Comment by TheDong

let me list some things I can do on android which I cannot do on iOS:

* Install real mobile firefox, including installing firefox addons I've built for myself. Firefox on iOS is a safari skin

* Install web browser security updates without also updating my entire OS. On Android, firefox is an app. on iOS, safari is a part of the OS that cannot be updated independently

* Install an open source app my friend built without paying $100/year or having to reload it every 7 days

* Build and install an app without owning a macbook or other macOS device, just using linux

* Filter notifications to my garmin smartwatch by-app

* Change the messenger app that handles SMS

* Have a notification center that syncs between linux and my phone (i.e. KDE Connect doesn't work https://invent.kde.org/network/kdeconnect-ios#known-behavior... )

* Have reliably working file-syncing (i.e. syncthing for iOS) because background tasks are something you can do well in android, and barely at all in iOS

* Have access to the source code to debug and fix problems

* Have the ability to flash my own custom kernel / rom (not all android devices, but many)

.... Really, not being able to write and install my own app without paying apple $100, and without owning a macbook is the big dealbreaker, followed by iOS restricting APIs needed to do all sorts of things like proper notification handling, proper NFC, etc etc.

It amazes me that so many people on the "hacker news" forum are okay with their primary computing device being wildly hostile to the hacker spirit, to the desire to tinker around for fun and learn and hack on things.