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Macs and Android phones.

B

bo-waleed

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 15, 2009
609
21
Hello, After looking for this:

Continuity features and requirements for Apple devices - Apple Support

Continuity features make it seamless to move between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro devices that meet the system requirements.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

I want these futures to work on android:

Universal Clipboard: This one is interesting, Is there a way to do it on Android ?
AirDrop: I could use a cable to transfer files but there may be a faster way ?
Continuity Camera: Scan documents looks interesting too.
Handoff: for Safari only, I want a website on my android phone to appear on my Mac as fast as I can. And vise-verse.

So anybody here have an Android phone and have alternate ways for these futures to work ?

This question was originally posted here: (But it was on iPhone forums,So I may got answers here)
forums.macrumors.com

Android phones + Mac Vs iPhone + Mac, Which one is the better combination ?

Maybe you should ask here, you might get more help: https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/alternatives-to-ios.157/
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
I take it you mean that you want these features to work between an Android phone and a Mac computer, correct?

If so, then the majority of limitations are down to the closed ecosystem of Apple. These things only work between iPhone and Mac so seamlessly because Apple controls the hardware and software with ferocity. The moment you start to bring other platforms into the mix, Apple doesn’t like it and it falls apart.

If you are wanting to do these things between an Android phone and a Windows computer, on the other hand, there are substitutes for all of these things. And some things will still work between Android and Mac, it just won’t be anywhere near as seamless as with an iOS device.

Off the top of my head, Airdrop is solved by Send Anywhere. Universal Clipboard already works between Windows and Samsung phones (and some other Android phones) via the Your Phone integration in Windows. Not sure about Mac.

For handing off webpages, Microsoft Edge has a “Continue on PC“ feature that may work with a Mac with Edge installed as well, but I’m not sure. Nevertheless, Chrome is probably your friend here as the synced history between devices is pretty seamless.
 
One of the reasons I switched back to iPhone after using an android phone. It’s just better to have everything in one ecosystem than a mixture
 
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Windows laptops are so far behind that we need Samsung to do what they do best (copy Apple) to make the Windows laptops actually worth considering.

I use Windows for work so am forced to buy Windows laptops but would otherwise have the new M1 and beyond Mac's

The new Samsung Pro 360 laptops seem to be slowly advancing but they still need a 4k screen and a better chip (similar to the M1) to give double the real life battery life and double the power. Here's hoping Samsung's new Exynos chip will be a M1 equivalent for laptops. We may then be able to have a similar android eco system albeit a Samsung eco system.

The only reason I have not fully moved to the Apple ecosystem is the prehistoric IOS. I also find iMessage so annoying. I don't want my private messages, notes, email etc sent from one device to be shown on all my Apple devices. Other people have access to my Apple account or other Apple devices.
 
This might help for Airdrop.


I just stick to SMB for cross platform compatibility on Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, MacOS, etc. Plus, a lot of the Google services have continuity like Google Drive/Docs, Voice, Maps, etc.
 
Edge on all devices, so Favorites, Collections will be there. History should too. No need to send or continue unless you want to.

My iCloud photos - which I upload stuff from a Galaxy phone are about the only reason I still use Apple.
 
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bo-waleed said:
Hello, After looking for this:

Continuity features and requirements for Apple devices - Apple Support

Continuity features make it seamless to move between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro devices that meet the system requirements.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

I want these futures to work on android:

Universal Clipboard: This one is interesting, Is there a way to do it on Android ?
AirDrop: I could use a cable to transfer files but there may be a faster way ?
Continuity Camera: Scan documents looks interesting too.
Handoff: for Safari only, I want a website on my android phone to appear on my Mac as fast as I can. And vise-verse.

So anybody here have an Android phone and have alternate ways for these futures to work ?

This question was originally posted here: (But it was on iPhone forums,So I may got answers here)
forums.macrumors.com

Android phones + Mac Vs iPhone + Mac, Which one is the better combination ?

Maybe you should ask here, you might get more help: https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/alternatives-to-ios.157/
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
I think the only ones possible are AirDrop alternative, ie. using 3rd party solutions like Send Anywhere. Obviously none of them will be seamless as they will require a 3rd party app and/or website, but that's the closes thing.

Not possible for Handoff since safari is not available for Android. However, the alternative is simply to use multi-platform browsers like Chrome/Edge/Brave/Firefox on the mac and use the same browser on the phone, and you can sync bookmarks and web history between the browser on the mac and on the phone. I use Edge personally. Obviously, not as seamless as Handoff.
 
For airdrop, there is a program called snapdrop. For internet across platforms Edge is awesome.
 
Me personally I don't have any issues mixing ecosystems and I'm someone with cognitive issues and a very mild intellectual disability. I use cross platform cloud apps such as Spark for email, Microsoft One Note for notes, Google Chrome, Google Photos, and Samsung DeX to move files back and forth. It's not as seamless as staying in Apple's ecosystem or as privacy driven but I love products from all companies.
 
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Hello,

maybe you can help me fix a couple issues, first I'd like to sync my iCloud phonebook onto an Android phone, in this instance a Xiaomi phone, second I'd like also to import playlists from iTunes, is there any app which can do this or do I have to manually export the whole phonebook onto GoogleDrive then import it into the Google ecosystem? I tried and it did work but when I last used the Android phone it was all gone but, weird, I had to make a phone call to a recipient I have on my iPhone phonebook but not on the Xiaomi and when I made the call the recipient's name appeared on the phone...

Any hint?

Grazie
 
Giuanniello said:
Hello,

maybe you can help me fix a couple issues, first I'd like to sync my iCloud phonebook onto an Android phone, in this instance a Xiaomi phone, second I'd like also to import playlists from iTunes, is there any app which can do this or do I have to manually export the whole phonebook onto GoogleDrive then import it into the Google ecosystem? I tried and it did work but when I last used the Android phone it was all gone but, weird, I had to make a phone call to a recipient I have on my iPhone phonebook but not on the Xiaomi and when I made the call the recipient's name appeared on the phone...

Any hint?

Grazie
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don't know how to solve your problem. But off topic, are you still posting your photos? You posted some great ones last year if my memory is correct.
 
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Giuanniello said:
Hello,

maybe you can help me fix a couple issues, first I'd like to sync my iCloud phonebook onto an Android phone, in this instance a Xiaomi phone, second I'd like also to import playlists from iTunes, is there any app which can do this or do I have to manually export the whole phonebook onto GoogleDrive then import it into the Google ecosystem? I tried and it did work but when I last used the Android phone it was all gone but, weird, I had to make a phone call to a recipient I have on my iPhone phonebook but not on the Xiaomi and when I made the call the recipient's name appeared on the phone...

Any hint?

Grazie
Click to expand...
For iCloud contacts, best solution is to not use iCloud for your contacts. Simply export them to Google. and then use Google to sync your contacts on Macs, iOS devices, and Android. I use Google for my contacts and it works great between my iPhone and Android phones.
1. Export iCloud contacts to vcf https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/export-contact-information-mmfba748b2/icloud
2. Import them to your Google account https://support.google.com/contacts/answer/1069522

Can't comment on iTunes playlist as I use Youtube Music.
 
ian87w said:
For iCloud contacts, best solution is to not use iCloud for your contacts. Simply export them to Google. and then use Google to sync your contacts on Macs, iOS devices, and Android. I use Google for my contacts and it works great between my iPhone and Android phones.
1. Export iCloud contacts to vcf https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/export-contact-information-mmfba748b2/icloud
2. Import them to your Google account https://support.google.com/contacts/answer/1069522

Can't comment on iTunes playlist as I use Youtube Music.
Click to expand...
Done the import as suggested, thanks so much for taking the time to suggest the links

Grazie
 
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