‘iPad apps are larger than Android capsule apps’ is such a nasty fantasy

It’s been 13 years since I held my first Android capsule, the Acer Iconia A100, and in these 13 years, one fantasy has been perpetuated and introduced for gospel: Apps suck on Android tablets, nevertheless they’re great on the iPad. I wasn’t glad by that once more in 2011 and, as I preserve the newest iPad Mini 2024 and stare at my Pixel Capsule, I’m nonetheless not glad by that widely-accepted “truth.”

The very fact, in my opinion, is slightly extra nuanced than that. Some apps are larger on the iPad, others larger on Android tablets, and it truly depends on what you want your capsule to do. For many who’re using the large show display screen to browse the net, watch YouTube, and stream content material materials, then I’d wager that iPads and Android tablets are on equal footing. I haven’t found a single app that works larger proper right here or there. Firefox, Chrome, Plex, YouTube, Spotify, Prime Video, Amazon, Twitch, Netflix; all of it really works merely the equivalent.

Me, though? For the grand majority of the apps I benefit from, Android tablets current a higher app experience than the iPad, and it’s not even shut.

Apps constructed from the underside up for the iPad or optimized to run on iPadOS are, indisputably, the highlight of Apple’s large-screen experience. Final Reduce, Logic Skilled, Procreate, Affinity Designer, LiquidText, LumaFusion, Reeder, and loads of additional apps are constructed from the underside as a lot as run, look, and behave very successfully on the iPad. For many who’re a designer, photographer, video maker, architect, or work on one thing inventive and media-oriented, you may get the simplest experience on an iPad as a result of sheer number of apps and the usual of that choice.

The equivalent is true for gaming — I’m not a gamer, nevertheless my Android Authority colleagues inform me that gaming on Android tablets is a joke compared with the usual of video video games you get on the iPad.

Nevertheless stray a bit farther from these inventive or gaming grounds, and the iPad experience isn’t that utterly completely different from an Android capsule experience. In some conditions, it’s even worse. Instagram? Not optimized for the iPad. WhatsApp? Not optimized for the iPad, though a beta is obtainable. Threads? BlueSky? AllTrails? GetYourGuide? Roborock? And many completely different apps that I personally use day-after-day are merely not made for Apple’s larger show display screen. Nonetheless, chances are you’ll get the iOS mannequin of the app, open it, faucet the broaden button, and get an ugly, usually pixelated, and unoptimized mess in your pretty huge present. I’m certainly not going to hike with my iPad, however after I want to plan a hike on my huge show display screen, why can’t I’ve an accurate iPad app to take motion?

It’s that dichotomy of experiences that kills the iPad’s aura for me. I don’t want to take a look at a really perfect app one second after which swap to a crappy one the next. I don’t understand how Apple is comfortable with providing prospects with such a nasty experience; maybe it’s all a ploy to stress additional builders to optimize for iPadOS, however when Instagram has however to make an iPad app throughout the 12 months of our lord 2024, then it’s safe to say that approach ain’t workin’.

In distinction, Instagram and WhatsApp already have native apps constructed from the underside up for large-screen Android foldables and tablets.

Plus, Android apps are made out of the underside as a lot as be versatile by the use of present facet ratio and willpower. Blame this on the million and one Android telephones which have ever been launched and the infamous Android fragmentation, nevertheless the end outcome’s that when a developer makes an app for Android, they make it for all of Android. The highest outcome’s oftentimes good, as is the case with the GetYourGuide and AllTrails apps confirmed beneath.

Sometimes, though, this may occasionally not outcome within the prettiest consequence, as evidenced by the stretched-out panorama Threads app you can see throughout the screenshot beneath, nevertheless I acknowledge that it’s not lower than attainable to have a very good fullscreen experience. There was a short while when Google tried to stymy that by adopting an Apple-like technique to unoptimized apps (black bars on each aspect of the app), nevertheless that was understandably a short-lived experiment.

Now, in Android 15, there’s a setting to stress all apps to go fullscreen. In distinction to Apple’s broaden button, which does nothing in addition to stretch pixels for an even bigger present, Android’s fullscreen setting principally works. That’s because of, as quickly as as soon as extra, every app is made out of the underside as a lot as be resizeable and adjustable.

The inconsistent once more gesture in apps ruins the iPad’s huge show display screen experience

If there’s one issue I detest additional on my iPad Mini than the harmful keyboard experience, it’s the once more gesture. Or lack thereof. I’ll die on this hill, resurrect, and die 1,000,000 additional events, nevertheless I merely don’t understand how Apple followers put up with this. Take a look at the screenshots beneath, as an illustration. Wanderlog, on the left, makes use of a home button on the best left to return. Todoist, on the becoming, makes use of an in depth button on the best correct of an overlay, which I could shut by swiping down. This drives me insane.

In a single app, I can swipe from the left aspect to return; in a single different, I can’t. At one degree, I’ve to faucet the X button on the best left (of all unreachable areas!) to close a menu and return; at various factors, I’ve to faucet exterior of a pop-up to get out of it. And even when the left-side swipe is carried out, there’s no amount of swiping once more that’ll shut the app and take me once more to the homescreen. No, to do this, I’ve to swipe up.

There’s no widespread “take me once more” gesture like there’s on Android, and I’ve to keep up second-guessing how I’m purported to make my technique once more to the sooner show display screen. It’s so harmful that I practically certainly not use the swipe gesture even when it could work because of earlier experience has suggested me to anticipate a 20-30% success value with it, so why waste my time?

On the smaller show display screen of an iPhone, that’s already a problem for me. Nevertheless on the larger present of an iPad? It’s rather more annoying as a result of longer pointless hand journey between every sort of the go-back interaction. This sort of friction is silly when you merely want to benefit from your content material materials.

Every app suffers because of that inconsistency. Regardless of how optimized it is for the larger show display screen, no matter how straightforward, extremely efficient, and distinctive it is, if apps — usually — are unpredictable and unintuitive, then they’re not providing an excellent experience. And anyone who says this isn’t a problem has certainly not had the pleasure of using Android and understanding they are going to on a regular basis — on a regular basis — swipe from each the becoming or left aspect (wonderful must you swap the hand you’re holding your capsule with) to return one step, whatever the place you will have been or what you will have been doing.

The misunderstanding that apps are larger on the iPad has lived prolonged adequate and outlasted its welcome. By now, we should always all the time all do not forget that it’s a matter of relativity and use situations.

For many who’re into gaming or creating/enhancing media, then certain, the iPad will often have a higher app experience for you than Android tablets. There are an entire lot of good apps accessible, all optimized for Apple’s huge show display screen and providing a straightforward and extremely efficient experience.

Nevertheless must you don’t care about each of these, your desires will perhaps fall someplace near mine: looking out, finding out, productiveness, content material materials consumption, social media, messaging, journey/train planning, and so forth. For these use situations, the app experience on Android tablets is each equal or superior — notably when it comes to unoptimized apps like Instagram, Threads, and others. It’s even unmatched must you care about fixed shopper interactions all by your apps.