5 ways Google can finish tearing down the Android-iPhone wall

I absolutely love how things are unfolding between Android and iOS. First, it was RCS coming to the iPhone (in whatever watered-down form it arrived), and now, with Google making AirDrop interoperable, the walls between the two ecosystems suddenly don’t feel that high anymore. Google has done a mammoth job here. Getting AirDrop to play nice with Quick Share on Pixel 10s, while keeping security intact, is a big deal for the “community effect” iPhone users have always enjoyed. I know I won’t feel left out when people around me AirDrop videos they took of the stage at a concert just because I’m carrying a Pixel.

While this is just a start, Google could take on a bunch of other areas and make them more seamless for both Android and iPhone users, bringing down the ecosystem walls brick by brick.

Switching between Android and iPhone is almost always a scary process. You never really know what will and won’t transfer — granted, the process doesn’t randomly stop midway for no reason whatsoever. Sure, both Google and Apple have apps to help you move data across, but the experience is nothing short of hell. The biggest sore point for me has always been WhatsApp, and worse still, moving not one but two WhatsApp accounts. I’d need a separate post to indulge in my sorrow in all its depth.

Calls, messages, photos, and calendar entries make the jump in full, but Google could make the whole process far more seamless by bringing app libraries along as part of the transfer. Besides that, eSIM transfers across platforms are possible today too, but nowhere near as smooth as moving between two iPhones or two Android phones. Add Android’s fragmentation to the mix, where eSIM transfers can vary from brand to brand, and it just adds fuel to the fire.

You’d think that the instant answer to this problem is Matter, but unfortunately, that’s not the full picture. Both companies are working on this protocol that’s supposed to make smart home accessories work just as well with Siri as they do with Gemini for a while. But the real issue is availability. You have to specifically look for Matter-compatible hardware, and the truth is, you’ll have to hunt for it since Matter is nowhere near mainstream yet.

What’s worse is wearable incompatibility. Back in the day, Galaxy smartwatches worked with iPhones, albeit in a limited capacity, but not anymore. And in classic Apple fashion, its smartwatches pair exclusively with iPhones. Even when you manage to pair Apple accessories like AirPods with Android, the experience is so watered down that you start wondering why you bothered spending so much on them.

I know this one’s tough to crack for Google too, but these are trillion-dollar enterprises that actually benefit from each other. I bet they can find a way, especially with so much EU pressure to open things up.

You may belong to the same family, but that doesn’t guarantee the same taste. And that’s the reality for a lot of mixed-ecosystem households — you might use a Mac with an Android phone, or have iPhones but live in a home full of Google Home devices, or you’re on Android while your partner uses an iPhone. And because family sharing isn’t platform-agnostic, you either suffer with zero cross-platform features or deal with a half-baked experience.

Sure, sharing subscriptions is easy since services like Apple Music and YouTube work everywhere. But try sharing locations with your family, and you’ll realize that you must rely on WhatsApp or other third-party tools. And even thinking about setting up a Pixel Watch with an iPhone or an Apple Watch with Android is nothing short of laughable.

Apple started allowing Apple Watches to be set up using another person’s iPhone, say for kids or parents who own an Android phone, but that’s still not the same thing.

AirTags have tons of alternatives, but almost none of them support precision tracking with UWB, settling instead for loud beeps as an indicator. I am a huge AirTag fan specifically because of this feature, even though I can get simpler Bluetooth trackers at a fraction of the cost. AirTags do work with Android, but only for scanning lost items or detecting if a rogue tracker is following you. Beyond that, the high ecosystem walls come right back up.

In families with both Android and iPhones, using AirTags becomes a headache since you can neither set up nor locate an AirTag on an Android phone. Even though modern Pixels and plenty of Android phones come with UWB, they still can’t use precision tracking with AirTags. A Matter-like universal item-tracker protocol would be great for users, though it could loosen Apple’s ecosystem grip, which is probably why it doesn’t exist yet.

Switching to an iPhone, the thing I miss the most is tap-and-pay with Google Wallet. It’s my primary payments app, and without tap-and-pay, it feels like it’s lost half its limbs. And it sucks even more because Apple Pay isn’t available in my region. If Android can allow NFC payments through third-party apps, Apple has no reason to keep it exclusive to its own payment app except for greed.

This one’s definitely tough for Google to crack, since Apple’s policies are tight around payments, but there’s always hope that, like RCS, Apple will one day allow third-party apps to make NFC payments. Maybe Google needs to run an RCS-style ad campaign shaming Apple into changing its stance.

The ecosystem war — the whole Android vs iPhone battle — is so old now that it’s getting boring. Everyone has their preference, and both platforms have matured enough to be neck and neck. Honestly, neither is better than the other; it just comes down to what you prefer.

With that reality setting in, it’s important for both platforms to play nice with each other. And no, EU arm-twisting Apple into this isn’t helping; it only makes things worse for people in the region who now have to deal with missing features. I just want Google and Apple to cooperate and meet somewhere in the middle so their products and services can actually interoperate.

If not, my trust in Google’s shenanigans is only growing stronger after successfully pulling off AirDrop parity without Apple’s help. Until Apple blocks this workaround, it’s a win for all of us. And I hope Google keeps treating us with more of these wins.