Other What little things do you like about the iPhone?

[conmee]

My list of dislikes has grown quite long since the iPhone 5S. But I'll remind myself of the likes/positives so as not to sidetrack this topic.

1) MagSafe. I thought this was a total gimmick when the iPhone 12 Pro came with MagSafe. But sometime during my ownership of the iPhone 14 Pro, I used MagSafe in the car (before I had CarPlay working) and was hooked. Hop in the car and wirelessly charge is great and with wireless CarPlay all the better.

2) CarPlay. I have a 2013 S550 that has two 8" color LCDs (one is the instrument cluster the other is navigation/video). It has iPod integration but not CarPlay. In 2015, I was bummed that Mercedes stopped issuing map updates for my car after only two years of updates (2014 was a new body/design for the S-Class and so Mercedes just stopped supporting my car's navigation). Anyhow, in 2022 after using my iPhone on a MagSafe mount for a few years, I bought a CarPlay module that integrated with the OEM head unit and screen. CarPlay made the car feel brand new (tech-wise) as I could navigate CarPlay with the COMAND controller in the center console and had up to date maps and all my music and Sirius available all on screen just like a brand new car. I was so stoked by this. While my car also supports SiriusXM directly on the head unit via satellite, I now listen to SiriusXM via iPhone App/CarPlay and the SiriusXM audio quality is 100X better via cellular vs. satellite (due to bandwidth).

3) FaceID. This one turned from "neutral/I miss TouchID" to a positive. It's so convenient and consistent. I still would like some sort of TouchID for the rare times I don't/can't look directly at the phone, but overall FaceID is a huge win.

4) Apple Wallet/Apple Pay. I started using this quite a lot in the past year. Having AAA, Car Insurance, Health Insurance cards, etc has been convenient, but being able to buy groceries, pay for gas, etc, with Apple Pay has been great. I have a small Ekster MagSafe card holder for my ID and a couple cards that I snap to the back of my iPhone in lieu of a full wallet just in case a place doesn't take Apple Pay.

5) Dynamic Island/Live Activities. I still think this is a band-aid on the bigger problem, but as long as we are going to have a cutout, I really have gotten used to seeing sports scores, calls, app info in the DI. I also like the Live Activities on the lock screen and CarPlay. Didn't start out giving these two much thought, but now that I've got used to them and use them, I'd rather not lose them in the future.

6) Spatial Scenes. I like the occasional gimmick as much as the next person. I really wish there was a way to save Spatial Scenes in Photos and share with my wife. The number of photos of family pets has at least doubled due to Spatial Scenes. lol

 

[Tsepz]

• 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.

💯 agreed. Not enough is said about accessories support like cases, the moment a new iPhone arrives you have a plethora of cases, screen protectors, holders etc… that are adjusted for it.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

As someone that carried an iPhone and Android phone for over a decade ....

The little things I've notice better about iPhone:

1) Reliable notifications. No matter what battery, sleep, background, or app settings I disable or enable. Leave your Android phone unattended for x amount of time, and you just might miss some notifications. Android devices might manage notifications better UI wise, but iPhone always delivers notifications in a timely manner.

2) Apple Pay. It's just better in every way vs Google or Samsung pay. There was a time when Samsung Pay was better, but now it's just a shell of what it used to be.

3) AOD (Always On Display). When Apple implemented this into the iPhone, it made AOD on Android devices look subpar. Using the lockscreen for AOD was a genius move.

4) Video Shooting. On every single Android phone that I've had, and I'm talking flagships from multiple brands. Shooting video at 2K or higher produces random micro stutters. I tried changing output codec, bitrate, and etc. I can only get a perfectly smooth shoot if I set it to 1080. On the iPhone, this has never been a problem. iPhone always shoots 2K and 4K video smooth as butter.

5) Stand-by mode (aka Nightstand). Didn't know I would end up liking this so much. Has been very useful at just glancing at the time and current weather while I'm in my bed.

6) Live Voicemail and Call Recording. This has been VERY useful.

7) Alarm 😂 . Yes, I said Alarm. With the alarm sound set to Radar, it's been the only alarm (out of three) guaranteed to wake me up.

 

[eyoungren]

7) Alarm 😂 . Yes, I said Alarm. With the alarm sound set to Radar, it's been the only alarm (out of three) guaranteed to wake me up.

When I first started using my phone for alarms there was one morning where I woke up early, forgot to turn it off and got in the shower. It went off and woke my wife up. She was not happy. Especially, because she couldn't figure out how to shut my alarm off easily. I was informed that if my alarm ever woke her up again there would be words (from her to me).

In time I found a particular sound that woke me up, but in the initial start would not wake her up. That came from the SPB Time app (called Bells). I figured out a way to get that sound out and since 2009 it has been and remains my primary alarm sound. I only use Radar (or Red Alert) for temporary alarms where its critical that I must wake up. And in that case, I'll also set one or two backup alarms.

The only other thing that will make me instantly awake no matter what state of sleep I am in is my dad's voice angrily calling my name. Never recorded that though…

 

[conmee]

When I first started using my phone for alarms there was one morning where I woke up early, forgot to turn it off and got in the shower. It went off and woke my wife up. She was not happy. Especially, because she couldn't figure out how to shut my alarm off easily. I was informed that if my alarm ever woke her up again there would be words (from her to me).

In time I found a particular sound that woke me up, but in the initial start would not wake her up. That came from the SPB Time app (called Bells). I figured out a way to get that sound out and since 2009 it has been and remains my primary alarm sound. I only use Radar (or Red Alert) for temporary alarms where its critical that I must wake up. And in that case, I'll also set one or two backup alarms.

The only other thing that will make me instantly awake no matter what state of sleep I am in is my dad's voice angrily calling my name. Never recorded that though…

I’ve been using Crickets for a wake up alarm for 15 years now. And the old-timey digital ringtone (Hillside I think it’s called) for phone calls. I use more modern tones for other alarms and texts these days… but I used the intro music to Archer for a while. Coworkers thought it was neat the first few times in 2010… eventually went back to Hillside. lol

 

[NUFC2025]

Just a few examples.

1 - iOS 26 Liquid Glass. I like it many don’t.

2 - New iPhone 17e coming back from pixel land as I found it extremely buggy. The screen is much better for my eyes but can’t put any reason on why.

3 - The Jornal app, i am a massive user of journaling but the apple one is ten times better than the google version. It’s so much better it has saved me a subscription to some other app

4 - My MagSafe apple wallet.

5 - AirPods as hearing aids which are invaluable to me.

6 - Big bump in storage from 128 to 256 as standard.

7 - Apple Pay.

8 - Backups to iCloud are much better when you come to restore. I did restore my pixel not so long ago and none of the attachments in RCS messages came back.

9 - Face ID.

10 - Live activities-very inconsistent on Android.

11 - Standby mode for my bedside clock.

 

[Parowdy]

- The flashlight. Apple just dropped a new flashlight feature when they released the iPhone 15 with which you can adjust the light cone even on older 14 Pro‘s. Super useful feature and actually innovative, haven’t seen that on another phone myself.
- Face ID isn’t a small thing but something no one has yet been able to copy. Google tried, failed, and retreated. It’s so, sooo much better than Touch ID on average. Using Siri while the phone is locked and just having to look at it with full/dirty/wet hands has been a game changer.
- Improved build quality. People might argue against this but in my experience with all my iPhone my current 15 Pro is the first to feel proper. The screen, the frame, but most notably, the buttons. My previous 11 Pro has so loose buttons it made me worry about the water resistance. Not so with this phone. Still feel the way they did when I got it (second hand).
- Shortcuts. The reason above all I can never switch to Android. I’ve build so many features for myself, especially with automations, I whole heartedly love it. Sure it’s often buggy and clanky, but generally it and they work great and nothing I’ve seen anywhere in Android or Windows land comes close, especially in terms of user friendliness.
- adjustable Grey Scale color filter.
I think current screens are waaay to oversaturated and the lowest setting for the grey scale color filter fixes this easily. Unfortunately the same setting yields different results on Mac, so I can’t use it there (the lowest setting is still more than on iPhone)

 

[AppleForeverandEver]

It is the whole Apple ecosystem. How well my iPhone, iMac and MacBook Air work together. I really appreciate the convenience!

 

[MarkX]

- The flashlight. Apple just dropped a new flashlight feature when they released the iPhone 15 with which you can adjust the light cone even on older 14 Pro‘s. Super useful feature and actually innovative, haven’t seen that on another phone myself.
- Face ID isn’t a small thing but something no one has yet been able to copy. Google tried, failed, and retreated. It’s so, sooo much better than Touch ID on average. Using Siri while the phone is locked and just having to look at it with full/dirty/wet hands has been a game changer.
- Improved build quality. People might argue against this but in my experience with all my iPhone my current 15 Pro is the first to feel proper. The screen, the frame, but most notably, the buttons. My previous 11 Pro has so loose buttons it made me worry about the water resistance. Not so with this phone. Still feel the way they did when I got it (second hand).
- Shortcuts. The reason above all I can never switch to Android. I’ve build so many features for myself, especially with automations, I whole heartedly love it. Sure it’s often buggy and clanky, but generally it and they work great and nothing I’ve seen anywhere in Android or Windows land comes close, especially in terms of user friendliness.
- adjustable Grey Scale color filter.
I think current screens are waaay to oversaturated and the lowest setting for the grey scale color filter fixes this easily. Unfortunately the same setting yields different results on Mac, so I can’t use it there (the lowest setting is still more than on iPhone)

Googles implementation of 3d face unlock was as good if not better than Face ID imo, simply for the fact there was no swipe needed to get to your home screen. They didn't fail they just ditched the technology for a myriad of reasons. Huawei and Honor continue to use their equivalent of Face ID in there top end models and it's equally as good, it's just not a technology widely used in the Android world, I wish it was though.