The fight of what is better if Android or iOS is as old as the sun itself. And you will never have a clear answer. It is a matter of taste and preferences. In addition, what matters most to us takes precedence.
If you like open operating systems where everything is common and compatible facilities and platforms, Android is your ideal OS. If you like well-closed operating systems with Applications own and where everything is optimized, there your choice should be iOS.
Apple has become strong with some very specific features on its iPhone, and Google has done the same with its Android operating system (compatible with any manufacturer that wants to use it on its new smartphone).
But both systems are much more alike than we might imagine. For various reasons, but the main one is that both companies copy each other with every new feature, app or tool that has potential or that users like. Let’s see how many times Android was inspired by iOS.
1º Granular permissions and privacy points
We start the list with a few privacy and security issues, a section in which iOS has always led the way. Starting with privacy dots, these indicators let you know if an app or service is actively accessing your microphone or camera.
The points will remain in the status bar as long as the app uses these sensors. Apple released them in iOS 14 in 2020. Google followed suit with the release of Android 12 in 2021.
iOS users also got coarse/fine location and one-time use permissions first. With the first option, you can give an app an approximation of where you are instead of revealing your exact coordinates.
It’s ideal for local news and weather apps, as they don’t need to know your exact position to provide relevant data. This feature was released in iOS 14 and Google copied it and included it in Android 12.
2nd native screen recording
Android operating system first supported third-party screen recording apps before iOS. During the early days of the operating system, these apps typically required root access, making it possible only for advanced users.
Over time, users were able to achieve the same results without root, but relying on Android’s built-in media casting API.
However, when it comes to official implementations, Apple included its own version with the release of iOS 11 in 2017. Google didn’t add this feature to the Android operating system until 2020, with the debut of Android 11.
3º Notifications in the apps
Notification badges, which display a small dot on an app icon indicating the number of unread notifications an app has sent, have been on iOS for more than a decade.
Although some versions of Android have supported it for a long time, Google didn’t officially introduce it into its operating system until 2017, with the release of Android 8.
4th blue light filter
Lastly, Apple introduced a blue light filter as part of iOS 9.3 in 2016. Google didn’t include this feature in Android until version 8 released in 2017. The feature adds a yellow/orange tint to the screen, making it slightly duller and easier on the eyes.
It is ideal for those who use their phone before bed or use their smartphone when there is no ambient light. Although there is no concrete evidence that it has positive effects on the quality of sleep, many people use it as if it were something very important for their rest.
The mechanism for gesture navigation has been around for years. However, iOS was the first to implement it at the system level with the release of the iPhone X in 2017.. Although it is true that some versions of Android offered their own navigation by gestures before Apple. However, this list focuses on official implementations.
Through the navigation bar at the bottom, users of the iPhone X and newer iPhone models with Face ID can swipe horizontally to switch between open apps. Android users did not have official support for gesture navigation until Android 9 in 2018.