No, not the Nintendo Switch, although I do have one.
A year ago, I started slowly switching over to Android. I picked up a Samsung Galaxy Chromebook that I actually like using for work more than my MacBook. Then later I picked up a Galaxy phone. Finally, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+.
The switch is now complete for the most part.
I guess it all started a few months ago when I read that the Omnipod 5 (new insulin pump) was going to support a smart phone app. This is something I had been hoping for when I was on the Omnipod Dash, but it never happened. That had an app so the phone could read it, but not control it. The OmniPod 5 boasted a smartphone app that would let you control the pod without needing to carry a separate controller around. Shortly after starting with the OmniPod 5 I read that the Android app would most likely come out first, which makes a lot of sense considering that their controller is basically a stripped down Android phone running a single app to control the pod. An iPhone version would have to be written from the ground up, whereas an Android version would be the controller turned into a standalone app. I figured I would pick up a cheap Android phone and use that as a secondary phone so I wouldn’t have to carry around a phone and a controller. Then I remembered that a lot of Android devices are only supported for about four or five years so buying a cheap used phone would give me very limited support. Instead, I decided to take the plunge. I bought a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. That way I’d be guaranteed support for four or five years. It was a risk, but I figured I’d use it for a month as my main phone and if I didn’t like it, I could either return it or sell it. This was Samsung’s flagship phone, so there was still high demand for it and I’d have no problem selling it if I decided I didn’t want it anymore.
I bought it direct from Samsung because I wanted it to be red to match my Galaxy Chromebook. I know that’s kind of a dumb reason but it turns out buying direct also made me eligible for an educational discount so I got double the storage for the same price. Originally I had both my iPhone and my Samsung. The Samsung had a different phone number but I mostly used it for messaging anyway. I still have my Apple Watch which was paired with my phone so if anybody called me, I would know about it. The problem with the original plan is I ended up really liking the Samsung phone more than my iPhone. I started trying to come up with ways to make the messaging more universal and forwarded my primary number to the Samsung’s phone number.
Messaging became a real problem, especially after I made the decision to move the SIM card from my iPhone to my Samsung. My Samsung was now my primary phone. Everyone in my family and most of my coworkers use iPhones. Apple Messages only works with other Apple devices. Sending regular text messages between iPhones and Android phones can be tricky if the phones are on a wireless network. Apple and Android use different protocols for SMS over wireless, and most of the apps I tried just did not work. Samsung’s default messaging app was based on Google’s messaging app, but did not reliably send. Most of the time, I would send a message while I was inside my office at school, but the message wouldn’t send until I got outside on the cell network. I then read that Google messaging app was made a little bit more universal. Ever since I switched to it I’ve had much better luck. I still had an issue however. If I was messaging with someone on my MacBook Pro or my iPad and then tried to continue the conversation on my Samsung phone, it would get split into two conversations because one was coming from my Apple ID and the other was coming from my phone number. This had a tendency to confuse people I was talking to and drive my wife absolutely nuts.
I tried running an app called BlueBubbles. This was an app that would run on my Android phone with a forwarding app running on a Mac mini in my home office. When someone sent a message to my Apple ID, the Mac mini would receive it and then send it to my Android phone and vice versa. This worked well until we happened to lose power while no one was home and my battery backup died.
Enter Sunbird Messaging. This new app claimed to be able to make an Android phone work with Apple Messages (not just SMS, but iMessages.) It also has plans to incorporate FaceTime, Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal. It kind of reminded me of Adium for Mac, and Trillian before that. I got on a waiting list for the beta test, and eventually got accepted for the alpha. I’ve been running it for a couple of days and it works very well. You sign into it using your Apple ID, and it supports two factor authentication so no app-specific password is needed. if you’re chatting with somebody on an iPhone, it will use Apple’s iMessage protocol and appear as blue messages, versus the green message bubble if you’re chatting from just standard SMS. if you’re chatting with somebody on Android, then it’s standard SMS. Apparently it uses gold message bubbles if you’re talking to someone else using Sunbird; while I’ve seen pictures of that, I haven’t actually tried it. The only way this would work is if I was chatting with another alpha tester but once the app is officially released in a few months, I’ll probably encourage people to start using it. Most people don’t really care about the difference between green and blue bubbles, but it makes life a little simpler all around. One reason would be if you’re trying to run a group chat with iPhones and Androids. Apple messages doesn’t handle group chats very nicely; it insists on splitting the message up into separate conversations. Sunbird is supposed to be able to combine the two, but I have not had a chance to test this yet.
The next rather important step was to replace all my iPhone apps with Android equivalents. AnyList, Chrome (duh), Calm, 1Password, Carb Manager, and various portal apps for medical stuff all had Android versions. There were unfortunately a few that did not have android versions. RunKeeper has an Android version, but they have scaled back on what smartwatches they support. The Galaxy Watch series was not on their supported list. Well, that doesn't do me a whole lot of good so I started looking for alternatives and settled upon Strava since a number of my friends use this app. Nebo, a writing app that I really like, fortunately has any Android version. Things, my to-do list, does not support Android. Nor does FantastiCal. I still haven't found decent alternatives to these 2 apps but I also really haven't been looking that hard.
Of course one really big huge thing that I can no longer do is talk to Siri. Siri pretty much runs our house right now. I have installed keypad doorknobs and light switches, and two HomePods so we can ask Siri to turn lights on or off, or lock and unlock doors. Even before I switched to an Android phone I've been considering switching from Siri to either Google or Alexa anyway. For one thing Siri just seems to be getting less and less reliable. I pull into the driveway, get out of my car, and while I'm walking to the front door I use my phone or my watch to tell Siri to unlock the front door. Most of the time the door opens, but more often lately I get "Sorry, I'm having trouble with that." By the time Siri manages to open the door I'm standing there and could have just opened it myself, or I give up and just enter the code. At first I thought it just took a while for my device to connect to our wireless network, but HomeKit and Siri are supposed to work from anywhere. I have been able to open my door while I'm at work to let my mother in because she got to my house before I did, but that was by running the Home app and tapping a button. Telling Siri to do it just doesn't work a lot of the time. I suppose it doesn't help that the brand of doorknob I got has a lot of complaints from HomeKit users saying "supposed to be compatible but most of the time it doesn't work."
The more I read about home automation systems, the more it seems like Apple has not only lost the war, it's given up. It's been a long time since I saw any new home automation devices that support HomeKit. It's all Google or Alexa. Further, Apple doesn't seem to be behind the new Matter standard. So, maybe it's time I start switching things. Paula doesn't care, as long as she's still able to tell someone to open the door for her. So, I think during my next break from school I will be checking our various automation devices to make sure they are Google Home compatible. I already know the Google Nest Smart Smoke Detectors are - I had to set them up with Google Home, and I installed a bridge device that connects Nest to HomeKit. It works well, but I have to wonder if I can truly trust it. If we ever had a fire and the power went out, I'd be the only one to know about it.