‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones / A recent survey of teens found that 87% have iPhones, and don’t plan to switch

DepthCharge , 10 months ago

I own both, a iphone X for work and a cheap Motorola G series phone (200 euro).

I prefer my Android phone, the customization, ease of use. With Android you feel more like an Admin, iphone you are just a user for overpriced stuff

greavous , 10 months ago

Probably the same teens paying stupid money for trainers that someone scribbled on with sharpie!

FangedWyvern42 , 10 months ago

I have an iPhone, but I’d probably prefer an Android just because you can install things from outside the App Store.

BubblyMango , 10 months ago

After disabling a million warnings, being constantly reminded you should not do it, and i wont be surprised if future versions will require rooting for doing so.

I have always been an android user, but honewtly, if libre android OSes didnt exist, i would have been an iphone user already.

filister , 10 months ago

With all my due respect, iOS is even worse. They don’t provide access to the file system of their phones/tablets, still refuse to open iMessage to rival OSes, they don’t even release their apps for other operating systems.

You can’t for example backup WhatsApp on Android and restore your backup on iOS.

They don’t support Bluetooth file transfer and they are/were requiring to develop their apps on macOS. Not to forget all those lawsuits they filed against Samsung and other Android manufacturers at the beginning of the smartphone revolution.

whats_a_refoogee , 10 months ago

It’s literally just one toggle? It’s been the same for over a decade.

BubblyMango , 10 months ago

The constant reminders are untoggleable.

olicvb , 10 months ago

Reminders? Like the “this app can’t install unknown apps” notice for installation? Because those only happen for if you execute through a browser or app other than the file explorer for the first time.

bi_tux , 10 months ago

A important thing, that a lot of people here seem to forget: teenagers are more likely to be influenced by fashion trends, than reason, but they aren’t stupid.

Buddahriffic , 10 months ago

I dunno, I’d call that one of the definitions of stupid. Not that they are necessarily overall stupid, but IMO being influenced by fashion trends without reasoning about it is a stupid trait (in kids or adults).

MattyXarope , 10 months ago

Please tell me that I’m not the only person who immediately thought of this when reading “droid”

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Deez , 10 months ago

I thought of this.

Gerula , 10 months ago

Because Apple did a dick move and targeted with paid influencers that segment of population because they are the most succeptible to fashion trends and easy to manipulate due to their natural tendency to buckle to peer pressure in order to integrate and feel accepted?

Digitalmigrant , 10 months ago

I have no issue with iPhones, but I’ve never owned one, and have no intention of buying one in the foreseeable future. “It just works” has never appealed to me as a marketing tactic. I want to know how things work, and have access to get in and play around with things.

AA5B , 10 months ago

There’s a spectrum of answers here.

— As a tech guy I prefer to know how stuff works and to be able to play around with them. That’s critical for my servers and automation projects

— However as a person, I want my phone to just work, and to be secure and private by default, as far as those things go in current times. I also want a company that stands behind their products, even if I never need it, I want a tool that is well built, I want to count on security updates for several years, and there is quite a bit of built-in functionality that I like

— as a parent, I want to take advantage of secure family functionality on the iPhone, I want their phones to just work and to default to secure and private, as far as that goes. I want phones to be well built and well supported, to survive a teenager. And most of all, I don’t want to have to show my kids how to use a phone I don’t have, or to help them recover from their mischief.

whats_a_refoogee , 10 months ago

After getting an iPhone for my mom, and running into multiple issues just setting up the account, including an apparently rare known UI bug*, I can’t say I am convinced by the “It just works” slogan.

I really don’t see the difference in experience for an average person buying any big brand android phone vs an iPhone.

*something about an old account re-setup not working on the phone and apparently some steps had to be done in the web interface. The phone UI was just giving an unspecified error and I had to dig deep into Google to find out wtf is wrong. A non-tech person would have no chance of solving it on their own.

HRDS_654 , 10 months ago

My beef is with Apple playing the good guy when anyone with half a brain knows they are just as bad as everyone else. Their whole ecosystem lock in without caring about anything else is what really gets me. They are literally opening up their users to potential privacy issues because they would rather force people to use an iPhone than implement basic RCS capabilities.

Squirrel , 10 months ago

In this case, it really is the children who are wrong.

EngineerGaming , 10 months ago

Gen Z here. Even if I could (somehow) afford an iPhone, I can’t imagine buying them because they’re just so locked-down… How can you use a phone you can’t even access file system on? Hell, even load apps the manufacturer doesn’t like? AND sell a kidney for this? Around me, iPhones are a minority but still prevalent, but I am living in a major, pretty wealthy city.

TORFdot0 , 10 months ago

Stock android doesn’t want you to access the file system either. And the stock file manager on iOS/iPadOS is more than enough to do any kind of reasonable file management. And their are legitimate security and data privacy/protection reasons to want to use an abstracted file manager and give apps limited access to the underlying file system.

As far as sideloading, you can do it with a developer account or you can use web apps to fill in the gaps for a big chunk of those use cases. But if you need better performance from sideloaded emulators or virtualization host or programs of those sorts which apple doesn’t allow on the App Store, you will have better luck on android.

iPhone makes a design choice to be more restrictive by default than android but it’s for good reason. If full control of your privacy is something you value then you should definitely consider running an open source ROM on an android phone but you should also consider why you are doing something and consider if it is something that is secure and if there isn’t a better workflow to accomplish the same task.

For instance, on device ad blocking. Do you really trust that ad block developer with permission to inspect network traffic on your device and potentially modify ui elements to block ads (but maybe more). Or is that something that is better left on the edge of your network on a device running pihole.

Sorry to get so wordy on you, but I always getting slightly amused when someone criticizes an iPhone for being locked down and then runs stock pixel ROM with like a couple pirated apps and a shady web blocker on it

EngineerGaming , 10 months ago

And the stock file manager on iOS/iPadOS is more than enough to do any kind of reasonable file management.

My mom was given an iPhone as a gift years ago, so I remember my reaction to this. When you connect it to a computer, you can only see the photos folder. So you can’t even drag-and-drop music there. How is this “more than enough”? Maybe something has changed, I don’t know.

But if you need better performance from sideloaded emulators or virtualization host or programs of those sorts which apple doesn’t allow on the App Store…

You just spoke in favor of not being so strict, lol. But also there are far more common cases where this can impact regular people, such as bank apps being deleted due to sanctions. I personally don’t use mobile banking, but that’s pretty important for a lot of people, isn’t it?

Do you really trust that ad block developer with permission to inspect network traffic on your device and potentially modify ui elements to block ads (but maybe more)

If its code is open to be inspected by anyone - why not?

and then runs stock pixel ROM

That’s not the only alternative. I personally don’t yet use a smartphone properly so haven’t tried, but there are options for custom, more private OSs. Also pixels are pretty expensive so not the best comparison for “common” user.

TORFdot0 , 10 months ago

You can transfer music via iTunes and it doesn’t have to be music with DRM from their store. You can rip MP3’s from any source and transfer them via iTunes. You don’t need direct file access and prevents a third party device from potentially transferring malware to it.

On device, the files app gives you access to the “on my iphone” directory (basically the users home directory) as well as app data directories, and extensions for browsing installed cloud storage. You can create directories, move and copy files, rename and change extensions, or whatever else you might need to do to the files on the device. That’s more than enough for managing files on device.

Android is better for certain workloads and use cases. I’m not advocating that anyone replace android. I’ve used both operating systems and I don’t think either are better than the other. As for banking apps, banks block root on android as well, and they ought too. In the US, by regulation, banks have to reimburse customers for fraud losses from any unauthorized transaction. And the CFPB is very liberal in their definition of unauthorized. So even if you download an app called “Definitely Malware, This app will steal your banking info”, you can get your money back when the hacker logs into your account and drains all your funds. So it’s better for banks to block devices that have root or are jailbroken. As for trusting ad blockers, unless you are downloading and building each update yourself. You are still susceptible to a supply chain attack or bad actor even by using open source. Just because it’s on GitHub doesn’t mean it’s secure. If you are putting your trust in a project just because it’s open source without verification you may as well put your trust in Apple or Google.

I’d recommend everyone look into running an open source, degoogled ROM on android. Whether that’s AOSP or GrapheneOS or something else. I’m just trying to make the argument that iPhone isn’t inferior to android and vice versa

whats_a_refoogee , 10 months ago

You don’t need direct file access and prevents a third party device from potentially transferring malware to it.

What malware lol. ClickForFreeMoney.apk? Even then, the applications are sandboxed pretty well. Even if you install “malware” it won’t be able to do much unless you also grant it permissions to access personal data.

As for trusting ad blockers, unless you are downloading and building each update yourself. You are still susceptible to a supply chain attack or bad actor even by using open source.

Most adblockers (all the good ones) don’t require frequent updates. They frequently update filter lists, which don’t execute any code and therefore can’t do anything malicious. And what you said applies to every application ever. Anyone can have their credentials stolen and used to publish a modified application.

I’m just trying to make the argument that iPhone isn’t inferior to android and vice versa

I don’t disagree, Androids and iPhones are pretty much at feature and quality parity nowadays. But it sounds like you’re starting from a conclusion and working backwards, which is not a good way to think.

AA5B , 10 months ago

When you connect it to a computer, you can only see the photos folder. So you can’t even drag-and-drop music there. How is this “more than enough”? Maybe something has changed

I don’t remember when it changed, but it was quite a few ears ago. The solution is iCloud. Your phone has iCloud files enabled, and seems to prefer it (at least for me), and your Windows laptop can be configured with iCloud, similar to how you might use OneDrive or Google Drive. Once you have it setup, you don’t have to think about it. It just works.

whats_a_refoogee , 10 months ago

That’s not access to the file system lol. That’s just apple’s cloud storage/transfer solution that requires an account and Internet. I mean you can do the exact same thing on Android with Google drive or whatever storage/sync cloud service you prefer.

HRDS_654 , 10 months ago

I really can’t agree when you say Pixel phones are expensive. Just look at the value proposition for the 7a. It is currently $444 on the Google store with all the features of the 7 except for a slightly smaller screen and just slightly worse water resistant (we’re talking literally one step down). The closest competition would probably be the Zenfone 10 in terms of value,

EngineerGaming , 10 months ago

$444 is pretty expensive for me. More than half a price of my LAPTOP. Most people I know cannot really dish out this much cash for a phone. Maybe it’s different in the West.

AA5B , 10 months ago

But if you need better performance from sideloaded emulators or virtualization host or programs of those sorts which apple doesn’t allow on the App Store, you will have better luck on android.

It seems like one of the differences is, is your phone a tool to run your life or is it your playground? Those are very different requirements that ought to be separate

My phone is a tool to run my life, so it is important to just work. Similarly, my laptop is pretty vanilla because I want it to just work, my router is out of the box because it’s critical for my network to just work, and my home automation is a default install on a physical box because it is a tool I need to just work. For playtime I have a lab network, and servers and a rPi cluster and VMs, and a bunch of old equipment I could resurrect to varying degrees. I can play all I want, without destabilizing my tools

kyub , 10 months ago

Not really relevant. The majority of teens isn’t able to make an informed decision about which is better anyway, and in fact none of the 2 is recommended anyway unless you count in AOSP-based distributions (based off of the open source Android without Google apps), then Android wins of course. But when you compare iOS vs. proprietary Android, it’s like comparing 2 different forms of diseases.

So yeah while statistics are interesting it’s important not to interpret too much into some. Like, “majority of teens dislikes Jazz music”. Well, it doesn’t really matter whether they dislike it or not. Popularity doesn’t represent quality necessarily. Sometimes, but certainly not always.

In Germany the mobile landscape is more “diverse”, I’d say closer to 40%/60% iOS/Android from my own observations. And since we “care” “more” about privacy in schools or public institutions (we still care plenty little but I guess Germany is on average at least known for being a country that does more for data protection than others, so maybe that counts as something?), it’s also probably less iOS infested, although I do know that some schools and public institutions do use iOS devices. But I don’t think everyone does.

scarabic , 10 months ago

You’re approaching this entirely as a contest of what’s the best kind of phone. Of course a survey of teens is not a great way to decide that.

However it’s incredibly important to any company whether their product is / isn’t liked by the younger generation that’s coming up right now.

Old customers die off and younger ones grow older and wealthier, so you’d better pay attention to what the youngs think, because it will inform your business.

Android enthusiasts can refute this result a million ways, but there’s no question that this headline is not great news for Android.

kyub , 10 months ago

I don’t think so. Android has been marketshare leader for a long time. Maybe iOS is massively popular in USA, but outside of USA it isn’t. Also, as long as marketshare has a sort of “critical mass” it’s fine. Look at OSX for example, it has around 20% marketshare and that number is still high enough that it can’t be ignored. So I think both are here to stay whether they have 20% or 80%.

scarabic , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

This is a US survey. It isn’t relevant to this discussion that India is 96% Android. Now you seem to be approaching this from a “who will win global market share” angle. Again, that was never the question here.

This is an ill omen for Android’s fortunes in the US. Not a dramatic death knell or anything like that. But certainly a bad sign. And whatever happens around the globe, the US is an important market. If you can’t accept that much, then you must be defending some deep biases.

P.S. And by the way it’s incorrect to say that iOS isn’t popular outside the US. Many of the worlds most developed markets, like France and Germany, are, like the US, a lot closer to 50/50. Android’s global lead is due to extreme budget phones in massive developing markets like China and India. So yes, Android has global market share, by virtue of capturing the least profitable and least influential markets in the world. Many rightly say that that is a battle not worth winning.

astropenguin5 , 10 months ago

Also I question the accuracy of this data anyways, according to the article it’s only a sample size of a little over 7k people. Also anecdotally as a current college student I have not had any exclusionary behavior towards me as an android user, and know that some of my friends also use Android but tbh it just doesn’t come up in conversation either.

AcornCarnage , 10 months ago

We’ve let Apple buy its way into our school systems. Of course kids are going to gravitate toward iPhones. Part of their schooling every day from Kindergarten is using iOS.

scarabic , 10 months ago

I don’t know what you’re talking about. My kids school is all Chromebook and I think many are these days.

AcornCarnage , 10 months ago

I’m sure it varies by state and maybe district, but around here, it’s iPads K-5, then MacBooks 6-12.

scarabic , 10 months ago

That sounds really expensive.

AcornCarnage , 10 months ago

Probably. My quick search is only turning up articles from 20 years ago when the partnership started: “The deal is worth US$37.2 million over the next four years.”

TORFdot0 , 10 months ago

Seriously there has never been so many different options for tech in schools these days.

When I was in school the computers were all original macintoshes with the school upgrading to the iMac G3’s in the early 2000. (I loved the design of those computers except that damn hockey puck)

9-12 was MS office and Windows 2000/XP though

Now the same school uses chrome books, windows 10, google workspace and classroom and the only apple products are just a cart of iPads they let kindergarten and first graders use

avater , 10 months ago

only reason I have an iphone is that the mini’s are so awesomely small. Never will return to a phone larger than 5.4!

but that’s for convenience and I never ever see a phone as a status symbol. I mean the are basically all the same and can do all the same, so why the fuzz?

thecam , 10 months ago

I think Apple marketing has a role in it. Their commercials and packaging gives the iPhone an elitist aura. Kinda like a calone, jewelry, fancy watches, fancy cars.

BellaDonna , 10 months ago

A truly lost generation

Nisciunu , 10 months ago

87% of US teens. Here in Germany I see a big mix of devices in teenagers and grown ups hands and nobody seems to care about it.

FireWire400 , 10 months ago

There are still enough people who are obnoxious about it, and most of them seem to be iPhone users interestingly

Valmond , 10 months ago

Drummed up marketing.

FireWire400 , 10 months ago

I still remember Apple’s ‘Mac vs. PC’ campaign and even then I thought it would just encourage (even more) elitism amongst Apple users…

Octane , 10 months ago

That was a hilarious campaign since it ran while Apple computers were just regular x86 IBM clones.

Nisciunu , 10 months ago

Like the vegans of smartphones

Loerdret , 10 months ago

As an iPhone user who was not obnoxious about it I’ve seen a fair share of pushy android user in school. Then again so were the Xbox vs PlayStation kids. They’ll grow out of it.

SeeJayEmm , 10 months ago

One would hope. But there are two many adults who need to pick sides.

boerbiet , 10 months ago

They also always refer to it as “my iPhone”, never “my phone”, at least all the users I have met (NL). I find this very odd.

Thorny_Thicket , 10 months ago

Yep. The popularity of iPhones in US doesn’t represent the rest of the world. iPhone users are the minority in Finland. No one is complaining about green chat bubbles because iPhone users have to use WhatsApp aswell.

eee , 10 months ago

same here, hearing about green chat hate was completely bonkers to me.

atlem , 10 months ago

It’s annoying that people have to use a Meta program.

wason , 10 months ago

Why? It’s easy to use, there’s no ads, has many features, etc.

Is it only because it’s owned by a big corp?

glockenspiel , 10 months ago

Considering they are probably on the side of iMessage, I’m going to venture a guess and say the company size has nothing to do with it.

Meta is deeply unethical, even for a giant company.

meekah , 10 months ago

Meta is not just a big corp. They are known for misusing the data they illegally gather. It’s no secret that they admitted to trying to change the results of political elections. That’s no entity I want to have my data.

whats_a_refoogee , 10 months ago

It’s because it’s owned by a personal data vacuum corp.

AA5B , 10 months ago

I did ask my teen, who said that while the bubble color is fun to tease someone about, it really doesn’t matter since they’re more likely using SnapChat or some other app, rather than texting

NPC , 10 months ago

Came here to say this. Yes, iphones are popular here in the Netherlands, but it’s way more of a 50/50 split. My guess would be that this is the case because whatsapp is far more popular here (so the whole blue checkmark thing doesn’t really exist here) and that in general, people view phones less like a status symbol than Americans do.

scarabic , 10 months ago

I see a big mix of devices in teenagers and grown ups hands

Casually observed anecdotal evidence is even more worthless than a survey.