Apple’s iOS 17 vs Android: How Much Did Apple Copy From Android?

Apple's iOS 17 vs Android: How Much Did Apple Copy From Android?

Apple announced iOS 17, and what caught my attention is that they copied most of the new features straight from Android. This reminds me of what they did with iOS 16. Android also copies Apple in many ways, but today it’s Apple’s turn. So without further ado, let’s jump in.

Lock Screen: A Copy of Android’s Features

Let’s start with the lock screen. iOS 17 will allow users to change the lock screen shortcuts, which is a feature we got with Android 12 last year, and One UI has had it for even a longer time.

The number of options is limited with no support for third-party apps, while in iOS 17, they mentioned that third-party apps are supported, like Snapchat, for example. This is similar to what you currently get with One UI. So, that’s it when it comes to the lock screen.

Home Screen: Freedom of Customization

Now let’s make it a little bit more exciting and move to the home screen. Finally, with iOS 17, you can place all your icons wherever you want, which is something you can do on Android since forever.

That will give you the freedom to organize your apps and widgets in a way that allows you to enjoy your wallpaper instead of having it completely covered. They also copied Android’s dark icons, widgets, and folders when you activate dark mode.

With Android, we got Material You theming, which gives you the option to change the classic app icons into themed icons. Then, it changes their colors to either match your wallpaper or pick one of the available color options. iOS 17 now offers the same exact functionality for your home screen.

On Android, the color palette you choose will be applied throughout the whole OS, including your keyboard, quick settings, and apps. While Apple didn’t mention if it offers the same, so let’s wait and see when iOS 17 gets released.

Control Center: Android’s Quick Settings, But Fancier

Moving to the control center, that’s basically Android’s Quick Settings but looks fancier. With iOS 17, now you have two extra sections for media controls and home devices.

Android gives you the same controls on the same page instead of being separated under multiple tabs, which will require extra steps to reach certain controls when compared to Android. But I will keep my final verdict until I try it myself.

The other things they copied are the power button at the top right corner, which we have at the bottom right corner on Android. The ability to add new controls and reorder them in line without the need to go to settings, which is the best decision they have ever made.

Lastly, the ability to add third-party app controls or tiles, which has always been the case with Android. The only new thing they did here is the ability to resize your controls, which is not possible on Android or previous versions of iOS.

Lock an App: A Feature Android Already Has

Next, let’s talk about locking an app. This is the ability to lock specific apps, and opening them requires biometric authentication. Plus, any info or notifications related to this app won’t appear anywhere else.

A lot of Android phone manufacturers offer the same functionality under different names, like Samsung’s Secure Folder. Google will release the same functionality with Android 14, calling it Private Space.

The only difference here is on iOS 17, you can lock the same app that you are currently using, while Android’s implementation creates a separate copy of this app before securing it. I prefer iOS 17’s implementation, as it’s simpler to use. They also added the ability to just hide apps in a separate hidden folder under your library now.

Apple Messages: New Features from Google Messages

Let’s talk about messages. With the previous versions of iOS, Tapback was only limited to a certain number of options, but with iOS 17, now you can use any emoji, which is the same thing you can do with Google Messages for a while.

They also copied the ability to schedule sending your messages. Moving to the Mail app with iOS 17, your emails will be automatically organized under different categories to make your inbox clutter-free, which is the same feature we get with the Gmail app, and they named the categories exactly the same.

But Apple took it a step further by creating a digest view that pulls together all relevant emails for easier interaction, with the ability to recategorize your messages manually if needed, which is missing from Gmail.

Apple Intelligence: AI Features to Rival Android

Moving to AI, with iOS 17, Apple decided to join the crowd with its own set of AI features, with a lot of similarities to Android, which I’m really excited to try and compare. Features like the cleanup tool to remove unwanted objects or people from your photos, which is the same thing as Google’s Magic Eraser.

iOS 17 also features the ability to summarize emails, articles, and notes. They offer writing tools to proofread or rewrite anything you want in different styles, and the ability to generate images and emojis, and many more. Most of these AI features are pretty much the same ones offered by Google and Samsung, but what impressed me is the native integration with ChatGPT.

Now, Siri can take your command and get you answers powered by the most advanced AI chatbot, which I’m sure will be much more powerful than Google’s Gemini. Talking about Siri, we should expect a lot of enhancements, like the new features that Gemini offered for a long time, such as the ability to use text and voice commands with context awareness, so you can ask follow-up questions about the same thing without the need to start over.

They also talked about how Siri will be fully aware of all the information you have on your phone, making it easier to locate files or information, even if you don’t remember when and how you received them. In Photos, the AI will make your search easier by giving you the option to describe what photos you are looking for, and the AI will try to figure it out for you.

Similarly, Google announced at I/O 2023 something called “Ask Photos,” which does pretty much the same thing. They even announced the ability to create highlight videos from your gallery using a command prompt, which is something I didn’t see on Android yet.

Outro: iOS vs Android – The Battle Continues

So these are the top features Apple announced for iOS 17 and how similar they are to Android. As expected, every year we see the same thing happening on both sides, but the only problem is Apple is always late to the game.

 

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