When I temporarily switched from an iPhone to an Android phone last week, I was preparing for a world of hurt. I’ve only owned Apple phones since I bought a first-generation iPhone in 2007. And, like many, I’ve bought other Apple products that pair well, including AirPods, Apple Watch and iPad.
That kind of loyalty is the basis of an antitrust case against Apple brought by the Justice Department, which accused the company of using monopolistic control over the iPhone to hurt competitors and deter customers from switching to other phones. To test that theory, I decided to part ways with my iPhone for a while.
I was surprised at first how easy it was to transfer my iPhone data to an Android smartphone made by Google. By simply installing a app on my iPhone made by Google to help people migrate, I was able to copy my contacts list, photo album and calendar to my Google account. Then, presto — all that data is out on Android.
I’m almost done. After I called my carrier, Verizon, to transfer my phone number to the Android device, my mission was complete: I became an Android convert.
At first, I was happy with my choice — I upgraded to a fancy Google Pixel phone. But by Day Six, I was ready to go back.
A bunch of annoyances added. Although I can still use most of my Apple products, I’ve started to lose my Apple Watch, which requires an iPhone to fully function. For software, I found Android alternatives for all my favorite apps — except Notes. While switching phones isn’t technically difficult, Apple’s hooks are still with me.
How Apple keeps customers loyal to the iPhone — and whether its practices hurt competition — is at the heart of the government’s antitrust suit against the Cupertino giant.
Apple and the Justice Department declined to comment.
In its 88-page complaint, the department said many Apple products protect the company’s competitive advantage over the iPhone, including iMessage, Apple’s Wallet app and the Apple Watch. How hard are those perks really to get rid of your iPhone? Here is what I found.
iMessage is missing
For the most part, iPhone users and Android users can easily communicate with each other through email, phone calls and apps like Slack, but when it comes to text messaging, there’s still clear split known as the “green bubble versus blue bubble” variation.
When iPhone users send texts to other iPhones, the messages appear blue and can tap into exclusive perks like a birthday confetti animation. But if an iPhone user texts an Android user, the bubble will turn green, many features will break, and photos and videos will degrade in quality.
Before transferring my phone number to the Pixel phone, I used my iPhone to send iMessages to my friends with blue bubbles warning them that our conversations were about to turn green. “Ew!” replied a friend. But after many remarks made in jest, no one protested, and I went on.
Next, I need to delete my phone number from iMessage on Apple’s website to ensure that my text messages stop going to Apple’s servers and arrive on my phone. Unless I did this, I couldn’t receive texts from other iPhones. Eventually, the talks turned green. I braced myself for embarrassment.
But no one gave me a hard time or singled me out. I noticed, however, that many friends suddenly stopped texting me pictures, probably because they knew the pictures would no longer be pretty.
For years, some of my closest friends texted me only through Signal, the third-party messaging app with strong privacy protections and many of the same features as iMessage. Signal is also available on Android, keeping that tradition alive.
Apple announced that later this year, it will improve texts between iPhone and Android users by adopting rich communication services, a standard that Google and others have incorporated into their apps. in messaging a few years ago. Texts sent between iPhones and Androids will remain green, but photos and videos will be of higher quality.
Apple Wallet is missing
For iPhones, the go-to app for making mobile payments in stores is Apple Wallet, and for Android users, the equivalent app is Google Wallet. The experience of using each wallet app is the same: I load my credit cards and Clipper card for the Bay Area’s rapid transit service.
The Justice Department’s criticism of Apple Wallet centers on how Apple only gives its app access to the iPhone’s payment chip, preventing competing wallet services from using that chip to make payments. But the way Apple designed its Wallet app had no effect on my ability to switch to an Android.
Apple Watch and other products are missing
For an iPhone owner, a major incentive to buy more Apple products is that they work seamlessly together. A Mac laptop, for example, uses many of the same apps for messaging, note-taking and reminders as an iPhone, and data is synchronized across devices with Apple’s iCloud. In theory, the more invested you are in Apple’s ecosystem — and the more Apple prevents its products from working with competing devices, the Justice Department says — the harder it is to switch from an iPhone.
After I switched to an Android phone, my feelings about using other Apple products ranged from mild annoyance to extreme frustration:
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The iPad worked independently from the iPhone, but I could no longer see my text messages on the tablet. This is minor because I don’t text much on my iPad.
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My AirPods Pro are OK — they connect quickly to the Pixel for playing music. But the downside is that AirPods use Adaptive EQ, a technology that matches sound quality to the shape of your ear, and it only works with iPhone software. So it doesn’t sound good.
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I can’t use my Android phone to find my AirTags, the little Apple trackers I use to find my wallet and keys, on a map. But when my AirTags were in my pocket, the Android phone displayed an alert that an “unknown tracker” was moving with me, a safety feature for combating stalkers.
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The Apple Watch requires an iPhone to set up, but its fitness tracking can work independently. Since I have my watch set up, I can continue to use it at the gym with my Android phone. But I can no longer see my detailed workout data.
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I experienced other annoyances not specifically called out in the lawsuit and finally reached peak frustration when I tried to find a replacement for Apple’s Notes, which I regularly use on my Mac, iPad and phone for work and personal affairs. I’ve used alternatives but I don’t like them, and combined with the aforementioned issues, it’s just too much.
The outcome: The transition was easy, until it wasn’t
My experience is not universal. Some people care more than others about how certain Apple products will change if they switch phones. Younger people are likely to worry about the lack of iMessage in schools, where a green bubble is known to be an invitation for ridicule and exclusion, according to education experts. Parents who use AirTags to track their kids will view losing access to those as a deal breaker.
The result from this experiment is that although it is not technically difficult to switch to another phone, there are many things that you may regret.
