While users’ opinions are divided on which mobile operating system is the best, there isn’t a simple winner or loser, and to a large extent, it depends on personal preferences. But choice is one thing, while reality is another.
While the iPhone has its loyal fan base for robust software support and strong integration with Macs, Android is more functional overall, as it allows you to do more in the simplest ways.
The difference becomes obvious when you switch from Android to the iPhone or use the latter as a secondary mobile device. Regardless of your opinion about Android, you won’t be able to ignore how it edges out the iPhone in many areas.
Android has numerous features that you won’t find on the iPhone, and some are so good that they sound mythical to Apple users.
Here are seven Android features that sound too good to be true if you’re on an iPhone.
7
Swipe from either side of the screen to go back
If you’ve never used an iPhone before and are planning to make the switch from Android, be prepared for what might feel like a downgrade in many ways. The ability to swipe from both sides of the screen is one of them.
Android users are used to swiping from both sides of the screen to go back. This is the right thing to do, as it makes navigation equal for both right-handed and left-handed people.
However, Apple doesn’t look at it that way for some reason. Instead, the Cupertino tech firm wants users to only swipe from left to go back to the previous page.
It can be handy for left-handed users, but for everyone else, it’s inconvenient to use your right hand to swipe from the left, especially when you use the phone with one hand.
The back gesture feels even poorer when you find out that it doesn’t work the same way everywhere.
Swipe from the left takes you to the previous screen on some pages but not on others, even within the same app. On Android, the back gesture is largely system-wide and predictable.
6
Desktop mode
Not every Android skin allows users to use their phone as a desktop by connecting it to monitors via a USB cable, but OEMs like Samsung highlight the Desktop mode as one of the major advantages of using One UI.
Several other popular brands, such as Xiaomi, Motorola, and Oppo, allow users to connect their phones to a monitor and enjoy PC-like functionality on the screen.
However, Samsung’s solution, DeX, feels far superior to others.
Credit also goes to other Android OEMs for following Samsung’s DeX and bringing a desktop mode to their users. On the other hand, Apple has never tried it.
Perhaps this is intentional on Apple’s part, as the company has a healthy computer and tablet business. If that’s indeed the rationale, don’t expect Apple to change course and introduce a Desktop mode on the iPhone.
5
Split-screen multitasking
Switching to an iPhone will feel like a downgrade if you’re used to multitasking features on Android, and even the 6.9-inch “Pro Max” model won’t fix this. No matter how premium or big your iPhone is, you can run two apps simultaneously.
Apple has reserved it as exclusive to iPadOS and macOS, and we haven’t seen any signs of a change of strategy yet.
However, the ability to run two apps on top of each other is something Android users have been enjoying for years.
Some Android skins even take the multitasking experience to the next level by allowing users to create app pairs.
For example, Motorola’s Hello UI lets you create a shortcut to open two specific apps simultaneously in split-screen view.
Only Apple knows if it wants to introduce support for split-screen on iPhone devices.
If not regular models, it makes sense to introduce the functionality in foldable models, if at all, it’s a thing Apple is seriously considering.
4
Notification history
Notification history is one of the hidden gems on Android, as it eliminates the risk of you missing something really important.
With Notification history enabled on your Android phone, you have the luxury of dismissing all your notifications at a given time and not facing the consequences.
This is possible because it keeps a record of all the notifications you receive for 24 hours. It also has a dedicated section for all the notifications you dismissed in the last 24 hours.
This means you’ll have to visit the Notification history page in your Android settings at least once in the given timeframe.
iOS does show a notification history in the Notification Center, but those notifications disappear after you clear or interact with them. What’s gone is gone forever.
3
Separate volume controls
The hardware volume button on your Android phone is far more useful than what iPhone owners have on their handsets.
If you press the hardware volume button on Android, it’ll open sliders for controlling the sound of media, calls, notifications, and alarms separately.
Some Android skins, like the Hello UI, even allow users to set different volumes for different apps using the physical volume button.
However, iOS doesn’t offer this level of control to iPhone users. The hardware volume button on the iPhone controls only the media volume.
To change the alert volume (calls, texts, notifications, alarms, and other things), you’ll visit your iPhone Settings.
2
Dual apps
Unlike Android, iOS doesn’t have a native dual apps feature, so iPhone owners can’t run two instances of the same app with different accounts.
To manage a second account, the only way is to rely on third-party solutions like Dual Space or use the web version of apps to manage a second account on an iPhone.
Even with those third-party solutions, the app cloning on the iPhone is nowhere near as seamless as the one found on Android.
On Android, it’s not easy to clone an app, but it’s simple to delete the clone, and more importantly, it doesn’t have to rely on a specific app.
1
Clipboard history
Clipboard history is another feature that iOS doesn’t support natively and requires a third-party solution to work.
Keyboard apps like Google’s Gboard and SwifKey have a clipboard manager on iOS, but their functionality is limited. None of these apps can track everything you copied in a particular session.
If you use any of these keyboard apps, you’ll have to tell those apps to remember a particular copied text for reuse later.
Apple cites security as the reason for this limitation, whereas on Android, all you have to do is enable the feature from your keyboard app.
These features don’t define Android
Android has a lot to offer, and allowing users to do things that are not possible on an iPhone is just one part. Its true strength lies in its divergence from the iOS in a key area: openness.
Android allows OEMs to come out with their own versions of Google’s mobile operating system, allowing them to provide more features than what Mountain View tech offers on its Pixel devices.
While Android’s flexibility can sometimes go against both Google and users, it facilitates the arrival of new features much quicker than Apple’s OS.
To a large extent, the open nature also allows Google and its OEM partners to quickly adopt new iPhone features — at least ones that create enough hype — and bring them to Android. However, we can’t say the same about the iPhone.
History shows that features that Android users may have taken for granted have taken Apple a long time to introduce to its OS, or even worse, they never made it to iPhone devices at all.
It isn’t too hard to believe if you have been carrying both Android and the iPhone long enough.
