The best of both worlds: how to get the most out of the Google ecosystem with an iPhone

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Not all Google users are Android fans. If you like the services of "corporation of good", but you prefer hardware from Apple, we will show you how to simplify your life and get the best of both worlds.

Apple makes great smartphones, but the quality of the company's software has been noticeably lagging lately, and this is especially true for iCloud. At Google, everything is exactly the opposite: its applications and services work much better than Apple's. The seemingly insane idea of using the Google app ecosystem on the iPhone was not so bad. With proper preparation, Apple smartphones can be made to work with Google services almost seamlessly.

What do we need

To live a new life on iOS, the first step, of course, is to install all the necessary applications. Google has a huge number of iOS applications, but we will now focus on the most important programs that represent an alternative to Apple's solutions.

You probably know all these applications, so they hardly need a separate presentation. Let's just provide links to them.

YouTube Google LLC

Google Photos Google LLC

Hangouts Google LLC

Google News Google LLC

Google Keep: Google LLC Notes and Lists

How to integrate Google apps into iOS

Apple still does not allow changing applications in iOS to open certain files and services: links open in Safari, Mail is launched to compose a letter, and so on. However, Google has found a way to get around the iOS limitation. Nearly every app by the company (and many other third-party developers) has an "Open In" option that lets you choose an app to open links from a set of Google. For example, links from Gmail can be opened directly in Chrome, and addresses from Hangouts can be opened in Maps.

All you need to do is go through the settings of the applications you are using and enable the integration, changing the standard applications in such a simple way.

Most popular third-party apps have a similar option. For example, opening links in Chrome can be configured in Tweetbot. As a last resort, such integration is easy to organize yourself through Workflow, by creating an extension for opening links and performing actions in the applications you need.

Benefits of the Google ecosystem

Google apps have not always been good on iOS, but now they can plug Apple's solutions. This mainly concerns "Maps", an office suite and, surprisingly, "Photo".

Cards

Google Maps is, one might say, the gold standard. Even if you don't use the rest of Google's apps, you probably have Maps installed. They have a wide base, are more convenient for routing, and also support routes for bicycles and public transport. That is, they can do everything that Apple cards are just beginning to learn.

Office suite

The same is true for Disk applications and applications from the office suite. Google Drive is much more convenient for storing documents than iCloud, and allows you to always have your files at hand, wherever you are. Of course, all documents, spreadsheets and presentations from the cloud open in the corresponding Google applications, as it should be.

Photo

The Google Photos service has become a real surprise and a breath of fresh air, replacing the far from perfect and expensive “iCloud Photos”. We got unlimited free storage, editing tools, powerful search, and rich export options. Yes, photos are stored in a compressed form, not in their original resolution, but for most of us this is more than enough. Just turn on the auto-upload option ("Settings" - "Auto-upload and sync"), and all your photos will automatically start uploading to the cloud. Just like iCloud.

news

Another pleasant surprise (especially for Russian users who do not have access to Apple News) was the Google Play Press application. It works in the same way as Apple: you add sources or topics that interest you, and then you start receiving content. All links, of course, open you know in which browser.

Browser, calendar, notes

Chrome on iOS is interesting primarily for its seamless synchronization with the desktop version. Just like Calendar and Keep, it looks much better than its iOS rival and works great. Notes and Calendar lacks Siri integration, but are otherwise on par with Apple apps.

disadvantages

The most frustrating app of all is Hangouts, from which notifications sometimes don't reach at all. It also lacks support for interactive notifications.

Although, compared to the timeline for updating Google's iOS apps, these are small things. The first to receive new applications and functions, of course, are Android users, they appear on iOS much later. A striking example of this is the lack of widgets in some applications, not to mention support for newer features like 3D Touch.

For some users, the lack of deep integration with Google Now will be critical. In iOS, its capabilities are much less than in Android, and cannot be compared to Siri.

Another drawback is the lack of one or another functionality in applications. For example, Gmail on Andoird has support for Exchange accounts, but not on iOS. The same can be said about Hangouts: on Android, the application also allows you to send regular SMS, while on iOS you will have to use "Messages" for this.

Many people are pretty skeptical about Google's iPhone apps, and rightfully so. For a long time, they were carelessly ported Android versions and eaters of system resources. But now the situation has changed, and Google apps can provide a worthy alternative to Apple tools. Apart from some of the features associated with deep system integration, Google services work very well on the iPhone.