Android to iPhone Switch
Switching from Android to iPhone is not an easy task. However, people manage to switch between Android to iPhone with few difficulties.
I have been a diehard Samsung Galaxy fan since I left the iPhone for the Galaxy s5 many years ago. I loved the specs and the various options involved with Samsung, Google, and other app choices. Moreover, I loved the design and specs of the devices and found them to follow much more of an innovative path than the iPhone which seemed to always be trying to catch up.
I love the Google and Android ecosystems that tend to provide more options and freedoms to users. I was all-in as well with phone, tablet, watch, and lots of other electronics.
Black Friday came and my friends and colleagues started realizing that an earth-shattering change must have occurred because my text bubbles changed to blue. That spurred more text messages and phone calls to see what was going on.
Could there have been a technical issue with their phones? They also noticed it on my wife’s phone and that confused them even more.
I thought I would write this article to share why I made the change but also share my experience so far. I also disclose that I am a shareholder of both Apple and Alphabet.
Why the Switch?
My apparent extreme cosmic event-level transition is quite practical and not anything negative towards Galaxy devices. I loved my S10 Plus and looked forward to what is coming in the new year’s model. I’ve also followed each new Apple device and iOS version to keep informed on changes and how they compare.
First, my son has had an iPhone for many years. It never made sense to switch him over to Android and spend the money repurchasing everything years ago. He was tied to the Apple ecosystem with a phone, watch, etc. and that was not worth even thinking about changing.
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The big catalyst to the change was my teenage daughter who asked for an iPhone for Christmas. I remember when she first asked that I couldn’t believe she wanted to go back in time to an inferior device. Where did I go wrong with her? So, I asked the big question…why on earth would you want that? Her reasons made a lot of sense.
Android to iPhone Switch
The clear majority (say 99%) of her friends had iPhones so they could do things that she couldn’t. Her text messages came over as green which meant they used cellular data.
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She could not play games through iMessage, AirDrop files, etc. At first, these seemed like simple things that didn’t warrant a change, however, after thinking about it, the real driver wasn’t the device but is included. She was inadvertently excluded from activities that her other friends could do.
After some discussion and thought we agreed that it made sense for her to switch. My wife and I spend a lot of time in our personal lives working with and ministering to high school and college students and understand well how things like this matter. Plus, I have run into this kind of thing many times when the vast majority of students had iPhones while we had our Galaxies.
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Then the bizarre thought came to mind…If both our kids will be in the Apple ecosystem, should we as well? I launched into research mode, and to keep the story short, it seemed to make more sense for us all to use the same ecosystem. I reviewed the devices and pleasantly learned that with some pros and cons, we would likely be happy to switch.
What I Like – Android to iPhone Switch
Benefits of Switching Android to iPhone.
Ultimately, I chose the iPhone 11 Pro Max for myself, the XS Max for my wife, and the XS for my daughter. There are many things I like and may I dare say, even love about my new phone.
- The transition was much smoother than I ever thought thanks to the Move to iOS app. All of my important data moved over seamlessly. I had to manually download some apps, but that was painless. Logging into all of the apps was a bit tedious, but that is to be expected.
- Sometime after setting up my phone, I changed my Apple ID to reference my preferred email address. I was quite impressed that the device eventually knew I made the change and reflected it without me doing anything.
- The device is fast and the usage is smooth. I can see the benefits of the manufacturer making both the hardware and software to create a great user experience.
- I love the Forced Touch feature to save clicks.
- Face ID is fantastic. It works so fast and smoothly and is much better than my prior device. Like – Facial recognition technology.
- IMessages and its features are a big plus.
- The device works great with my Galaxy Gear S3. It was more consistent at sending notifications to my watch than my prior phone. I’ll talk more about this topic in the limitations section.
- Battery life is superb. I can make it through all if not most of the day without charging. This is even with heavy usage.
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Is it hard to switch from Android to iPhone
Something I love is when I turn on Airplane mode, all of my Bluetooth devices remain connected. On my old device, they would all be disconnected and I would have to connect then back (i.e. watch and earbuds). I never understood that but it works as desired now.
I love the voicemail transcription. Although far from perfect, this makes it so much easier to get your messages, particularly when you are in an environment in which you aren’t able to listen to the message.
There is a set of features I will call limitations to what I am used to. Some may not matter to different people and some would make great enhancements. There are workarounds for some and others just a different way of using the device.
Limitations – Android to iPhone Switch
No support of SD cards. I am not trying to rehash an old topic, but it was nice to add an SD card to hold music, files, apps, etc. Without filling up the built-in storage. Financially, it makes sense for Apple as I purchased a device with more storage than I would have before because I cannot add an SD card.
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No easy way to add ringtones. I use a lot of custom ringtones or ones I have purchased over the years. There is no easy way to simply plug the device into my computer and move them over. I had to use iTunes and a third-party application which was more effort than needed.
I would love to have access to Settings on the quick access pull-down screen. It seems like a miss to not allow that option to be added to that screen.
Issues
A big issue for me is not being able to customize the built-in keyboard to include a number row. I use numbers so much and flipping between them and letters is a big pain and time waster.
I understand I can switch to a third-party keyboard but I love how the built-in keyboard works aside from this. It flows well and captures my typing better than my old keyboard. I type more accurately using the built-in keyboard.
The icons on the home screens auto-arrange from the top left. This bugs me because I am used to putting the icons wherever I want. I like to not cover up my background image so I always had my icons in certain places. That is not possible because they are hard-coded to auto-arrange.
I am used to having five icons the DOC for the five most-used apps. Now I just have four which is not a significant issue but miss the extra one.
As I mentioned earlier, the notifications and connection to my Galaxy Gear S3 watch were great, however, I quickly learned of two key issues. First, for health data to sync, the Samsung Health app had to remain open all the time. I don’t like to leave apps open if I am not using them.
What will Take Time to Get Used to
The bigger issue is that even though receiving notifications worked well, I could not respond to them on the watch.
Responses were either very limited or not possible depending on which kind of notification. That was a dealbreaker. I technically expected to have to switch to an Apple Watch but hoped not to because I love the physical design of the Gear so much better. In the end, I had to let it go and get an Apple Watch.
I understand it is a new device, a new ecosystem, designed by different people with different visions and directions. Several things are different than just take some time to get used to it.
- First, the ability to add widgets from different apps doesn’t exist, at least not in the same way. I was used to having various widgets on my screens such as weather, music, etc. Now, there is limited availability to have some items on the Today View screen. I am getting used to this. Over time, I found that I don’t miss the widgets and have some key things on that screen that work just fine.
- The new device has different ways to swipe. Swipe down here for notifications or here for quick access. Swipe left for Today View. Nothing about this is hard, it’s just different.
Summary
Overall, I am pleased with the transition (Android to iPhone Switch). I’ve been on the new phone for a little over a month and have adapted fairly well. I think I have forgotten about some of the limitations and have tried to embrace using the device in new ways as it was intended.
Whether they are limitations or just getting used to working differently, I am sure we all have our thoughts. Now I will also begin a transition to an Apple Watch and iPad Pro to keep everything within the same ecosystem.
Dana Murphy loves technology and gadgets and works at a professional services consulting firm that helps organizations implement and manage technologies that enable their people to learn, collaborate, achieve, and be rewarded in the workplace.