this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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I am dissapointed in my peers. For years I have always been told to stay away from Apple devices and the company in general. However, no one who said that actually used their devices, or used them but not recently (some had like iPhone 4s in the past). Their knowledge was always based on some 3rd hand impressions or internet related peer pressure.

I am in the EU, and Apple devices aren’t as popular as in the US, mostly everyone uses an Android phone and a Windows machine. That also led me using Android and Windows in my daily activities, for the last 15 years. After many phones, starting with HTC Wildfire, i have continously been let down by my phone every 1 to 3 years after purchase.

First i was buying flagships, then mid-high, then back to non-pro flagship variants. I was also trying diffenent brands; HTC, LG, Sony, Samsung, Xiaomi, Nokia, OnePlus. When my last phone died, and i had to buy a new one, i had no idea what to get.

Everything seemed bad, i had them, they look the same, software looks the same, i was afraid of picking a “wrong” phone again. Every single one of them had some issue i couldn’t get over. Either notification problems, bad battery life, slow performance on camera, issues with sharing stuff, fingerprint annoyances, restarts…

Mind you, not everything was on a single device. One had great battery life but i wouldn’t get messages sometimes, other was great but battery life was poor, and on most of them the camera was laggy or buggy.

1 year ago, maybe a bit more, it dawned on me that the only brand i haven’t used anything from is Apple, so i got a basic iPhone 13 to “check it out”, planning on using it for a week or two just to see what the fuss is about. I was using my Android device as the main phone, and the iPhone as a second phone, I wasn’t ready for the jump.

After a week i found myself doing everything on the iPhone apart from voice calls, so then i finally took the SIM and retired my Android phone. 6 months later, my Windows laptop battery died and the repair would cost more than what the laptop is worth. So i decided to purchase a thin and portable laptop with intention to install Debian on it, as i was done with Win11 bugs and “features”.

After looking for 2-3 weeks, comparing different laptops, i was set on a HP 14inch laptop with a price tag of about €1300. Then i remembered that i am still thinking with my peers in mind. They were enraged on how i “betrayed” them by switching to iPhone.

I decided to look up Mac laptops and found out that they are actually very similary priced as the one i wanted to buy. I got out and purchased a M2 Air, basic configuration. I had no idea about the iPhone-Mac compatibility and integrations. Found out about AirDrop and other features. I was in love with this new combo that, cliche, “just works”.

My “friends” literally went 180 on me just for the dumb reason of using one brand instead of the other. None of them has actually tried to use Apple hardware. They were mocking me about being “locked in”, “fallen for their marketing”, and other stuff. “How do you like your iCloud subscription?”, things like that.

I have to tell you, i do not use any paid service from Apple. I succesfully conected my Apple devices to my home server where i keep my files, photos, calendar and all the other applications on it. I am not locked in, i feel like i have even more freedom because some services work better than on Android or Windows.

Syncing works flawlessly, something that was always janky on Android.

Sorry for the long post.

I guess what i am trying to ask is, why so much hate? Why can’t a person decide for themselves? Why is macOS/iOS looked down upon regarding connectivity with other devices and services when that’s clearly not the case?

Why do people that have no first hand experience so vocal and opposed to the brand? Shouldn’t you at least try and then be the judge?

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[–] Deestan 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I think you should talk to your friends about this, not us.

They know why they (appear to) judge you better than any of us can infer from reading your side of the story.

But to answer your question as written: Yes, I am very familiar with their hardware and products. The hardware is good. The products are coherent. The company is dishonest, monopolistic and anti-consumer. I value my consumer freedom higher.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They are all monopolistic and anti-consumer though. Which mainstream brand is truly on the side of the consumer?

[–] Deestan 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

None are. We can't have that world.

But whether due to incompetence, lack of monopoly or a trace of human soul, most mainstream brands don't harm consumer rights as effectively as Apple do.

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[–] spckls 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Whole point of the post is to get opinions from other people. There is no story, just my general observations about the software/hardware

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

^ Exactly this. I was an Apple fanboy (perhaps even shill) until the iPhone 5S when my device had a bad NAND chip causing it to randomly and sporadically blue screen and reboot (as a PC user, the blue screen irony was not lost on me) and Apple jerked me around for 3 months until the phone was out of warranty and then told me I should have bought Apple Care on the phone even though the issue started before the 1 year warranty had expired.

I didn't find this acceptable as I had written proof I'd taken the phone in to the shop multiple times during the warranty period, ended up calling their corporate office of the president where they worked with me to generate logs from the device and send them to Apple techs who would review it, at which point they came back and said "yeah it looks like the NAND chip is bad" and "but it's out of warranty". When I told the person from Apple this was ridiculous because I'd been an Apple customer for decades and I'd had umpteen Macs and Macbook laptops and iPhones and I'd never had this problem with any other Apple device (the whole point being the devices are 30% more expensive because they're high quality and don't have these types of problems), she cut me off and said "Apple doesn't have a customer loyalty program, sir." and dead-ended the entire conversation right there.

I took the 5S out to my driveway and smashed it with a hammer and went and bought a $200 HTC One E8 and I've been an Android user ever since and will never give Apple a penny if I can avoid it. The products were fine, the software was good, but the service/company is rotten.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Microsoft and Google are no different these days. In fact, they’ve always been this way.

Simply buy and use the tools that work best for yourself based on your experiences, as per OP.

[–] jesterraiin 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)
  1. Are you AI/bot?
  2. Wall of text = incomprehensible, would not read/5.
  3. It's rarely about how good the devices are, but how much they cost + Apple's two-faced moral model that makes people oppose/reject it.
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[–] MegaTony 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My ADHD only allowed me to read the first two sentences.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I don't have ADHD but same.

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[–] Alenalda 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not reading that whole post, but in answer to the title. I use an android for my personal phone and an iPhone for my work phone. I've used both side by side for more than the last 10 years. Without a doubt the android phone is more functional and easier to use. I don't give a shit about cameras, messaging apps, or brand loyalty. The android is more affordable and allows me to send texts, surf the internet, and watch YouTube without adds through vanced. I would never consider getting an iPhone as my personal use phone.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)
  1. Stop caring about what other people think about Apple.

  2. Start using paragraphs.

  3. Learn how to express your thoughts in a short and clear manner.

[–] spckls 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  1. I have no idea how to do that, it affects my proffesional life as well. Any advice on some guides?
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

When you're writing a text, you're putting down a stream of thoughts. Our thoughts can be very chaotic and hard to understand. So it's a good practice to review your texts. Are sentences connected to each other? Does this thought lead to the next one? Does this paragraph add value? Should you move or delete something? It takes practice to become a good editor.

You can also learn from how other people structure their texts. I pay attention to that when I read a post on Lemmy or article in some magazine. It's a pleasure to read a good text. I try to understand, what makes it good and what makes a bad text bad. That knowledge helps me write better texts.

This article has some good points: https://theamericanscholar.org/writing-english-as-a-second-language/ Despite the title, it can be helpful for native speakers too.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Paragraphs.

Paragraphs?

Paragraphs!

[–] spckls 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Ok i will add them sorry :|

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If you like Apple and Mac, go ahead, use whatever you like. I think the hate comes from the hype attitude apple users typically have. They are a bit too hardcore about it and it gets annoying. I know, some bad apples spoil the lot (pun?) and I'm sure there's Apple lovers who don't go around preaching or trying to convert anyone. My sister loves her iPhone, yet I never heard her recommend me get one, or even brag about it.

Now you will have to understand different people value different things. For me, if you can't sideload apps, if it's too hard to jailbreak, if it's too expensive, if I can't run the niche software I need to run- I'm not going to bother. For these reasons I'm not an apple customer.

Finally, no, no haven't used any Apple products lately. I think the last time I did was a Mac at uni some 5 years ago, and I've always found the interface counterintuitive. The mouse design is very uncomfortable. I don't like their keyboards. Perhaps these things changed or maybe we have compatibility, but again, adding to the reasons in paragraph 2- I don't see why I should bother.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I had an iPhone 12 for two weeks before I returned it. I tried to like it because, while you're still in a corp walled garden and they cannot really be trusted, they so far are better than Google at least with regards to privacy.

However, there's a list of stuff that got me too annoyed. Some examples:

  • the stock keyboard is just garbage. All the infamous typos on social media come from iPhones because they choose to correct words that have already been written. You also cannot sensibly replace the stock keyboard because you cannot block a specific app's data usage and keyboards are far too critical apps to grant internet access.
  • stock apps are good overall (better than Android) but that means people don't make replacements. The mail app could've been great but they choose to not support PGP and it's practically impossible to set up.
  • you cannot replace Safari completely, some apps still open it. Safari is crap because no way to install adblock.
  • you still feel that iOS wasn't developed as a multi-threading system. I had a few apps that wouldn't correctly work while in background
  • apps are far more expensive than for Android. Lots of subscription-based plans, more comparable to full-price PC software than mobile apps.
  • no native file system access. Apps are sandboxed and handle their files themselves. I prefer to do that myself but no chance on iOS.
  • the community is garbage. Every question or critcisim is the user's fault. The Holy Corp does not make mistakes. Collective Stockholm syndrome.

I also ran into various bugs. I do on every platform but the "it just works" narrative is especially strong for Apple and it's just not like their fans claim.

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[–] Today 7 points 1 year ago

I use an iPad for work. It's getting better now that they have widgets and allow a little customization. I hate the app store and the keyboard (even with gbosrd installed it's still clunky), and almost everything about using it. That said, it starts quickly, has good battery life, and is durable. Good device, terrible os. Android feels like the opposite - less reliable (more restarts) but much more pleasant to use. I haven't used an apple computer in a hundred years but i dint remember it being bad. My kids use macs for design stuff at home and work and love them. As someone else mentioned, i think it's ios that is hated.

[–] MegaTony 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Also cool thing about the iPhone. Bottom right of the keyboard there’s a button labeled “return”. Push it twice to start a new paragraph.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're not locked in but you bought a laptop of the same brand as your phone and are in awe that everything clicks?

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[–] devious 6 points 1 year ago

I use Apple devices for work and although their hardware and software are reasonably well refined, I would never choose to use them for my personal devices as long as they continue their anti consumer walled garden approach.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My ex's dad worked for someone that would get a new phone for each member of his family yearly and then would give his old phones to his employees. I ended up receiving year-old iPhones until 2020.

My local library had an iMac lab. I spend countless hours doing my work and hanging out there, all using iMacs. Eventually, I also bought an Apple Intel laptop with the awful butterfly keyboard, only to sell it a couple of months afterwards.

So I have tried Apple hardware. Up until 2020 it was the only smartphone hardware I ever used. It was the computer hardware I used for the vast majority of my middle and highschool years (heck, even in college there's an iMac lab that I spent quite some time in).

I spent most of my life using Apple hardware with Apple software and when I switched to repairable hardware and libre software exclusively, my life improved.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'll consider an iPhone when they get rid of the giant notch and allow sideloading and more browser engines.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You can side load on iOS but the cert is only valid for 7 days then you need to refresh the certificate. You can use AltStore to do that automatically. Or get an subscription on one of those piracy sites that provide 1 year certs or pay for an developer account.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm pro Mac OS. Anti iOS.

My main metric is can I run software on the device of my choosing. On iOS you cannot run your own software, there's no f droid. That's a deal breaker for me. So I don't recommend it..

On Mac OS you can run whatever you want. And that's fine.

It's ultimately up to you, I don't like seeing advertisements, I like to run my own software.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

On Mac OS you can run whatever you want.

For now. I really think Apple has been letting the entire macos experience decay on purpose. Then, they'll release a self-hosting xcode for iPad and old yeller the mac for good, as I am sure they have been dreaming of for years.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I'm anti-cloud for many reasons, privacy being one of them. I want access and control of my own files. I use Syncthing to sync my files between all my devices.

I would be unable to do this on iPhone as access to the file system is extremely locked down on iOS devices.

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[–] sanguinepar 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They were enraged on how i “betrayed” them by switching to iPhone.

Your friends need to chill the fuck out.

I've used Apple devices for work in the past (phone and laptop) although not for about 7 or 8 years and they were fine - bit of a learning curve as I have always been a Windows and Android person, but I got used to them, and those aspects of them that I found ideosyncratic (or just plain dumb!)

That said, it'd take a pretty big shift for me to want to go back to Apple by choice, but that's partly because of cost and the sheer number of apps I'd have to buy to replace those I have.

But, if you want to go with Apple, it's your call, and your friends should not be taking it so seriously.

[–] spckls 2 points 1 year ago

I agree with the chilling, i think most people are on some death rampage to money and that makes them angry and irrational

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I haven't tried nor will I want to try Apple products for the following reasons:

Apple products seem to always have some critical design flaw under the surface, or even something I can only put down to deliberate malicious designed-to-fail, not-repairable shenanigans (soldered SSD, serializing even trivial parts like screen opening sensor, having high voltage backlight pin right next to low voltage signaling pin that connects directly to the soldered CPU etc).

The software is extremely locked down, I simply cannot function without Fdroid and installing packages straight from Github (how else am I going to extract the necessary encryption keys to use a gadget with an unofficial FLOSS application instead of the official spyware?). Android is not perfect, but at least I can hack it and mutilate it as I see fit and there are custom ROM-s. My next phone will probably run /e/ OS.

Plus Apple lacks the critical-to-me hardware like 3.5mm analog audio output. IR blaster is also nice to have when working with AV stuff that may not have the remote with them.

Last, but not least, they're simply too expensive for me. I'm not willing to pay more than 300...400€ for a phone, and I don't want to buy a mobile gadget used—demons only know what that thing has been through. And Apple desktop/laptop computers—yeah, well, just no. I like my standardized x64 architecture, where I can upgrade RAM and storage as I see fit for cheap and install whatever opsys I want, just fine thankyouverymuch.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

First, you really shouldn't let your friends tell you what to buy or not buy. Advise yes, but nothing more.

Personally, there's a lot about the Apple ecosystem I just don't like. I have no doubt whatsoever that their products are probably great and work together well. But their pricing and the way they treat users when it comes to repairs are the main problems I have with them.

I think it's just better to use what works best for you.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Brands are nowadays another way to communicate social status. Apple is the peak of conspicuous consumption hence the negative associations for some. Furthermore, Apple devices, although great for what they do, they come with numerous caveats. You’re limited on how much you can do with them. Great if you’re a newbie, not so great if you know your way round a computer and like for things to work your way. Their customer support used to be top notch but now it’s just an other outlet to force you into another expense. Over the past few years they’ve behaved very much against the interest of the consumer. So that didn’t help their public image among those who care about stuff like this. That is not to say their products are good. On the contrary, they’re great. Polished and generally, reliable. Until they’re not. Whatever you’re friend’s opinion know that it’s mostly based on their sense of identity and values.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As someone who actively avoids Apple products I do not have any issue with their hardware or software and actually recommend apple to people like my mom who need things that just work and work well. The reasons though that I personally avoid Apple is I disagree with many of their anti consumer practices, their "walled garden" mentality, and their blatant refusal to make things more repairable. On that note you mention HP and I avoid them as well for the same reasons. HP, Dell, and other big name manufacturers of Windows laptops and PCs use the same tactics as apple. I personally built my own desktop and bought a second hand laptop that I replaced some parts in and put Linux on so it runs much better now but these are things I can't recommend to people like my mother.

As for phones it is the same story as above but sadly virtually all options when it comes to manufacturers are anti consumer so the main thing that keeps me on Android is the ability to install apps from other places.

I think people take the anti apple train a bit too hard sometimes because they are easier to s**t on than having to name 20 different windows manufacturers or Android ones.

Side note many software engineers I know swear by MacBooks because their underlying kernal is more similar to unix and also the whole "it just works" part is huge when your company is buying you the machine and can't really fuck up by buying any 1 of the maybe 6 choices they had through apple

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tend to find that for every complaint there’s at least 10 more people out there using their Apple devices quite happily.

Use what you want or that works best for you at the end of the day.

I made the switch to iPhone after my nexus 5 had a system crash when I tried to toggle the WiFi off/on. Haven’t really looked back since.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I dont really care. But isn't Apple getting worse and worse by deliberately making it impossible to repair or service their products?

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[–] Chickenstalker 3 points 1 year ago

No. To me, Apple is like Nazis. They look good but are bad. The end.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use apple products as main devices since I was 16 and bought my first Mac, I’m not a fan girl, these are all shitty companies so Android/Google, Apple or Windows for me it’s the same but I have to say that the way iOS works is super intuitive to me, it’s like my brain works the same way (obviously there’s some stupid stuff like the way Settings are arranged) and I have also Android devices form various brands but I wouldn’t change my iphone/mac even if I have to buy everything refurbished because the cost is prohibitive!

The keyboard is ok, I registered many abbreviations so writing is very simple; Safari works fine and you can install adblockers, or if you want you can download another browser, just without extensions;

If you are a geek and privacy focused I agree that a de-googled Android is the best but for the average joe an iphone works well

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They've become a lot better in the past fifteen years in terms of usability and respect for their users, but the price point is still out of whack. They sell style as much as function... sometimes to the detriment of function.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Most of the things I use my phone for don't work on iPhones. They work just fine if you want the limited apps that they have available. I've found that making custom automation is not even a thing with Apple. You can't side load apps, so you're limited to just what they offer inside their store.

iPhones are for people who aren't really into tech and just want something very basic that works.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I’m into tech. I program. I don’t give a fuck about tinkering on my phone. I use an iPhone

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A lot of people that have feelings and behave like your friends do so out of insecurity. Apple stuff works really well within their own ecosystem. They’re kinda dicks about how they run their app-store, and I do believe they overcharge for most everything they make; but it doesn’t change that their stuff works really well, consistently.

I have to use Windows, OSX and various forms of Linux on almost a daily basis. They all have pros and cons.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't need to. iPhones are pretty but every time I've been forced to use one I wanted to pull my hair out, I know they're vaunted for being easy to use but I find them incredibly unintuitive, and I need help to do basically anything. MacOS is mostly Fine™ (with that being said - no window snapping? really?!), but they have no laptops with a number pad on the keyboard, and even if they did, they don't have matte display options so I couldn't comfortably use the damn thing anyway. It's a laptop, I'm not going to use it exclusively in darkened rooms with the lights turned off.

Edit: Also, MacBooks are entirely unupgradable. So that's a hard no from me based on that alone. The "need more storage/RAM? Buy a new laptop!" approach is just entirely unacceptable as far as I'm concerned.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People has often a natural need to play teams. I would have serious discussion with your friends about it. Because there is a limit when friendly ribbing turns not friendly. And that doesn’t sound healthy friendship.

iPhone is great for some people and Android is great for some people. I am happy you found what works for you.

But I have to ask what are you using for syncthing? Last time I tried it it was really sub par compared to my android.

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