Software13.09.2022

New iOS features that Android has offered for years

There are numerous features in Apple’s latest operating system update for iPhones — iOS 16 — which have been available on Android for several years.

iOS officially launched on Monday, 12 September 2022, after being available in public beta from 11 July 2022.

As with many previous releases, several commentators have called out Apple for promoting certain features as innovative milestones when they have been available on Android or from some Android-specific manufacturers for a while.

Apple often uses the launches of its new iPhones — like the recently-announced iPhone 14 — to punt some of the latest software upgrades.

This year, Apple emphasised safety features such as Car Crash Detection, which can automatically detect when users have been in an accident and send alerts to emergency contacts.

However, this feature has been available in Google Pixel smartphones for three years.

The iPhone 14 Pro will also be the first of Apple’s smartphones to feature an Always-On display, launched on certain Android-based smartphones in 2016.

Below is a list of some of the new features iOS is receiving that have been available on Android for three years or longer.

Always-On Display — Debuted on the Samsung Galaxy J7 in 2016. Also featured on Nokia phones since 2008.
Car crash detection — Available on Google’s Pixel smartphones since 2019.
Fitness app support without smartwatch — Available for several years on Android via Google Fit or Samsung Health.
Haptic feedback on touch keyboard — Launched for Android 1.0 in January 2009.
Live Captions — Available in multiple languages on Android since 2019.
Multiple stops for Maps app — First launched on Google Maps in 2017.
Shared iCloud media libraries — Google Photos has allowed users to securely share libraries with others based on dates and content since 2017.
Unsend and snooze email — Since 2018, Gmail let users reverse sending an email up to 30 seconds after pressing send.

While Apple was widely regarded as an innovator during the early years of the iPhone, it has increasingly gained a reputation for being more of a feature “perfector”.

Instead of being the first to market, the company’s software and hardware teams focus on ensuring a feature works well across its product ecosystem and can be made available to as many users in various geographies before rolling it out.

One feature that will be available on the iPhone 14 before the end of the year that no Android phone currently offers is satellite emergency communication.

Apple has developed an app which instructs users where to point their phone and an algorithm that compresses messages into sendable packages for use in emergencies where no cellular network reception is available.