Ask HN: Android or iOS for a Linux and FOSS user in 2024?

9 points by r4v3n 1 year ago | 16 comments

Today it seems more impossible than ever to decide. As a lifelong Android user, I'm wondering whether I should switch to iOS. But why? Because I'm fed up with changing smartphone for the sole reason that there are no more software updates!

You'll tell me to get a Google Pixel and get 7 years of updates. Agreed, but the price isn't as good and it seems a little less quality than an iPhone.

I'm a daily user of free and opensource software, with Linux on all my PCs. My emails, calendar, contacts, photos, files... are not hosted by GAFAM and I want to keep it that way. My main use for my smartphone: photos, GPS, web reading, RSS reading, chatting. That's about it.

In terms of smartphones, you always have to choose between the plague and the colera, between Google or Apple.

So what's the best choice in 2024 for a user like me, iOS or Android?

talldayo 1 year ago |

> But why? Because I'm fed up with changing smartphone for the sole reason that there are no more software updates!

All phones reach a point where people don't support them anymore, on both Android and iOS. However, Android does 2 things right that make it much better in my opinion:

1. Provide the AOSP so the community can provide support for outdated devices via LineageOS/CalyxOS style forked ROMs

2. Give all phones the ability to directly install software packages (even over ADB) so that they can still be used when they lose Play Store support or even once the TLS is outdated.

You're welcome to check if the grass is any greener on iOS, but there hasn't ever been an iPhone with an unlockable bootloader. Once Apple cuts support for your device it's over, which is a possibility that can at least be precluded on some Android devices.

nextos 1 year ago |

I think for a FOSS user 2 options are worth considering. Option 1, get a Pixel, wipe it up and install GrapheneOS. Then try to live on applications from the F-Droid ecosystem. If a Pixel is too expensive, look into ROMs that support other devices, like CalyxOS. Option 2, get a Sony or any other device supported by Sailfish OS. Use native applications, but whenever needed you can always fall back to F-Droid or Google Play given the Android compatibility layer provided by Jolla.

Sailfish is actual Linux. Not just a Linux kernel with an alien userland. The OS is beautiful. Some parts of the system are excellent, like offline maps. There are lots of indie applications. But other things have less or no support unless you fall back to using Android via the compatibility layer. Both OSes should provide long-term support.

meiraleal 1 year ago | |

any cellphone that runs sailfish and still available to buy?

nextos 1 year ago | | |

Jolla is releasing a new official device: https://shop.jolla.com/details/91eb91d3-c3de-41d0-b3c0-7075a...

A few Sony Xperia are officially supported, e.g. 10 III: https://docs.sailfishos.org/Support/Supported_Devices

Community ports are also available for some devices, Volla is quite popular in this category:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailfish_OS#Community_enthusia...

https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/community-hardware-adaptation...

ActorNightly 1 year ago |

>Because I'm fed up with changing smartphone for the sole reason that there are no more software updates!

There are android phones out there (namely Samsung and Google) that have long time span security updates. S24 for example should be updated for 7 years, which is about the same time as any Apple Phone

Even then, this is a very very niche thing to be concerned about. The vast majority of security "flaws" require an insane amount of frontload work to exploit to the point if you are ever hit with one of those, you are most likely are targeted by a government agency.

h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 1 year ago |

If software updates are your major concern, then maybe get a device that's compatible with LineageOS and postmarketOS and flash either OS on your device?

LineageOS has support for at least a decade until the devices aren't supported anymore. And even then, usually the project just needs people that build the images for them. [1]

[1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

al_borland 1 year ago |

I’ve been an iPhone user since day 1 and have been happy with it. Any time I look at Android it feels like managing my phone would need to become a hobby, which I don’t want.

On the iPhone…

- The built in camera app is pretty good. If you don’t want to use Apple to store your photos, there are likely options that can upload them where you want… or plug it into a computer and copy them off like a camera.

- GPS, the usual suspects are there for maps or other GPS needs.

- Web. All browsers use WebKit on the backend (for now), but then if you have a particular browser of choice to sync bookmarks and things, it’s probably there. I did this with Firefox for a while, and it worked fine.

- RSS. NetNewsWire is open source and has been around forever. It’s what I use.

- Chat, again, it’s all there, plus iMessage, which is not available elsewhere. And RCS is coming later this year, which should make things better between iOS and Android, instead of SMS.

sky2224 1 year ago |

It's not out yet, but the light phone 3 might fit what you're looking for.

Although, it uses an e-ink display, so things like texting and gps may be a bit weird to use. Not sure if you'll get guaranteed updates for an extended period of time like 7 years though.

r4v3n 1 year ago | |

I don't know at all, I'll have a look, thanks :)

runjake 1 year ago |

I don't have a good answer for you, but I am dogfooding both.

One thing I've noticed is that, paradoxically, Google apps tend to be more polished and reliable on iOS, rather than it's own Android platform. It's as if those app developers care more about the iOS versions. That kind of leaves a sour taste.

vednig 1 year ago |

I would suggest see nothing.tech, I have been using it since last 6 months, no problem whatsoever nice updates, and reasonable pricing. Even the camera quality is good. Plus, if you ever are required to move to apple ecosystem they have experimental Airpod support.

Kelteseth 1 year ago |

I use an S24 Ultra. Best camera I have ever had and also 7 years of software updates.

r4v3n 1 year ago | |

Samsung has an Android "overlay" that's pretty redhibitory for me. And privacy-wise, it's pretty bad too from what I've read. But thanks for your comment, the photo part is important to me :)

meiraleal 1 year ago |

I'm waiting for the smartphone's version of the year of Linux. Both Android and iOS are trash.

ABCD0 1 year ago |

Issueing comment

brudgers 1 year ago |

Both are good enough and it might not be worth spending time imagining you are optimizing. Good luck.