In my opinion: Android used to be a 7/10, iOS at 3/10, now after Google’s announcement, its a 4/10.

For now at least, Google still allows Torrent clients and Firefox with extensions (like uBlock Origin), and this has been the case for the past decade. Google only requires a $25 one time fee for a developer account, Apple requires a recurring $99 per year payment. So Android is still better even with the restriction in mind.

Just pay $25, download apks from anywhere, sign the apps yourself. Supposedly they aren’t checking the contents (I mean, they have like tons of malware on Google Play and they never check those either, I doubt they are inspecting every single app), so just don’t distribute the apps to anyone other than yourself or some trusted friends and that’ll probably keep it under Google’s radar.

I’m currently planning on getting a Moto G 5G 2024 (about $140 right now on discount) for Lineage OS (CalyxOS was also supported, but they recently paused development so I’ll have to wait for that to be resolved). I was also considering a Pixel for Graphene, but its too expensive, and I don’t wanna deal with used market because a lot of then are ambiguous about if its a carrier variant and I just am too depressed to deal with the headache of that.

Even after 2027, Android will still be slightly better than iOS (in my opinion). Android still would (probably) have torrent apps, Firefox uBlock Origin (I can’t guarantee they won’t change it in 2028 or something). And iOS also seems to alway kill apps in the background from my experience, I could never get an app to synching data in the background, but Android is less aggressive with killing apps. Like I literally tried to plug in a USB flash drive and they said I had to install the Sandisk app then I have to keep the app on the foreground to finish transfer, but Android is doesn’t even need any apps, and transfers work in the background. Also, I don’t think iPhones have multitasking with 2 apps on at the same time yet.

It’s only worth it if you can get a custom ROM friendly phone. Otherwise, no. Stock ROMs are approaching Apple’s levels of lockdown. With Apple you can at least get software updates for longer. And more games if you play on mobile.

There’s a reason everyone and their sister are ditching Google apps/products.

If you buy a device right now, you get an immediate benefit, that lasts at least for the lifetime of the device. There is no change yet, and you’ll always be able to just not update to newer versions of Android that restrict sideloading. In case of Fairphone, that device is likely to last a long time.

There is no real risk in buying a phone right now. Only once infrastructure changes that drops previous wireless network technology (i.e. 5g), and the new wireless communication technology is not supported by your phone’s hardware anymore, is when you’ll run into problems. Or when apps require a newer version of Android, but likely you’ll be able to spoof that by rooting your phone and installing certain software.

I just put lineageOS on my oneplus 6. When you install it you have the option of leaving out the google specific apps, which I did. I’ve been a long time android user but am wanting to degoogle to reduce my surveillance capitalism exposure. Without the google “play store” if feels a little like when I moved from windows to linux, what if I don’t have enough apps? So far banking apps are a no go (can’t download the apks directly), otherwise I mostly use FDroid apps anyway rather than play store. Feels good to ditch google.

I have an eye on mobile nixos. I have a second oneplus 6 that needs a new usb port so may try fixing that one and seeing how it goes.

Yes it’s 100% worth it.

Lots of Free Open Source apps on the F-droid store etc.

And you can patch adds out of apps.

If it becomes a walled garden, it will still be less of a walled garden than IOS

From my understanding if you have an apple ecosystem at home and just want everything to sync with each other and work flawlessly, apples the shit.

Otherwise, android is nice and Fairphone is a environmental banger

Yes, i went from iPhone to Oneplus 6 with LineageOS and never looked back. Now im on Oneplus 9 pro stil with LineageOS

No.

There’s no comparison between the two.

iOS - you can do only what Apple says you can do.

Android - whatever you want, mostly. And so many devs working on it outside of Google, it’s only a matter of time before Google’s restrictions are undone.

Keep in mind, people outside Google have worked on it for 15 years now. There’s a lot of non-Google expertise.

But… Whether it’s worth it is up to you. I use an iPhone for work, because they manage it so I can’t do anything beyond what they permit, even if it’s an Android. I need to make calls and use the tools the company provides. So iPhone. It’s simple, it “just works”.

But for personal, I do a lot of stuff that simply isn’t possible on iOS.

I use both at the same time.

Yes.

Right now, with lack of major alternatives, it’s the smaller of the two evils.

And if the pushback I see is proportional to the real pushback, I’d imagine Google will take a step back, giving people more time to prepare.

And in line of getting prepared, if the AOSP project is forked, I’d imagine they could and possibly even would be mainteined while the original AOSP goes downhill. Similarly, if making the software is the problem, iirc there are rudimentary ways to make Android programs without Google’s SDK, of which people could start working on more attently too.

So all in all, unless alternatives get a sudden major boost, I think Android is the safest bet for users that care for freedom.

(And a side note, people should look also for devices that don’t have the bootloader locked from factory)

I don’t know where are you located, but check nothing phones too.

I would never have said this before in all my years but, yes. No reason to switch to Android anymore. They’re effectively the same thing at this point.