Phones Families with both Apple and Android?

[Gjwilly]

Any families out there using both iPhone and Android?
I’m considering an Android for my son because of the larger screens available and the oh-so-important (to him anyway) headphone jack.
Also the extra storage which seems to be double the iPhones, on average, and the SD card support.
My wife and I both use iPhones so my worries are losing the ability to use Find my iPhone, and iMessage on his phone.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I believe there are a lot of bi-racial families on the forums.

I have converted most of my immediate family to iPhone. My sister in law is from the other side of the tracks and refuses to come towards the light.

 

[AustinIllini]

We used to. The fact that Google Photos isn't free anymore makes me pretty much no longer interested in Android.

 

[kuroe]

My wife and I both use iPhones so my worries are losing the ability to use Find my iPhone, and iMessage on his phone.

Find my iPhone has equivalents on Android. Google has an offering, as does Samsung. Not sure about other manufacturers.

iMessage though, there's no iMessage on Android. You'll have to either use regular text messaging, or use another messaging app like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc.

If you'd prefer to have your family stay fully in the iOS ecosystem, why not get an iPhone + lightning to 3.5mm headphone adapter/dongle?

 

[michael9891]

I believe there are a lot of bi-racial families on the forums.

I have converted most of my immediate family to iPhone. My sister in law is from the other side of the tracks and refuses to come towards the light.

Bi-racial is a weird way to describe people who use different phone OS.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Bi-racial is a weird way to describe people who use different phone OS.

I was making a light-hearted joke. Good grief.

 

[Bro KV]

Find my iPhone has equivalents on Android. Google has an offering, as does Samsung. Not sure about other manufacturers.

iMessage though, there's no iMessage on Android. You'll have to either use regular text messaging, or use another messaging app like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc.

If you'd prefer to have your family stay fully in the iOS ecosystem, why not get an iPhone + lightning to 3.5mm headphone adapter/dongle?

Google Messages has RCS, although not everyone uses it and of course it doesn’t work with iMessages. Samsung Messages has RCS but it wasn’t support by Verizon on my Samsung.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Signal is the best for privacy and security and works across iPhone and Android. If you use WhatsApp or some of the other social media focused messaging, you aren’t safe or secure.

 

[michael9891]

I was making a light-heart joke. Good grief.

Still weird.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Still weird.

The Op described a mixed family of tech. In one way or another, we all come from mixed families and it isn’t that big a deal tech wise or otherwise.

I made a correlation that was obvious. I shouldn’t have had to draw a map to the light-hearted joke. Lighten up.

 

[ratdog07067]

I have an Android phone and an iPad, my son (11 years old) has an iPad and my wife is all in on the Apple ecosystem. The messaging part isn't a big deal (we got my son a Facebook kids messenger account) but monitoring his account from my phone is not possible. This is total first world problem stuff, but if he requests screen time, or wants to buy an app and needs me to approve it I can't do it from my phone. Other than that it's not a big deal.

 

[valinda]

Just get him an iPhone, when he can afford his own phone, then he can buy an Android.

 

[Fille84]

Signal is the best for privacy and security and works across iPhone and Android. If you use WhatsApp or some of the other social media focused messaging, you aren’t safe or secure.

No whataspp it's some dangerous ****...

 

[Apple_Robert]

No whataspp it's some dangerous ****...

I think we are in the minority on MR (people who don’t use WhatsApp and other social media messaging apps).

 

[hallux]

I think we are in the minority on MR (people who don’t use WhatsApp and other social media messaging apps).

I have Whatsapp on my phone, the last messaging I did with it was... March 12 this year, because I wanted to send a message to someone over airplane WiFi and that's the only messaging I had that they said would be free (the message didn't go through until I landed at home and got on cellular so fail there). The next message prior to that was 3 years ago.

I don't use FB Messenger on my phone or tablet, I only do that from a browser on my computer.

My cross-platform messaging app of choice for family (of phones the adults use - 3 iPhones, 4 Android) is Hangouts, and we'll be riding that until the day the servers shut down (if ever).

As for Google's RCS - I thought I caught a headline recently that a recent beta of Messages had end-to-end encryption possible (obviously the clients at both ends need to support it).

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have Whatsapp on my phone, the last messaging I did with it was... March 12 this year, because I wanted to send a message to someone over airplane WiFi and that's the only messaging I had that they said would be free (the message didn't go through until I landed at home and got on cellular so fail there). The next message prior to that was 3 years ago.

I don't use FB Messenger on my phone or tablet, I only do that from a browser on my computer.

My cross-platform messaging app of choice for family (of phones the adults use - 3 iPhones, 4 Android) is Hangouts, and we'll be riding that until the day the servers shut down (if ever).

As for Google's RCS - I thought I caught a headline recently that a recent beta of Messages had end-to-end encryption possible (obviously the clients at both ends need to support it).

Google Messages End-to-End Encryption Guide: How It Works on Android

Google's new E2EE feature, which is apparently available already for Google Messages on Android for beta testing. Here's how it works.

www.techtimes.com

If you like cross platform, take a look at Signal. It has encrypted text and video and has the best privacy policy I have seen outside of Apple.

 

[Steven-iphone]

Bi-racial is a weird way to describe people who use different phone OS.

Maybe Bi-Radical

 

[Steven-iphone]

Get him the Android. He and you can use the standard messaging service - not too hard. It won't be integrated with your Apple eco-system - IMO not an issue.

I message my brother and his wife, both have IPhones; I have Android (Google Pixel). It is not an issue.

Android uses Find My Device.

 

[russell_314]

Any families out there using both iPhone and Android?
I’m considering an Android for my son because of the larger screens available and the oh-so-important (to him anyway) headphone jack.
Also the extra storage which seems to be double the iPhones, on average, and the SD card support.
My wife and I both use iPhones so my worries are losing the ability to use Find my iPhone, and iMessage on his phone.

The headphone jack is going to be history soon. The most popular brand of android phones, Samsung no longer has it on their flagship phones. As to screen size unless you’re getting a folding phone it’s not going to be much larger than the 12 Pro Max. I think the Note 20 Ultra is 6.9” vs 6.7” so maybe that 0.2” is a thing?

To be honest it sounds like he wants an Android phone because he wants Android or maybe just to be different and there’s nothing wrong with that


I don’t see why people get hung up with iMessage vs text message because what’s the difference between a green bubble and a blue bubble. Sure there are more features with iMessage but in the end the person received a message. I don’t have people in my household with Android phones but I have good friends that I text on a daily basis with Android phones. I’ve had family members switch back from iOS to Android and back to iOS again. I don’t think there was any big communication barrier because of them not having an iPhone. I’ll admit there’s some weird thing with those blue bubbles that makes it seem better. Maybe I like the ability to tell if the person is typing a reply right away but that’s only a minor thing. If you find that bothering you there are many messaging apps that do the things iMessage does.

Good luck with the phone purchase and let us know how it works

 

[yui4]

Signal is the best for privacy and security and works across iPhone and Android. If you use WhatsApp or some of the other social media focused messaging, you aren’t safe or secure.

Really? I was always led to believe WhatsApp messages are encrypted end to end.

I know of some dubious characters who conduct their, cough, “Business” via WhatsApp for that very reason.

I should add I don’t know them personally of course, lol

 

[snipr125]

Really? I was always led to believe WhatsApp messages are encrypted end to end.

I know of some dubious characters who conduct their, cough, “Business” via WhatsApp for that very reason.

I should add I don’t know them personally of course, lol

Yes i thought whatsapp was secure with encrypted end to end chat also. I need to use it as my wife prefers android phones and uses a galaxy s20 plus and had the S10 and original Pixel before that. My parents all use android and my brother and his family. Im the only Apple person, so kinda the odd one out lol. I got nothing against Android phones though, just prefer Apple devices for the seamless eco system and simplicity.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Really? I was always led to believe WhatsApp messages are encrypted end to end.

I know of some dubious characters who conduct their, cough, “Business” via WhatsApp for that very reason.

I should add I don’t know them personally of course, lol

I don’t use WhatsApp because FaceBook is behind it. And as most of us here know, Facebook cannot and should not be trusted in any way, shape or form. FB scrapes every bit of data from the app and anywhere else it can find information about you, and then uses that data folder to sell to the highest bidder. This puts people at higher risk for identity theft, scams, burglary, and other headaches. WhatsApp has tracker whereas Signal does not. WhatsApp stores user information and chats on their servers (if need be) longer than 30 days. It also stores photos and other personal information used on the platform for further use and there is no mention of deletion in their privacy policy. Encryption can be turned off on WhatsApp. Don’t be fooled. All WhatsApp is is another data mining tool for Facebook under the guise of privacy, which is a joke when it comes to Facebook. It is in that context, i said WhatsApps is not safe or secure.

 

[Geoff777]

My family's been Apple for ages but I recently dropped iPhone (after the 8's battery gave up and touch screen started going odd) and bought a Huawei P40 Pro, solely because of the Leica camera, which is stunning (and knocks the stuffing out of the latest iPhone 12 a family member recently bought).
However, the Huawei part of the phone (i.e. most of it) is a long way behind Apple, but that's another story.
I am additionally "hampered' by not having access to google stuff.

In a nutshell, we still manage to co-exist by using third party apps instead of built-in stuff.
We use Telegram for chats, video calls, audio calls and it's great. Far better than WhatsApp, which, being part of facebook, is a no-no because of the lack of privacy and data-mining.
Messages from my phone reach all iPhones, no sweat.
My wife uses Instagram (or maybe Snapchat???) to keep tabs on where other family members are.....

So, in short, having a mixed iOS and Android family doesn't have any negative effects whatsoever. So far!

 

[Shanghaichica]

I have Whatsapp on my phone, the last messaging I did with it was... March 12 this year, because I wanted to send a message to someone over airplane WiFi and that's the only messaging I had that they said would be free (the message didn't go through until I landed at home and got on cellular so fail there). The next message prior to that was 3 years ago.

I don't use FB Messenger on my phone or tablet, I only do that from a browser on my computer.

My cross-platform messaging app of choice for family (of phones the adults use - 3 iPhones, 4 Android) is Hangouts, and we'll be riding that until the day the servers shut down (if ever).

As for Google's RCS - I thought I caught a headline recently that a recent beta of Messages had end-to-end encryption possible (obviously the clients at both ends need to support it).

I still use hangouts. I’ll also be using it until it’s dying breath. However I use WhatsApp all the time. I’ve been using it since 2010. I started with it on the iPhone 4, carried on using it when I switched to android and then continued using it again when I switched back to the iPhone in 2014. It’s really popular here in the U.K., even amongst iPhone users. I rarely use iMessage.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The headphone jack is going to be history soon. The most popular brand of android phones, Samsung no longer has it on their flagship phones. As to screen size unless you’re getting a folding phone it’s not going to be much larger than the 12 Pro Max. I think the Note 20 Ultra is 6.9” vs 6.7” so maybe that 0.2” is a thing?

To be honest it sounds like he wants an Android phone because he wants Android or maybe just to be different and there’s nothing wrong with that


I don’t see why people get hung up with iMessage vs text message because what’s the difference between a green bubble and a blue bubble. Sure there are more features with iMessage but in the end the person received a message. I don’t have people in my household with Android phones but I have good friends that I text on a daily basis with Android phones. I’ve had family members switch back from iOS to Android and back to iOS again. I don’t think there was any big communication barrier because of them not having an iPhone. I’ll admit there’s some weird thing with those blue bubbles that makes it seem better. Maybe I like the ability to tell if the person is typing a reply right away but that’s only a minor thing. If you find that bothering you there are many messaging apps that do the things iMessage does.

Good luck with the phone purchase and let us know how it works

Completely agree. My husband uses a Samsung phone. We just use what’sapp. There are no barriers. We still send each other messages and media.