Phones Families with both Apple and Android?

[LotsOfBands]

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.

Wrong!!!

 

[michael9891]

Wrong!!!

While WhatsApp uses end to end encryption, they're still owned by Facebook and there's plenty of articles around questioning whether they could access your messages.

 

[vladi]

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

Google Photos was never free, it just crippled your photos by downscaling them. But there are another two issues with Google Photos, it's unreliable i personally know few instances when it went boink and deleted recent uploads by people i work with. Second is advanced data harvesting, GP is basically the eyes of Google now not only they know your location and time but now they know who you with, how it all looked like when you were there, what you had for lunch etc. Super advanced meta tagging is goin on behind google photos.

The best advice i can give you is to skip one phone upgrade and get Synology NAS with two 8tb hard drives and store all the photos yourself however and whenever you want.

 

[hallux]

but now they know who you with,

Not me. I never tagged people in my photos on GP and I don't recall seeing tagging suggestions (not that I have many photos of actual people there anyway).

I'm planning on moving off GP soon anyway. As soon as Synology releases DSM 7 I plan on moving to their photos app, which will then sync to my NAS to store photos I take with my phone. DSM 7 seems to be over a year in the making though.

Synology’s new Photos app goes live ahead of a big DiskStation Manager v7.0 redesign

Active Insight and Secure SignIn are also up on the Play Store

www.androidpolice.com

 

[saber32au]

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.

Spot on. Same setup as my partner and I; she has an Android phone, I’ve got an iPhone, but we use WhatsApp to communicate. No issues. WhatsApp is very popular in Europe (and in many other parts of the world), so not using iMessage to communicate is a non-issue.

 

[blueglide]

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.

Everyone says they are secure. Only until they are caught!

 

[AustinIllini]

Google Photos was never free, it just crippled your photos by downscaling them. But there are another two issues with Google Photos, it's unreliable i personally know few instances when it went boink and deleted recent uploads by people i work with. Second is advanced data harvesting, GP is basically the eyes of Google now not only they know your location and time but now they know who you with, how it all looked like when you were there, what you had for lunch etc. Super advanced meta tagging is goin on behind google photos.

The best advice i can give you is to skip one phone upgrade and get Synology NAS with two 8tb hard drives and store all the photos yourself however and whenever you want.

Not worth buying Synology to get a worse phone OS

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I think like every family there are people who use either iOS or Android. It’s not a problem really for me as since the pandemic we all use WhatsApp to message on group chats, sharing different types of media. All my immediate family use iOS like my wife and each set of parents. There is always a way to stay in touch though relatively trouble free.

 

[Marshall73]

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

Bi-OS would be better.

 

[ian87w]

While WhatsApp uses end to end encryption, they're still owned by Facebook and there's plenty of articles around questioning whether they could access your messages.

Whatsapp cloud backups to Google Drive is completely unencrypted, so there's that.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

WhatsApp can access my messages if they want, it’s all just swearing, rude jokes and talking about people we don’t like at work

 

[hallux]

to get a worse (IMO) phone OS

Fixed that for you. That's a personal opinion, each OS has positives and negatives for each person. Let's not turn this into iOS vs. Android though, this IS the forum related to the alternatives to iOS!

I've said it before - my family has no trouble staying in touch. My brother (on iOS) even started a group chat with my sister and I (both on Android). He also did a group chat with the 3 of us and my mother (mother is also on Android but may move to iOS), though for some reason my participation in that chat was delayed by a few hours.

No special apps needed. If someone wants to know that we're planning a gift for our parents, or planning a Zoom call with everyone they can snoop all they want. We'll save the tin foil for others...

 

[ian87w]

WhatsApp can access my messages if they want, it’s all just swearing, rude jokes and talking about people we don’t like at work

Facebook doesn’t care about your individual messages (that’s why they are not concerned with the encryption). What Facebook afters is your contact list, and all their primary phone numbers (most people use their primary number as a WhatsApp number). Just with that, they can already create some kind of mapping and profiling, coupled with their own data on Facebook and Instagram. This is a boon in emerging markets where a lot of the population don’t really use email, but have their phone number connected to a plethora of services like e-wallet and banking.

 

[TPadden]

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

Just get whatever new phone you want ... and then give him whatever old phone you don't want.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Facebook doesn’t care about your individual messages (that’s why they are not concerned with the encryption). What Facebook afters is your contact list, and all their primary phone numbers (most people use their primary number as a WhatsApp number). Just with that, they can already create some kind of mapping and profiling, coupled with their own data on Facebook and Instagram. This is a boon in emerging markets where a lot of the population don’t really use email, but have their phone number connected to a plethora of services like e-wallet and banking.

That’s the age we live in right now. As long as you have a smartphone in your pocket you are being tracked to some degree. I try not to get overly paranoid about it though.

 

[spinedoc77]

My entire family, both in my household and extended family, use Apple devices. I'm the only black sheep with a Fold 2. I really hated going back to Android, the privacy issues were my biggest qualm, but until Apple has a foldable phone I'm stuck. 2nd biggest issue is iMessage, if you aren't on Apple you run into all sorts of issues, and Android is a nightmare because it massively compresses any picture/video you send to an Apple recipient to MMS. It also sucks because I have no way to control/monitor my kids screentime, I'll probably end up getting a cheapie iPhone just for that.

 

[spinedoc77]

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

It's a huge issue mainly in the way pictures/videos are sent, which is compressed into the decades old MMS format. Sure everyone can be on the same messaging app such as Whatsapp, but 1) I'm concerned about privacy and more importantly 2) Will I really be successful in switching dozens of family members, friends, acquaintances to a 3rd party messaging system just for one person?

 

[hallux]

Android is a nightmare because it massively compresses any picture/video you send to an Apple recipient to MMS

That's a limitation of the SMS/MMS protocol, not really Android's issue. RCS aims to resolve that issue, if only carriers and manufacturers get on board...

 

[spinedoc77]

That's a limitation of the SMS/MMS protocol, not really Android's issue. RCS aims to resolve that issue, if only carriers and manufacturers get on board...

RCS only works Android to Android, it does no good whatsoever between iOS and Android. That limitation isn't Android's fault, it's more the fault of Apple who keeps iMessages in their walled garden to keep more users on its hardware. But with that said RCS for Android to Android certainly hasn't been the best rollout either.

 

[hallux]

it does no good whatsoever between iOS and Android

And that's Apple's fault for not implementing the protocol.

But with that said RCS for Android to Android certainly hasn't been the best rollout either.

I won't argue this. It took WEEKS to get my phone registered for it when I made the switch to Messages from Hangouts for my texting, and I'm on Google Fi (which is why I was still on Hangouts). Funnily enough, I noticed it finally verified my number and had Chat features available when I went to migrate from my Pixel 2xl to my Pixel 4a 5G.

 

[AustinIllini]

Fixed that for you. That's a personal opinion, each OS has positives and negatives for each person. Let's not turn this into iOS vs. Android though, this IS the forum related to the alternatives to iOS!

I've said it before - my family has no trouble staying in touch. My brother (on iOS) even started a group chat with my sister and I (both on Android). He also did a group chat with the 3 of us and my mother (mother is also on Android but may move to iOS), though for some reason my participation in that chat was delayed by a few hours.

No special apps needed. If someone wants to know that we're planning a gift for our parents, or planning a Zoom call with everyone they can snoop all they want. We'll save the tin foil for others...

Problem is, you can't buy a high end Android device that isn't a bloated mess. Samsung software is just awful and Google's Pixel effort isn't cutting it anymore.

 

[russell_314]

It's a huge issue mainly in the way pictures/videos are sent, which is compressed into the decades old MMS format. Sure everyone can be on the same messaging app such as Whatsapp, but 1) I'm concerned about privacy and more importantly 2) Will I really be successful in switching dozens of family members, friends, acquaintances to a 3rd party messaging system just for one person?

Wait you're concerned about privacy but the message is going to a Google (Android) phone... Privacy is gone once that message hits the phone. As to quality most photos sent in a text are silly unimportant ones that a at best will be viewed on a 8" screen. If you have a bunch of photos from an event or maybe an important photo don't use text.

#2 is the main reason why those apps aren't more popular. Not only do you have to get them to use the app but you also have to get whatever user name they have. I think Facebook is the closest to getting large scale adoption so they have messenger but I'm not sure how photos are handled.


I just never felt the need to get them to use a special messaging app or a limitation with communicating with any of my Android friends. I have several that I text on a daily basis and never found myself sitting on my couch thinking "I wish that photo wasn't sent using the outdated MMS format". I get the photo or text and reply back.

 

[ian87w]

RCS only works Android to Android, it does no good whatsoever between iOS and Android. That limitation isn't Android's fault, it's more the fault of Apple who keeps iMessages in their walled garden to keep more users on its hardware. But with that said RCS for Android to Android certainly hasn't been the best rollout either.

It's not just Android to Android per se, but RCS depends on the messaging app, and the carrier support. So not only you need to convince the other person to use Google Messages as their default SMS app, you need to check if their carriers even support it universally (instead of just within the same carrier). It's a headache. Imo Apple did it right by taking it completely first party. When one buys an iPhone, one can know iMessage works on it. When one buys an Android phone, one has to guess whether RCS support is possible.

The only fault Apple did was not making iMessage client for non iOS platforms. Apple wants the iMessage experience to be just like SMS, with no new thing to learn. "It just works." Maybe they should make their own SMS app with iMessage support for Android.

 

[ian87w]

It's a huge issue mainly in the way pictures/videos are sent, which is compressed into the decades old MMS format. Sure everyone can be on the same messaging app such as Whatsapp, but 1) I'm concerned about privacy and more importantly 2) Will I really be successful in switching dozens of family members, friends, acquaintances to a 3rd party messaging system just for one person?

Whatsapp is no different. It still resize photos into low res crap. It's better than MMS, but it thinks we still live in the early 2000's with 2MP cameras. One way around it is to use Google Photos and simply send the link to people. It's not the most user friendly/straight forward, and it doesn't solve how others keep sending their pictures via the low-res resized crap in whatsapp.

It's funny whenever I see people bragging about their super duper phone camera, then send the photos via whatsapp...

 

[MarkX]

Whatsapp is no different. It still resize photos into low res crap. It's better than MMS, but it thinks we still live in the early 2000's with 2MP cameras. One way around it is to use Google Photos and simply send the link to people. It's not the most user friendly/straight forward, and it doesn't solve how others keep sending their pictures via the low-res resized crap in whatsapp.

It's funny whenever I see people bragging about their super duper phone camera, then send the photos via whatsapp...

You can send full size images in WhatsApp by clicking the paperclip and adding the picture as a document. It's straight forward but that doesn't stop you receiving pics compressed if the aforementioned process isn't used.