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Google Basically Wants Your iPhone 13 Home Screen to Look Like Android

Pretty funny Google is doing this lol. But come on. There’s a reason why I (and most of us) chose iPhone. Cus we like the IOS software. Android and google software is so ugly and outdated looking to me. Android software looks like pre-smartphone software. No thanks
 
zorinlynx said:
Even though this whole thing is kind of sad, I have to give kudos to Google for their Calendar app. It's better than the built in calendar app because it shows you the entire month and the events on one page, written out, rather than just a calendar with dots you have to tap to see what they are.

The month calendar with dots is one of iOS's longest running design flaws, and I wish they'd make it better. It looks great on Mac and iPadOS, and I've submitted Feedback a few years in a row to no avail. I think it's a vestige left over from when iPhones had much smaller screens; that design made sense back then.

Until they fix it, I'll use Google's Calendar app on my phone. It can access local and iCloud calendars just fine, too.
Click to expand...
Most of Google's apps on iOS are better than Apple's and most iPhone users who I know are aware of it. But they also don't visit this site because Apple isn't a religion to them.
 
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jdawgnoonan said:
Most of Google's apps on iOS are better than Apple's and most iPhone users who I know are aware of it. But they also don't visit this site because Apple isn't a religion to them.
Click to expand...
Let's see on my iPhone...

1) Using Apple Maps over Google Maps
2) Only using gmail because that's the only mail app my work mail account works with. It's spark for the rest.
3) Youtube app - what choice is there really, when Google has crippled pretty much every other third party YouTube app (and only recently introduced PIP, when Protube already supported it way back in 2016).
4) Siri vs Google Assistant is kinda unfair since only one is baked into the OS, which effectively nullifies any advantage Google may have on a technological level, since users can't readily access it either way. It's Siri all the way on my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
5) Youtube Music - only have it because of Youtube Premium, and this thing is a joke.
6) Google Drive apps - continue to suck in terms of functionality and only recently supported split-screen. Use it because I have to, not because I want to.
7) Safari vs Chrome (no contest here). Running DDG as my search engine, have Firefox Focus and Lockdown working overtime to block all those trackers, recently purchased Amplosion to strip out all those annoying AMP article links.
8) Google Photos - no reason to use it over iCloud photo library.
9) Google Earth - use it on my iPad for my Social Studies lessons from time to time, but otherwise, no real reason to open the app on normal days
10) Google Calendar - I am using Fantastical. Only open Google Calendar because my school implemented a resource booking system via the service. Otherwise, it's also pretty bare bones and I am not really seeing the allure.

I can't think of a single google-made app on my iOS devices that I am using out because I want to, vs me installing it either due to work-related purposes or because it offers functionality that can't be replicated elsewhere. Given a choice between a google-made app and some other alternative, I will likely opt for the alternative every single time.

They are that overrated, and they are that bad. The underlying infrastructure may be fantastic, but their software design chops really leave much to be desired, IMO.
 
Abazigal said:
Let's see on my iPhone...

1) Using Apple Maps over Google Maps
2) Only using gmail because that's the only mail app my work mail account works with. It's spark for the rest.
3) Youtube app - what choice is there really, when Google has crippled pretty much every other third party YouTube app (and only recently introduced PIP, when Protube already supported it way back in 2016).
4) Siri vs Google Assistant is kinda unfair since only one is baked into the OS, which effectively nullifies any advantage Google may have on a technological level, since users can't readily access it either way. It's Siri all the way on my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
5) Youtube Music - only have it because of Youtube Premium, and this thing is a joke.
6) Google Drive apps - continue to suck in terms of functionality and only recently supported split-screen. Use it because I have to, not because I want to.
7) Safari vs Chrome (no contest here). Running DDG as my search engine, have Firefox Focus and Lockdown working overtime to block all those trackers, recently purchased Amplosion to strip out all those annoying AMP article links.
8) Google Photos - no reason to use it over iCloud photo library.
9) Google Earth - use it on my iPad for my Social Studies lessons from time to time, but otherwise, no real reason to open the app on normal days
10) Google Calendar - I am using Fantastical. Only open Google Calendar because my school implemented a resource booking system via the service. Otherwise, it's also pretty bare bones and I am not really seeing the allure.

I can't think of a single google-made app on my iOS devices that I am using out because I want to, vs me installing it either due to work-related purposes or because it offers functionality that can't be replicated elsewhere. Given a choice between a google-made app and some other alternative, I will likely opt for the alternative every single time.

They are that overrated, and they are that bad. The underlying infrastructure may be fantastic, but their software design chops really leave much to be desired, IMO.
Click to expand...

cbaca51 said:
Pretty funny Google is doing this lol. But come on. There’s a reason why I (and most of us) chose iPhone. Cus we like the IOS software. Android and google software is so ugly and outdated looking to me. Android software looks like pre-smartphone software. No thanks
Click to expand...
Apple's software is bad, buggy. Google's software engineers are smarter and more talented than Apple's. Google pays more.
 
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dba415 said:
Apple's software is bad, buggy. Google's software engineers are smarter and more talented than Apple's. Google pays more.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. It just means that Google software on iOS is not improving in ways that matter to me then. It took 2 whole years for Google drive to support split-screen, for instance.
 
What is he supposed to say? This is literally his job. (To get iphone users to use Google apps)
 
I use a iPhone with all of Googles apps. Googles apps are alot more useful. Google Photos is awesome along with Waze. I also use Google Drive since it’s easy to access from any OS. Apple can’t complete with Google Ai.
 
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Google wants what it wants, which is everything. My Apple products are Google free & they will stay that way. If I wanted an Android phone, I wouldn’t be choosing Apple.
 
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Being a life long Android now iPhone user its funny the black and white opinions. They're both great. What iPhones do, they do phenomenal. But you better like what they want you to bc there are zero options. Why can't I have 5 icons across? Why can't I have widgets I can interact with? Android home screens are 1000x better. You want iOS type home screen, do it. Want more, less? Do it. Don't get me started on notifications on iOS.
 
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Da Hurdler said:
On a positive note, this may be what android users need to convince them to switch over to the right side.
#AppleSide
Click to expand...
I did. And it's great, and horrifically painful at the same time. I need an iPhone/Android hybrid phone.
 
Since Google doesn’t particularly seem to be excited about Android anymore, perhaps this is them heading for the exit… with the endgame being a Google branded iPhone (like there was an HP branded iPod) that’s like the standard iPhone in every way, it just has all of the defaults going to Google stuff.

It’s a “Free” OS for all the vendors, but Google’s is most certainly in it for the money. If the money ever becomes less than required to keep this enterprise going, their focus can quickly shift elsewhere (Like Android tablets). And, by having a Google application focused iPhone device, security updates and OS releases are no longer their concern!
 
Unregistered 4U said:
Since Google doesn’t particularly seem to be excited about Android anymore, perhaps this is them heading for the exit… with the endgame being a Google branded iPhone (like there was an HP branded iPod) that’s like the standard iPhone in every way, it just has all of the defaults going to Google stuff.

It’s a “Free” OS for all the vendors, but Google’s is most certainly in it for the money. If the money ever becomes less than required to keep this enterprise going, their focus can quickly shift elsewhere (Like Android tablets). And, by having a Google application focused iPhone device, security updates and OS releases are no longer their concern!
Click to expand...
Google is much more into Android OS and hardware now. Google thought is open source and they make apps for all operating systems. The new pixel has the first Google made processor called tensor so it's the first hardware/processor/software for google.

Funny thing about money. Look at how much Apple makes from Google (so Google is the search engine on iPhones). It's a huge part of apple's revenue. Huge.
 
Google... sigh.

I still need to get off Gmail, but all my interaction with the spam-adjacent business world is via Gmail. Not looking forward to changing all my web accounts to a new ID.

Google really did a great job of capturing us with “free” services. Even now that I know how sociopathic they are, escaping them entirely is difficult.
 
On the other hand this basically removes 99% of the reasons why android users wouldn't want to switchover right?
 
Abazigal said:
Let's see on my iPhone...

1) Using Apple Maps over Google Maps
2) Only using gmail because that's the only mail app my work mail account works with. It's spark for the rest.
3) Youtube app - what choice is there really, when Google has crippled pretty much every other third party YouTube app (and only recently introduced PIP, when Protube already supported it way back in 2016).
4) Siri vs Google Assistant is kinda unfair since only one is baked into the OS, which effectively nullifies any advantage Google may have on a technological level, since users can't readily access it either way. It's Siri all the way on my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
5) Youtube Music - only have it because of Youtube Premium, and this thing is a joke.
6) Google Drive apps - continue to suck in terms of functionality and only recently supported split-screen. Use it because I have to, not because I want to.
7) Safari vs Chrome (no contest here). Running DDG as my search engine, have Firefox Focus and Lockdown working overtime to block all those trackers, recently purchased Amplosion to strip out all those annoying AMP article links.
8) Google Photos - no reason to use it over iCloud photo library.
9) Google Earth - use it on my iPad for my Social Studies lessons from time to time, but otherwise, no real reason to open the app on normal days
10) Google Calendar - I am using Fantastical. Only open Google Calendar because my school implemented a resource booking system via the service. Otherwise, it's also pretty bare bones and I am not really seeing the allure.

I can't think of a single google-made app on my iOS devices that I am using out because I want to, vs me installing it either due to work-related purposes or because it offers functionality that can't be replicated elsewhere. Given a choice between a google-made app and some other alternative, I will likely opt for the alternative every single time.

They are that overrated, and they are that bad. The underlying infrastructure may be fantastic, but their software design chops really leave much to be desired, IMO.
Click to expand...
Apple Maps is certainly prettier than Google Maps, and it has improved dramatically. However, Apple maps still is a lesser product. Siri may be the biggest issue with Google Maps. And Siri? Ask her to set a timer to go off at 5:00 PM. She can't do it. Ask her to share your location. She can't do it. Siri is not great, but yeah if you are on iPhone it is certainly more convenient to use. I use Apple Music on Android, because it is better than YouTube Music. You got me there. At least Google drive is cross platform. I pay for space on iCloud that I can't use for much. I can access Google Drive as a drive on my Linux box at least. On my Apple devices I don't use the GMail app or the Apple Mail app. They both suck as far as I am concerned. But I probably dislike Apple's Mail App more. iCloud Mail and Calendars are a royal pain in the ass to use on Linux, but Apple does half ass support Windows. On iOS every browser is Safari so congrats on using the FireFox Focus version of Safari. If you use iCloud photo, then I guess that every device you own must be an Apple device. Otherwise you wouldn't think it was great. Most people don't use Macs, I have a Mac, but it isn't my main machine. Google Calendar may not be the best, but it is better than Apple's Calendar app.
 
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jdawgnoonan said:
Apple Maps is certainly prettier than Google Maps, and it has improved dramatically. However, Apple maps still is a lesser product. Siri may be the biggest issue with Google Maps. And Siri? Ask her to set a timer to go off at 5:00 PM. She can't do it. Ask her to share your location. She can't do it. Siri is not great, but yeah if you are on iPhone it is certainly more convenient to use. I use Apple Music on Android, because it is better than YouTube Music. You got me there. At least Google drive is cross platform. I pay for space on iCloud that I can't use for much. I can access Google Drive as a drive on my Linux box at least. On my Apple devices I don't use the GMail app or the Apple Mail app. They both suck as far as I am concerned. But I probably dislike Apple's Mail App more. iCloud Mail and Calendars are a royal pain in the ass to use on Linux, but Apple does half ass support Windows. On iOS every browser is Safari so congrats on using the FireFox Focus version of Safari. If you use iCloud photo, then I guess that every device you own must be an Apple device. Otherwise you wouldn't think it was great. Most people don't use Macs, I have a Mac, but it isn't my main machine. Google Calendar may not be the best, but it is better than Apple's Calendar app.
Click to expand...
Yup, I can be considered all-in with the Apple ecosystem. iPhone, iPad, AirPods, MacBook Air, iMac, so it's more convenient to use the stock services like iCloud, calendar, mail, reminders, notes and Siri just for the integration. I realise it's a little of an unfair situation since Apple gives their own apps and services preferential treatment, but it is what it is, and Apple's services have gotten good enough that I am indifferent between using them and a supposedly superior alternative like Google's own services.
 
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