I purchased my first Android phone in 2010, a LG P500, and have been an enthusiastic Android user for the last 10 years. I did have an iPhone for a month in 2014, and lasted less than a week with one in 2016, but have recently made the decision to move for good to iOS. So a couple of weeks ago I traded my Galaxy S10e for an iPhone 12.

My thoughts so far.

I love it. I didn't like iOS in the past but two changes in recent years have made all the difference: Face ID and widgets.

I absolutely love Face ID, it just works. All the time. And the ability for me to now access password managers, banking apps etc just by looking at the phone is great.

And Apple's introduction of widgets, although less flexible than Android, just works well. As does the iOS, it just seems to be more mature and robust than Android. It's difficult to put on finger on exactly what is better, it just is.

And Apple messages outperforms any other messaging app I have used (recently Signal). It is just so intuitive and reliable. As is my experience with Safari to date, it is a great user experience.

I was worried about losing Android Auto, but I didn't need worry. Carplay is a better overall experience. And Apple maps works just fine - sure it's not quite as detailed as Google Maps, but works just fine for navigating NZ roads. And I have the option of using Google maps if need be on occasions.

What I miss.

Small things, like when I set the alarm, I miss notification on hours/minutes until alarm sounds. Or progress information on a download status. Or the granuality Android provides on connected device settings for Bluetooth devices. Or a detailed file manager. But these are small things that I will adjust to. Overall, the experience, although simpler, is just better. And maybe it is better because it is not so granular?

Less Google.

One of the reasons I moved to iPhone is my growing dissatisfaction with Google's ever pervasive attempts to harvest more of my personal information. So these are the Google services that I can now happily move away from:

- Apple maps is a good substitute for Google maps (no more Google monitoring my location 24 hours a day).

- Apple Photos replaces Google Photos in the short term - longer term I will move to Synology Photos and manage these on my NAS.

- Carplay replaces Android Auto.

- Apple notes replaces Google keep.

- iCloud mail replaces Gmail.

- Safari replaces Chrome.