Moving from apple - what to do

[majkom]

Hi, hope I am in correct part of forum, with upcoming pixel 10 I do consider moving from apple, and looking for advice, what steps to take.
Currently I do have macbook (intel pro), iphone and airpods - I plan to buy pixel, not sure about leaving mac os (but truly, not sure i really care that much about mac os anymore, usually I find it rather frustrating than useful). So, at least iphonte to pixel, maybe macbook to win laptot. What are recommended steps to take?

What I identified, as must to do things:
- move photo library from apple to google photos
- deregister imessage
- find multiplatform password manager (now I got all passwords in apple native app - that would be PITA to migrate)
- anything else?

Any ideas about good apps to use, replace, or anything else is highly appreciated. Been in apple walled garden for i dont know, 15 years?

for example, i hope I am correct that find my friend can be replaced natively by google maps? and google pay is as common and as easy to use as apple pay?

 

[HouseLannister]

You’re in the right spot. Welcome!

Bitwarden is a great, platform-agnostic, free password manager.

Google Pay will work anywhere you can tap a credit card.

I don’t track my friends, so I can’t speak to that question.

Are you already using Google for Gmail, Calendar, Contacts on your iPhone? If not, add that account now and sync the data from iCloud to Google.

 

[robvalentine]

google has their own find my network, which doesn't work with Apple's sadly.

 

[Drock1119]

Hi, hope I am in correct part of forum, with upcoming pixel 10 I do consider moving from apple, and looking for advice, what steps to take.
Currently I do have macbook (intel pro), iphone and airpods - I plan to buy pixel, not sure about leaving mac os (but truly, not sure i really care that much about mac os anymore, usually I find it rather frustrating than useful). So, at least iphonte to pixel, maybe macbook to win laptot. What are recommended steps to take?

What I identified, as must to do things:
- move photo library from apple to google photos
- deregister imessage
- find multiplatform password manager (now I got all passwords in apple native app - that would be PITA to migrate)
- anything else?

Any ideas about good apps to use, replace, or anything else is highly appreciated. Been in apple walled garden for i dont know, 15 years?

for example, i hope I am correct that find my friend can be replaced natively by google maps? and google pay is as common and as easy to use as apple pay?

You can use Google Maps for location sharing with friends.

 

[majkom]

and does it work as apples find my friend - when both users set sharing their location online, you can always locate via google map?

 

[Harthag]

and does it work as apples find my friend - when both users set sharing their location online, you can always locate via google map?

I *believe* it does but have never tried it myself as I'm the only Android person in my circle of friends and family.

Manage your Location Sharing settings - Computer - Google Account Help

Google Location Sharing is an Android setting. It lets you share your real-time location from devices with people you choose in Google apps or services such as Maps, Family Link, or Personal Safe

support.google.com

As for your other questions, it is possible to move iCloud photos to Google. You can download all of them onto a PC / Mac from iCloud and then upload to Google photos. You can also download the photos onto your iPhone and then install Google photos app, sync, and the photos will all be uploaded to Google. I use Google photos despite using iPhone and Android, it makes life much easier.

If you choose to de-register iMessage, make sure to do it for your Apple ID and phone number. You stated you have a Mac laptop, another great option is BlueBubbles, and running the server off of your Mac. It sounds much more complicated than it is, it is not difficult to set up. It syncs and forwards all iMessages from your Mac to your Android phone and if you use the version from the app's Github it works with Android Auto. The server is local on your Mac, so no cloud or other shady service necessary.

I also use Bitwarden, it is free and really nice.

Google Pay is pretty common, I've never been somewhere where it didn't work.

Apple Music and TV+ both have Android apps. If you need to access shared iCloud albums you can create a shortcut on your home screen (or bookmark in browser app) and access those.

I've been using Firefox on my Android phones for a long time and prefer it due to extensions and addons. It supports Dark Reader which is a true dark mode for websites and doesn't really make rendering mistakes. I use it with Safari on my iPhone, great little app. Be sure to also install the uBlock Origin ad blocker extension. Bitwarden also has an extension for Firefox.

In your network settings, use a private DNS - "dns.adguard-dns.com". It will block all ads system-wide and make Google news / feed actually usable again. It does sometimes interfere with certain websites and in-flight wifi, so just revert back to automatic when that happens.

And then there are all of the other "unspoken" benefits of Android such as ReVanced Manager.

There is a learning curve if you've been with iOS for 15 years but once you become comfortable you will love the Pixel. Give it time and try to resist the urge to go back to the comfort zone of Apple. The feeling will go away after some months. Hope you enjoy. 👍