Does it make sense to carry both an Android and an iPhone?

18 Nov 2024, 01:56 by Roger Fingas · Android Police

No matter which side of the fence you're on, owning more than one phone is a luxury unless you're in business, a software developer, or work for an organization with closely guarded secrets. If you can afford it, there may be legitimate reasons to own both an Android phone and an iPhone. The prospect may be expensive, but it boils down to the increasingly fragmented nature of consumer tech.

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The biggest incentive for dual-wielding phones is Apple. There are many perks to being in the Apple ecosystem, such as hyper-optimized performance and close integration between devices. For example, if you have an iPad and an Apple TV 4K in your home, owning an iPhone allows you to take calls on the iPad and access pop-up media controls while watching a movie. I could list dozens of other examples, and Apple likes to add to that list every year.

It can be worth owning a cheap iPhone to break down access barriers.

The need to buy an iPhone stems from Apple's walled garden. A lot of its cross-device integration evaporates if you don't have an iPhone. Some Apple products, such as Apple Watches and HomePods, are pointless or unusable without one. It can be worth owning a cheap iPhone to break down these barriers. As much as I like Android, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is one of the best smartwatches on the market. You can sync some of its fitness data to Android if you connect Apple Health and Google Fit.

There are reasons iPhone owners might want to dabble in Android. You need an Android phone if you want to use a Pixel Watch, and there are more Android devices than iPhones, which opens up use cases. You might keep an iPhone SE for basic tasks, but take advantage of the superior camera arrays on top-end Android phones.

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Some people live in mixed-platform households, so owning a device for each platform may be non-negotiable. My wife and son prefer Apple devices. If I stuck with Android exclusively, I'd be out of the loop for things like HomeKit smart home control, not to mention automatic iCloud photo sharing. My wife and I use Apple Family Sharing and Screen Time to control our son's iPad access.

Going multi-platform can bridge home and workplace divides.

There are ways I could get around the situation while still using Android, such as depending on Google Photos for photo and video sharing. However, my wife would have to use compatible apps and services that she might not be enthusiastic about. The tradeoff would hardly be worth it. I can't imagine trying to talk her into a Google One subscription.

There are other scenarios in which going multi-platform can bridge divides. If you work in an Apple-centric office, using both platforms can let you operate comfortably while keeping your private life shielded behind Android. If you have friends or family who are sniffy about the blue bubble/green bubble split in Apple's iMessage, owning an iPhone allows you to participate in group chats. We'll see if universal RCS messaging makes that one a non-issue within the next year or so.

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Why most people should stick to a single phone

Think practically, not as a brand fan

Cost is the big one. Budget smartphones can start at $400, so buying two costs as much or more than a single high-end model. If there isn't a compelling reason to get two phones, buying one device with the best features you can afford makes sense. I'd rather own a Swiss Army knife than carry separate knives and bottle openers everywhere I go.

If there isn't a compelling reason to get two phones, buying one device with the best features makes sense.

Typically, it's impractical to share cellular access between two phones. You can't use a SIM with two devices simultaneously, even if it's an eSIM, so you may have to pay extra and jump through hoops to access the same phone number everywhere. The alternative is paying higher fees for two phone lines. It's often easier to leave one of your phones on Wi-Fi and turn to forwarding options like Google Voice, making a tablet a suitable secondary device. You may already follow that strategy. It isn't uncommon for people to own an Android phone and an iPad.

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Avoiding the fandom trap

Whatever your situation, avoid getting puritanical about platforms. While operating systems have advantages and disadvantages, nothing is inherently better about keeping your home exclusively on Android or iOS. Smartphones are supposed to make life simpler or at least handle everything it throws at you. If dual-carrying is a solution, so be it. Enjoy the freedom it offers. I have an iPhone 16 Pro and a OnePlus 9 5G, and I'm comfortable juggling those. I can go exclusive when nothing is stopping me from doing what I want in my personal and professional worlds.