I had an iPhone 3G, then 4, then switched to a Nexus 4, LG G4, LG G5, Pixel 2 and then Pixel 5. Just in case anyone else is thinking of moving from a Pixel, I moved (back) to using an iPhone because:
Pixel 5 reaching end-of-support for OS/security updates. Battery life starting to show its age. Pixel 8 is (still) too big. Really, really not a fan of the camera bar on the later Pixels. Apple’s physical presence in my country makes repairs etc. quicker and easier. Switch to USB-C meant cables and chargers could be kept. Although not limited to Google, OS features are often US specific. Started getting adverts in Google Feed. Fed up with Google deprecating things (bitten by stadia). I realised I didn’t actually customise my phone much.
The Good: Pretty much identical in size to the Pixel 5. OS is fast and polished. Apps are generally very good quality. Anecdotally, there seem to be more apps with (albeit expensive) lifetime purchase options. Nice touches like reminding me that I’ve left my iPad behind. 80% charging limit is nice to have. Video quality good. Photos seem fine but maybe blurrier than Pixel? Seems to be easier to have apps from two different country’s stores installed on the phone. Notification system not as bad as expected.
The Bad: The glass back is a constant source of worry. Muscle memory for the volume buttons and fingerprint reader will take some time to forget. Volume opposite power button means I keep accidentally taking screenshots. Slightly jealous about Pixel 8’s new camera abilities. Can’t use credit cards from two different countries with Apple Pay (I think). Anecdotally, more apps seem to require subscriptions.
The Ugly: Losing Threema and Signal chat histories. Have to keep the Pixel to keep my late mum’s original chats. Just let me put app icons where I want, please. App settings are all over the place. Notification volume much louder than ring volume but (often) can’t be individually changed? Notification system not as good as it could be. Ancient and irritating limitation on using own ringtones. Let me remove, not just blank, sources in the News app. Needs to learn that I swear continuously much more quickly. I miss Öffi.
Despite the bad/ugly points, the good, in combination with my original reasons for switching, mean I’ve no real regrets.
If I find any other points I’ll update this. Please let me know if I’ve got any of the iOS limitations wrong, and apologies in advance if my formatting is crappy, or anyone considers this sort of post pointless - just trying to add some content to Lemmy - being the change I want to see… :-)
Just a little reminder, that apple collects as much data as google does. You have to make many tradeoffs, if you want a privacy iPhone (many apple services have to be turned off)
Apple does collect data, but not nearly as much as Google does. There is a lot more processing and storing done on-device than with Google, and Apple in recent years has been leaning into E2E encryption. Apple also does a slightly better job currently of protecting your data from third party apps.
I pick and choose which Apple services I use based on the varying importance of privacy/usability for each one, and I did opt into the advanced data protection, which is a killer feature when it comes to OOTB privacy.
You’re right that Apple is no saint either, but they’re definitely the lesser of two evils, and your only real alternative after Apple is an open source OS like Graphene.
As I have told, you have to be careful and know what you are doing. Many think they only have to buy a iPhone and then everything is private. You seem to understand that and you have disabled those services. As you have told in your last sentence, im looking around to replace my iPhone X with something cheap but without google. A friend has a PinePhone, which I will try out soon. I plan to use it with postmarkedOS. If I can’t live with mostly web apps only, I guess, I will move to a ungoogeled android fork using the fdroid store. Or I suddenly get the option to take an old iPhone from a friend who does not need it anymore and is still an upgrade over the X.