Brand new iPhone features that Android already has
For some reason, people like to take sides on things that really don’t need to have sides at all. You’re a fan of iPhones? Cool. You’re more comfortable with Android phones? Use it in good health.
But we live in a competitive society, and so the one company that produces iOS-based phones and the myriad brands that make Android-based phones always feel that they need to explain why their product is more spectacular, more flexible, more secure, more fun, and more whatever than the ones powered by the other OS. As a result, whenever a company introduces a feature that’s new to its OS, it proclaims it as innovative, wonderful, and never seen before. Anyone who has attended or watched a product introduction — from Apple, Google, or Samsung — knows what I’m talking about.
Apple is arguably the biggest offender here, with a history of taking its time to develop a feature that other companies were quick to jump on as effectively beta-testers. You can almost set your watch to the Twitter takes and memes about how iPhone users are always late to the party of ideas they might think are wholly new if taking Apple at its word.
And here we are again. Apple is introducing its latest phone line, the iPhone 14, and the latest version of its operating system, iOS 16. There are a lot of improvements and new features that will be either useful, fun, or both. And in fact, many of these features are coming to older iPhone models, while some are limited to the new iPhone 14 hardware.
But while Apple touts all of them as all new and all great, some of them are — either completely or in some fashion — already familiar to Android users. Here’s a list of at least some of the features that Apple is now offering but that Android has had for a while.
Multiple stops in maps
You are on your way home after visiting your Aunt Bea, and you suddenly realize that if you take a short side trip, you can stop in at one of your favorite bookstores. Don’t want to get lost? Now, in iOS 16, you can quickly add the address of the bookstore to your trip agenda and get directions that will let you stop there and then find your way back home.
It’s a very handy feature that Android has had since…
