Apple's dictatorship program (the app store) is horrific. I strongly believe if you buy a device, you should own that device and be in control of what you put on that device. The fact Apple will not let you put anything on your phone they don't approve of really troubles me. I worry for the future if more companies take this approach.
Android is slightly better, since you can install alternative app stores, or apps from websites.
Being able to side load apps, including entire app stores, is much more than "slightly better".
I have been an Apple user for 34 years and was a huge advocate for Apple in the 2000s. However, when it was clear that Apple was going to tightly control the software you could run on your iPhone, I knew it couldn't be the computer I wanted in my pocket. I've been a Mac/Android user for the last 10 years. Despite the neglect of the Mac during this time, I've had a difficult time quitting it.
It will come to Android, just slowly due to the whole update story, ask Android developers how happy they are with SDK/NDK API validation, background execution, storage access,...
> I worry for the future if more companies take this approach.
That future is here. All macOS desktop apps must be signed with an $99 developer certificate from Apple. All Windows apps must be signed with a $300-ish developer certificate otherwise Windows scare away 99% of users from running the installer. I can't comment for Linux but I see snapcraft.io is getting some pretty big usage numbers...
I really can't put what I want on my Android phone. I briefly read I need to 'unlock' my bootloader using some procedure which implies getting approval from Xiaomi and/or doing a factory reset of my phone which means losing everything. Seems designed to be as inconvenient as possible.
Where does your 99% number come from in "Windows scare away 99% of users from running the installer"?
From what I've seen, on the contrary most non-tech users simply click on "accept the risk" every single time there's one of those "scary" screens. They just do, just like they bypass HTTPS warnings in browsers. After all, most informed users us included do the same, maybe after a 5-10s pause in front of the screen to read the company name.
The number of people "scared away" seems way less than 50%, and I'd imagine it is probably around or even less than 15%.
>I really can't put what I want on my Android phone.
To be fair, that is only valid at face value. Yes, you yourself might not be able to do that technically, but it is quite easy and flat out possible compared to an iPhone.
Not on many (most?) Android phones. Samsung, Motorola, and LG devices still require many hoops to jump through if it's possible at all. Not all manufacturers are as open to rooting as OnePlus.
> Can't you just uncheck an option in the settings?
> The significant difference to iOS is that you can tell your user what to do to get the app running anyway. No such (reasonably expectable) way on iOS.
Even these aren't "reasonably expectable" for most users. Those hoops and warnings will scare away a lot of people that technically could have ran the app.
> I strongly believe if you buy a device, you should own that device and be in control of what you put on that device.
Then don't buy Apple?
The fact is that it costs money to develop and maintain the OS on the phone, and that money has to come from somewhere. Apple pays for this maintenance by charging a tax on app developers that use their ecosystem; Google pays for it by spying on you.
Right now, we can both choose: You can buy a phone that pays for the software by spying on you, I can buy a phone that pays for the software by charging a toll for applications.
You haven't explicitly advocated using monopoly sanctions to make Apple's business model illegal, but lots of people have. If those efforts are successful, that will remove my choice to pay more for no spying.
Apple spies too. Their core business model just isn't based on selling that data. Apple knows every single app you've installed on your phone, the version, the time you installed it, every update you've ever had, how often you check for updates, the apps you removed, and probably much more. You MUST login to an Apple account to have an anyway usable iPhone.
Android, if you don't login to Google, and use a more ethical app store, get's much less data.
Obvious disclaimer: The entire of iOS, and parts of Android factory builds are closed source (e.g. the bootloaders), so we can't really know for sure what more they collect.
I think it's fine that Apple controls its own store. However, then consumers should be able to use a different store. Controlling the single store with an iron fist will soon lead to an antitrust, I hope.
It's the only way. Companies will not choose ethical options of their own accord. The only language they speak is money. If people are willing to spend the money they will keep doing what sells. If we stop "renting" hardware from these companies, they will either go broke of have to change.
Android is slightly better, since you can install alternative app stores, or apps from websites.