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Other What little things do you like about the iPhone?

As a new Iphone user, got my first Iphone (17 pro) back in November. I am surprised on how well detailed the weather app is. I was messing around in the weather app during my commute to work today and noticed how detailed the weather reports are for things like moon-phases, sea-level, UV-levels and even a weather-forecast map.

And I really love how great FaceID performs compared to my older phones. Even in pitch-black darkness it manages to unlock my phone while my older phones even struggled to recognize me when there was only a little bit of twilight.

Most likely I will find out more sort of surprises I think.
 
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I use iPhone 14 and iPhone 12 mini (My Microsoft Authenticator and Passkeys are in there - work stuff) and to be honest, I'm happy that it's fast and I haven't had any issues. I like that there's no double apps (ie Google Play, Samsung Store) and I like that I'm receiving updates.
I like that I can copy paste text into my iPad and Mac, I like the Calendar app. I love it that I don't have to use Outlook for my personal calendar and I like that it's a separate app.
I like that my calendar tells me when to leave my house, I like my AirPods 4 and I even like my Apple Watch SE (1st gen) and I don't feel like I need a new one. The first gen SE is still smooth and does everything I need. I like the display of my iPhone and I like the fact that my iPhone has a MagSafe.

A little offtopic, but I also use iPad 9th generation and I like that it's still fast and smooth even on 3GB of RAM and I like my Apple Pencil and that I can draw, which is mostly what I do.

I am one of those people who still uses MacBook Air M1 base model (I wanted 16GB, but it wasn't available at that time - Reminder that not everyone lives in the US), but the thing is. I still like my Mac. It's fast and snappy and even Xcode works on it. It works way better than my work computer (HP Elitebook with 16GB of RAM) and it's faster than my work computer, believe it or not.

I understand the OP. There's too much negativity and I feel like I live in a parallel universe and every time someone complains about RAM for example or that the websites load slower, I'm always thinking like: "What are you talking about?"

6 years ago, when I bought my MacBook Air M1 people on reddit constantly told me that the SSD will fail due to swap etc and even on here people are obsessed with swap, but I just use my MacBook Air and haven't really noticed anything. I mostly use Pixelmator, Xcode and have made some websites here and there and sometimes I play CIV VI and on my iPad I play Tropico and CIV VI as well. I've had no issues thus far.

I honestly like the camera on iPhone 14 as well. I am not a photographer, but it's not bad. It takes way better photos than Samsung Galaxy A57, for example.

I like the features of iCloud+ and I like iCloud. I like how reliable every Apple product I've ever own has been, because once I switched to PC (It was MSI) and the specs were good for the price. I mean way better than MacBook Air's and I had issues with my PC almost immediately- It didn't boot into Windows one day. No idea what happened and then a month later the trackpad stopped working and MSI told me to wait for a BIOS upgrade and then 6 months in the hinge just broke, out of the blue. It just broke. I had a warranty and I went to the store and they didn't take it back or anything. So I had to ship it off to MSI and I had to wait for my laptop for six months! That's when I bought M1 MacBook Air, because I was in a rush and I really needed a laptop.

So far it's been fine. Nothing has broken yet and even though the battery is 77% health I still don't have to think about my battery life. I know it'll last me for hours. With my MSI laptop I constantly had to monitor my battery, even when I was doing a simple project on Visual Code.

I also love Safari, both on iOS and on a macOS and I guess I no longer focus on people criticising Apple. YouTubers etc always whine about Apple products, but nobody whines about HP, MSI etc that much.

And you know what? I feel good with my iPhone 14, because it'll receive a new iOS update. With Androids you can never be sure. I had Motorola,Sony Xperia, Huawei phones ( I don't remember which one ) and in the beginning all were great, but all of them started lagging. Even after I factory restored them those phones were lagging. Uber and other apps took noticeably long to open as well and my Motorola had 6GB of RAM, mind you and I had to close all the apps and it still lagged, so I had to restart my phone and it was still slow and yet, I've never had such issues with any iPhones (iPhone 5s, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 14). The reason why I upgraded from 12 mini to 14 was the battery + the storage because I wanted to take longer videos and 64GB wasn't enough anymore and I don't regret my decision. There are just no better products than Apple products. I even tried an Android Watch one and it was lagging and most importantly when somebody called me it rang!

I'm extremely happy with the Apple products I own and sure, I've criticised Apple as well and sometimes when someone says PCs don't last as long and break, I always bring up the PC my father built back in 2003 (and yes, it still works).

I am not saying all Android phones are bad or all Android Watches are bad or that all Windows laptops break, but with Apple products I get a sense of security.

Android phones have massive differences - even Samsung Galaxy 07 has different versions and often PCs are different as well. MSI Modern 14 had an intel version and AMD version and as far as I found out the Intel version performed worse, but had a better battery life, but it had other issues as well. You really have to do your research before you buy an Android phone or a Windows PC and you have to wait for awhile before you buy any of products. With Apple I just get a sense of security, like for example one of the other reasons I didn't buy a MacBook back then was the fact that I've heard a lot of negativity about butterfly keyboards and they also sold MacBook Air 2017 back in 2020, but it cost 1000€ over here, so the MSI just seemed the best choice based on what people were writing about it on reddit and YouTube reviewers and after I started having issues with it I found out that many other people had the same issues. With Apple products you kind of know what issues you might have. With Apple products as a whole you know what you're getting into.

Many people are complaining about iOS 26 but so far I haven't had any issues. I like that I have a sense of stability with my iPhone.
Choosing an iPhone is way better than some random Android phone, because oh my dear lord, I was mostly disappointed in Sony and I regretted not getting an iPhone 5 (which was cheaper btw).

I don't regret getting any of Apple products.
 
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There are many things, but my personal favourite is the strong security and privacy protections. Most people may think about Safari's fingerprinting prevention or the Limit App Tracking feature when talking about the topic, but Apple really put so much into their software and hardware security. People rarely appreciate this, but read their Platform Security Guide and you'll be amazed at how much thought and design were put into securing all the features, big and small, that we take for granted every day, from iMessage and Facetime to Face ID and Unlock with Apple Watch, just for a few examples. (To quote a security researcher, Apple's use of advanced cryptography is like "wizardry.")

The design of iOS also makes sure that third party apps can glean very little data from your phone. Since the very early days of iOS, apps cannot read immutable identifiers of your device like IMEI and IMSI, are strictly sandboxed, and have to follow system schedulers with regard to their background activities. On Android it's almost the opposite: apps have been mostly free (or can hijack users into granting them privileges) to read almost all those global identifiers as they wish, sandboxing is implemented patchily, and regulating their background activities is a never ending cat-and-mouse game. They had only come to plug these gaps since Android 10 in 2019, to try to have the some of the security properties that iOS was designed to have since day 1.

Supporting all these is Apple's philosophy of privacy and building secure software and hardware. Having the technical know-how to do it is one thing; actually committing to it is another. With mounting pressure from many fronts, I'm glad to see Apple showing no sign of backing down on security; I hope they never will.
 
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The hardware (of most models) is exquisite. A little wider than I'd prefer but build quality is generally great and the Air and standard models all look fantastic. Screens are generally very good, cameras are cameras.

Shame about the software.
 
I’ve been using iPhones for years, and honestly, what keeps me here is not just the hardware, it’s the entire philosophy behind the product.

The hardware and software design still feel unmatched to me. There’s a level of simplicity, elegance, and attention to detail that makes the experience feel intentional instead of chaotic. Even small things like animations, gestures, consistency across apps and devices, feel carefully thought out.

And then there’s the ecosystem. I still don’t think anyone has managed to build something that works this seamlessly across devices. Period.

Another thing I appreciate is Apple’s business model being much more privacy-oriented compared to companies whose entire revenue depends on harvesting user data. It doesn’t mean Apple is perfect, but the priorities are clearly different.

Of course, there are bumps in the road. Bugs happen. There are oversights, questionable decisions, and moments where Apple absolutely deserves criticism. But even with all that, Apple products still feel like some of the most carefully thought-out consumer products in the industry.

Recently, for work, I had to spend time using a Windows laptop again, and oh my god… I swear I lose a small piece of my soul every day using that software.
 
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AlixSPQR said:
I just use it. Set the settings I want and forget about it. When I used Android I tweaked and programmed it a lot (rooting, using custom ROM et c). Now, I couldn’t be bothered.
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Android customisation is a myth. You either spend so long doing it that it becomes a hobby so you are eternally changing things because you're never happy or the changes are skin-deep. The truth is during the old days most users wanted customisation so they could change their obnoxious 3rd party skin to something that looked more AOSP. The unspoken secret is that these users craved the homogeny of the iPhone on their Android device. They wanted the corporate look.
 
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I liked them when they were easy pocketable and easy to use one handed for communication and info on the go. Nowadays they are just big media consumption devices.
 
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MacInTO said:
Express transit because I can just tap the phone like a regular card.
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I use this every time I ride the subway in NYC. And then on a recent trip to London I didn't have to futz with or figure out any of the fare card machines -- just tapped in on my phone the same as at home.

(Trams in Edinburgh, by contrast, made me download some terrible app and be reliant on a cell connection. Seemed like a big step backwards at this point.)
 
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ignatius345 said:
As much as I dislike macOS 26, I have to agree here. On the iPhone (and on Apple TV) the design works really well IMO.
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Yeah, for the short amount of time I actually used MacOS 26 it seemed I was headed to dealing with some issues. That was on a work Mac. But I quit that job and that work Mac stayed with the company.

For my own Mac, I'm using OCLP to run Sonoma and Tahoe isn't supported. I haven't had many issues with iOS 26 on my iPhone though.
 
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Ctrlos said:
Android customisation is a myth. You either spend so long doing it that it becomes a hobby so you are eternally changing things because you're never happy or the changes are skin-deep. The truth is during the old days most users wanted customisation so they could change their obnoxious 3rd party skin to something that looked more AOSP. The unspoken secret is that these users craved the homogeny of the iPhone on their Android device. They wanted the corporate look.
Click to expand...
I'm on Android and I get so frustrated watching Android Customization videos because it's going well and then they bring up a specific app you have to use and then they lose me. I really decided that my customization was just changing the launcher to Niagara, which is the simplest launcher I can find.

I used to have Iphones and seriously considering trading in my Samsung S25 Ultra and going back to Iphone and the main reason is just the integration with CarPlay and Apple TV. I use my phone really to listen to music and podcasts and Iphone is simpler for that than Android has been.
 
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  • Warranty support via brick and mortar Apple Store locations.
  • Transferring/restoring backups from old iPhone to new iPhone seems more seamless/complete compared to Android.
  • There are a TON of options for cases and accessories.
  • Better official support/compatibility with medical devices.
  • SMS forwarding to iPads (granted, I believe this has become available on Android now, too).
P.S. This one's a big deal for me:
  • No bloatware and carrier apps pre-installed.
 
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  • Simpler and more polished experience, stable and refined software
  • I love the minimalist design of both the iPhone and iOS
  • Less time wasted tweaking settings and customising everything
  • Feels more like a design object than a technical machine
  • Strong ecosystem with other Apple devices, consistent experience across devices, everything work seamlessly together
  • Reliable updates for many years
  • Apps are usually better optimised
 
  • custom vibrations for messages and calls; I've tried going back to Android a few times, and this is one of the smallest but most impactful day to day usage thing for me (custom call vibrations are possible on Android, but not messages without significant workarounds)
  • lock-screen photo gallery switching; I love how I can pick a few people I want (kids/wife), and iOS will choose random photos of those people from 15+ years of history and randomly put them on my lock screen. I have always backed up to Google Photos, so I have the same history there, but surprisingly this is not a feature on any Android devices I've tried the past few years
You said little things, so those are the first I thought of. Those are a couple of day to day usage things that I take for granted until they're gone.
 
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The quality of third-party apps and that people care about the iPhone as a software platform.
Extensions for Apple Mobile Safari.
Apple Shortcuts with its deep system integration.
Apple Shazam with its deep system integration.
The general idea/concept of the Liquid Glass UI.
The Action button when paired with Apple Shortcuts.
The Camera Control button when paired with Halide.
The Dynamic Island.
That the Always-On Display is readable and bright enough in every lighting.
The wide variety of third-party cases and accessories.
 
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1. Face ID. It works flawlessly. Fingerprints, even the ultrasonic ones, are hit or miss.
2. OS Optimization is excellent.
3. Apple Wallet. I don't use a physical wallet, and it's been a year I haven't carried cash. As a matter of fact, I don't keep cash at all. My IDs are in my phone.
4. Spatial Audio with Airpods pro 3 work really well.
5. Mail App is a no-nonsense app.
6. Dynamic Island/Live Tracking updates are cool.
 
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