I never thought I'd see the day: Android looks better than iOS

[Iwavvns]

Oh heck, Its only the skin-deep homescreen we're talking about here.

iOS on the whole is better designed than Android with a much better design language when you delve into it.

But Apple's attempts to copy Material You have so far not been great.

My point was that I don’t care about aesthetic quality. I can wrap up a pile of dog poo in the most beautiful wrapping paper and bow you’ve ever seen, but that wrapping paper and bow doesn’t change what’s on the inside. Outward appearance means nothing, it’s what’s on the inside that counts and holds true for everything in life.. including operating systems.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I carry both iPhone and Samsung. I pretty much use my favorite wallpapers on both, and the icons pretty much look the same on both platforms.

Yes, the possibilities customizing the homescreen on Android is endless and has the potential to be the most amazing thing you ever seen. But I'm not into deep customization anymore and stay close to default. IMO, the default Pixel homescreen looks better than iOS or Samsung.

I think Apple should (and most likely will) tweak the tint and dark icon settings. For myself, when it comes to homescreens, Android still has the edge simply because they allow opacity setting on widgets, which I like to make them transparent.

 

[Ctrlos]

After having played with the iOS 18 hues for about a week I still cannot find one that looks any good. Pure black and white would be good if they got rid of that bloody black gradient on the icon backgrounds. I’d also like a light option for the hues as well.

 

[StellarVixen]

Are Android phones now using e-ink displays or something? What’s that monochrome nonsense?

 

[krspkbl]

After having played with the iOS 18 hues for about a week I still cannot find one that looks any good. Pure black and white would be good if they got rid of that bloody black gradient on the icon backgrounds. I’d also like a light option for the hues as well.

Same, I just can't find a tint that looks good. Lots of apps icons are washed out and have poor contrast. It's actually physically uncomfortable to use my phone with the tints.

Are Android phones now using e-ink displays or something? What’s that monochrome nonsense?

Of course not and that's tinting done properly. It's just a theme someone is using on their android ?

 

[mjschabow]

I carry both iPhone and Samsung. I pretty much use my favorite wallpapers on both, and the icons pretty much look the same on both platforms.

Yes, the possibilities customizing the homescreen on Android is endless and has the potential to be the most amazing thing you ever seen. But I'm not into deep customization anymore and stay close to default. IMO, the default Pixel homescreen looks better than iOS or Samsung.

I think Apple should (and most likely will) tweak the tint and dark icon settings. For myself, when it comes to homescreens, Android still has the edge simply because they allow opacity setting on widgets, which I like to make them transparent.

That is definitely something I would like to see on iOS and is long overdue.

 

[ResolutionNZ]

I've filed a request asking for the ability to use dark mode UI without dark icons. I suggest people follow the feedback form with the same request. I use dark mode to reduce battery usage (OLED screen models only) but prefer the standard icons as I use dark mode all day.

 

[scorpio vega]

android still looks like a cheap mess and it is a terrible Os.

If you were talking about htc design style maybe. There’s a reason why android Oems are trying to copy iOS look with their UI

 

[one more]

Update: I was just helping a friend to set up her brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 and can reconfirm my previous comment - the app icons and other UI elements still look very basic compared to their iOS counterparts.

 

[one more]

I've filed a request asking for the ability to use dark mode UI without dark icons. I suggest people follow the feedback form with the same request. I use dark mode to reduce battery usage (OLED screen models only) but prefer the standard icons as I use dark mode all day.

You can already turn on the dark mode and ask for the app icons to stay bright (vs automatic) in Home Screen customise.

 

[HouseLannister]

You can already turn on the dark mode and ask for the app icons to stay bright (vs automatic) in Home Screen customise.

And yet they still show dark in spotlight search.

 

[redbeard331]

Lets get the accusations out of the way first: I've used Android alongside iOS since the G1. I more than bought into Google's ideas during the launch of Lollipop and my most recent handset was a Pixel 8 Pro.

My main phone however has been an iPhone for years. I admire the customisation options in Android but always preferred the more, shall we say 'professional' look of iOS. Or at least I used to.

Apple seem to have just kind of fudged in the iOS18 theming options without giving it much thought. The Dark icons are one thing but if you apply a hue across the board it still ends up looking illegible. At the same time the dark icons have an annoying gradient to them rather than appearing as proper black. Given Google has been offering system-level theming for 2 years now I would have thought apeing it would have been easier. I feel we are at a point now where Google are starting to look a lot nicer from a graphic design point of view

Which do you prefer?

View attachment 2397781View attachment 2397782

This has been the case for a long long time, but those examples aren’t good, especially for the iPhone. With Android the options are pretty limitless, you can make an iPhone look good but it’s a pita to get it looking right with all the shortcuts stuff. So thankful for Widgy to give us so many awesome widgets we wouldn’t have otherwise.

The biggest advantages Android has that I wish Apple would cave on is allowing widgets to be fully transparent, along with removal of the dock. The giant opaque blobs behind Apples widgets looks so dated and clumsy imo. Also smaller widgets as well, icon sized widgets and 2 x 2 widgets would be nice, you can sort of do that in the new control center now where you can make widgets almost any size up to a point. With Android you can change the size and the shape of icons as well, we can just now change the size and get rid of icon labels but it’s a non starter cause it forces you to use jitterbug™️ mode.
We can change icons but it’s a hassle and we lose long touch options and badges, just give us an icon picker already like so many apps have!

The statusbar on Androids is much more useful and customizable as well, would be nice to have some options after 18 years now of the same exact thing. They could also let us change the color like the icon tinting to match it up to themes or a wallpaper. I’m sure there’s more I missed, but those things would be a good start. Oh, and now that we can finally move icons anywhere on the grid, move that grid lower so the bottom row isn’t almost in the MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN! That’s a terrible look unfortunately.

 

[Ctrlos]

This has been the case for a long long time, but those examples aren’t good, especially for the iPhone. With Android the options are pretty limitless, you can make an iPhone look good but it’s a pita to get it looking right with all the shortcuts stuff. So thankful for Widgy to give us so many awesome widgets we wouldn’t have otherwise.

The biggest advantages Android has that I wish Apple would cave on is allowing widgets to be fully transparent, along with removal of the dock. The giant opaque blobs behind Apples widgets looks so dated and clumsy imo. Also smaller widgets as well, icon sized widgets and 2 x 2 widgets would be nice, you can sort of do that in the new control center now where you can make widgets almost any size up to a point. With Android you can change the size and the shape of icons as well, we can just now change the size and get rid of icon labels but it’s a non starter cause it forces you to use jitterbug™️ mode.
We can change icons but it’s a hassle and we lose long touch options and badges, just give us an icon picker already like so many apps have!

The statusbar on Androids is much more useful and customizable as well, would be nice to have some options after 18 years now of the same exact thing. They could also let us change the color like the icon tinting to match it up to themes or a wallpaper. I’m sure there’s more I missed, but those things would be a good start. Oh, and now that we can finally move icons anywhere on the grid, move that grid lower so the bottom row isn’t almost in the MIDDLE OF THE SCREEN! That’s a terrible look unfortunately.

I do wonder if the control centre centres foreshadow the addition of 2x1 widgets?