious. And what you said applies to every application ever. Anyone can have their credentials stolen and used to publish a modified application.
I don't disagree, Androids and iPhones are pretty much at feature and quality parity nowadays. But it sounds like you're starting from a conclusion and working backwards, which is not a good way to think.
It seems like one of the differences is, is your phone a tool to run your life or is it your playground? Those are very different requirements that ought to be separate
My phone is a tool to run my life, so it is important to just work. Similarly, my laptop is pretty vanilla because I want it to just work, my router is out of the box because it’s critical for my network to just work, and my home automation is a default install on a physical box because it is a tool I need to just work. For playtime I have a lab network, and servers and a rPi cluster and VMs, and a bunch of old equipment I could resurrect to varying degrees. I can play all I want, without destabilizing my tools