Anonymous wrote:I hate apple/iphones, but I think you should get your teen a basic iphone. It sucks that kids (and adults) judge you by your phone. I am reluctantly switching to an iphone because 99% of people I text with have iphones. I intend to do a deep dive on settings to have as much privacy as possible, especially disabling the read/responding notifications.

You are not judged because you have an android, but it is annoying that most people seem to have apple and it is difficult at times to communicate with the one android user. Its like the one kid that lives outside of the city. No one wants to drive to their house because it is inconvenient, so they are left out and fade from the group.

Just get a basic or refurbished iPhone.

Iphones are so awful in every metric except texting other iphones.

Anonymous wrote:Older apple phones or SE's aren't that pricy. Or, see if someone has an old one to pass on to you. We gave ours our old one till we found a good deal on a new one when we were upgrading our phones.

+1

Mine all have older cheap iPhones.

I hate apple but got kid an iPhone so they would not be left out.

I really hate apple for designing their phones to leave out android users. That should be against the law as we all know it’s to claim a monopoly.

I have a pixel and my DH has an iPhone and it's fine? I used to have an iPhone but wanted a better camera before a vacation and the pixel was the best phone camera for the money (the latest iPhone has a good camera but is $$$ and I never shell out for the latest model of anything). It hasn't been an issue and I regularly text with iPhone users.

I guess I don't understand the problem. Also a lot of my text threads are on WhatsApp so it extra doesn't matter.

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that the only solutions mentioned are to get your kid an iPhone. I guess that's easier than parents teaching their kids not be mean to kids who use other brands.

you can teach them to be kind to people, but it won't help with your kid being shut out of group chats with iphone users.

I hate apple products. I hate that they lock you in, and it doesn't play nice with other devices.

We got our kids android phones when they were in MS. I think it was an older samsung.

When older DC hit HS, they were being left out of group chats with friends who had iphones so they were missing the jokes and the last minute get togethers. I asked DC why they couldn't text them separately for outings, but they said that's now how it works with teens now. I resisted getting them an iphone. DC was always a bit of a nerd and socially immature, so being left out of these chats was making their social life worse.

So, we relented and got them an iphone, though they did save money and pay for some of it. They started to get included in the chat groups, and along with other factors, they started to hang out more with the big friend group.

Get them the iphone for their social life. And I am not one to buy the latest and greatest, keep up with the Joneses type.

I hate apple.

It's interesting that the only solutions mentioned are to get your kid an iPhone. I guess that's easier than parents teaching their kids not be mean to kids who use other brands.

Older apple phones or SE's aren't that pricy. Or, see if someone has an old one to pass on to you. We gave ours our old one till we found a good deal on a new one when we were upgrading our phones.

When I see those big @$$ emojis I hit the block button.

Jk

Anonymous wrote:I hate apple/iphones, but I think you should get your teen a basic iphone. It sucks that kids (and adults) judge you by your phone. I am reluctantly switching to an iphone because 99% of people I text with have iphones. I intend to do a deep dive on settings to have as much privacy as possible, especially disabling the read/responding notifications.

Disabling those notifications is very simple

I hate apple phones.

I hate apple/iphones, but I think you should get your teen a basic iphone. It sucks that kids (and adults) judge you by your phone. I am reluctantly switching to an iphone because 99% of people I text with have iphones. I intend to do a deep dive on settings to have as much privacy as possible, especially disabling the read/responding notifications.

Got to thinking about this again after reading the "what phone did u get ur kid for christmas" thread, DD13 has had a Samsung Galaxy A14 5G for a few months after switching from her Gabb and she's constantly complaining about her phone being buggy/not sending or receiving texts, that pictures/videos sent from Apple phones come out blurry, that she can't FaceTime, or that her friends have to make new group chats because their current ones can only have Apple phones. I do see her point, as a Pixel user myself, but I don't think she really needs an Apple phone (with the high $$$) just because Apple products are set up to only work to the fullest with other Apple products, and I'm not the biggest fan of the parental controls on Apple vs her Samsung. In discussing phones with other moms in our circle though it seems that everyone else only uses Apple and don't understand why me and my kid continue to use "inferior" Android. I really want DD to be able to fit in socially, so should I just shell out money for an iPhone for her, even though her Android works pretty well and is a functioning phone?