• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Switching to Android from iOS: Key Questions

CLT_Android

Lurker
Jun 7, 2018
1
0
So, I am a redcoat amidst the Android patriots. I am currently on iOS, but - having switched about 5 years ago - miss Android and would like to come back. I loved my Note 3 years ago, but had a few frustrations with Android at the time. I am hoping users on this forum can answer a few questions that will help me come back to Android from iOS. Thanks in advance everyone. These may seem trivial, but are important to me given the nature of my lifestyle and work (lots of travel, networking, etc...).

Question 1: Does the main dialer app handle calling for 3rd party apps (Viber, WhatsApp, etc...)? This is now the case with iOS - if a call comes in through WhatsApp, the stock Phone app allows you to answer it, the calls register in the main call list and you can use the stock Phone app to work with call history and calls that came in through WhatsApp, Viber, etc... without having to do this in each app individually. It used to be that each calling app on Android operated fully separately without accessing the main Phone app - has this changed?

Question 2: Are you able to set app-specific quiet times for notifications? One of the things I find most annoying about iOS is its complete lack of flexibility when it comes to notifications. One feature I would like to have (one that old old Nokias and Blackberry OS had) is the ability to set "quiet" hours for notifications that are app-specific (as opposed to system wide do not disturb for notifications). For example, if I use Outlook on my phone to check work email, I would want to set it not to send me any notifications starting Friday night until Monday morning, while I want all other apps to be unaffected. The only way to do this in iOS is to go manually into notification settings for Outlook and to turn notifications off on Friday, and re-enable them on Monday. Does Android allow you to do this on a pre-set schedule that is app-specific, as opposed to setting quiet times / DND for all notifications?
 
These things can depend on the device (Android version and what the manufacturer modifies), but on my Pixel 2 the dialer just does cellular calls (or wifi calling if you have that), but you can initiate WhatsApp calls and messages from the Contacts app (possibly others). But when you do so it simply switches to the other app, and incoming WhatsApp calls are, as said above, handled by the separate app.

For notifications, you certainly can block them on a per-app basis, as said above, but there isn't a centralised per-app quiet hours feature (at least not in stock 8.1). You can set a global do not disturb, and you can define a set of "priority" apps that can override this, but you cannot set separate schedules for each app with complete flexibility. Sometimes the app itself may provide this (e.g. Nine, which is a third-party alternative to Outlook, lets you define a separate DND schedule for each email account you manage through it), but it isn't widespread.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones