Switching from Android to iOS Part 1: Setup and Restore

After deciding to switch from Android to an iPhone, I found the experience of setting up an iPhone for the very first time is a tediously annoying task, but frankly that would be true of a long time Android user switching to any other platform, as I found when switching to Windows Phone for the first time (and a short-lived attempt to switch to Ubuntu before the platform was ready). To an extent, the switch was made easier by the Move to iOS app that Apple has made as well as the fact that, as a Google user, the vast majority of my data was in the cloud and could sync across without hassle. The only things that didn't translate over were my apps, but I'll have to cover that later.

When setting up a new iPhone, be ready for a longer than average on-boarding process and many more notifications than you're used to. This is actually a good thing (to an extent), because Apple makes it blatant and very noticeable what it is asking for which adds to the overall setup time. Google doesn't hide its goings-on in the on-boarding process, but Apple takes the extra step to make sure you know what exactly will happen if you choose whether or not diagnostics and app analytics are sent to Apple or what will happen every time you use an app.



That's all fairly basic and shouldn't take too much time. But, then there are the notifications that you'll get from every app as you use them. To be fair, Android has also begun changing permissions policies to stop having users accept everything at the time of the app install and grant permissions on an as-needed basis, so setting up Android for the first time is becoming just as cumbersome, but every app you use on both platforms will now have to ask, as needed, if it can access your location, photos, camera, or contacts. This can be extremely tedious for a setup process.



But, as noted earlier, Apple takes this a bit further and ends up asking you for permissions multiple times. In some cases, like using your fingerprint to approve app installs, it improves security. But other times, it just means you have to say yes to the same notification in two ways, because an app (mostly games) will ask for permission to serve you notifications and after you say yes, you have to accept again from the iOS system because apps can't hook in to the system to bypass that extra step. Even so, the process of installing a new app feels more cumbersome on iOS because the screen never changes. On Android, when installing a free app, you tap to install it then tap the pop-up to accept the basic permissions it asks for. On iOS, you tap the "get" button for a free app which then changes to the "install" button, even though nothing else on the screen changes. Couple that with having to enter your password, and it gets annoying (especially if you choose the need to authenticate every app install).

Restore ease

As you might expect with Apple taking the extra step, performing a factory reset on an iPhone is surprisingly complicated. When you dig into the settings to find the right spot, tapping the "erase all content and settings" option will first prompt you to enter your passcode before proceeding. Then, you have to tap the "erase iPhone" button twice, and even after that you still have to enter your password in order to complete the reset. Security is one thing, but a four step process to reset a phone seems a bit much to me.