11 Things Users Really Dislike About the iPhone

The Notch or Dynamic Island

Whether it’s the iPhone’s infamous notch, or the new Dynamic Island, people are still not happy with Apple’s decision to use a part of the iPhone’s screen at the top.

Granted, the Dynamic Island looks better and does a better job than the notch ever did, but it’s still blocking a portion of your screen. What’s more, by default, the Dynamic Island will even appear on your screen recordings, which is a bit annoying.

Of course, the notch and the Dynamic Island are both necessary, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to use Face ID. But given the fact that there are other Android devices that don’t need a notch to use face recognition, it sometimes seems like Apple just doesn’t want to change its current hardware to get rid of the Dynamic Island.

Unfortunately, it seems this feature won’t go away any time soon, but at least Apple is always adding new ways of interacting with it, making it more useful and interesting to have.

Customization Features

The iPhone and customization don’t always go hand in hand, especially when it’s compared to any Android phone.

Apple likes to take its time when it comes to letting its users customize their iPhones. The good news is that Apple has been changing this with every new software update.

We’ve gotten widgets for both the Home Screen and Lock Screen, as well as some customization features. Not only that, but once iOS 18 is available to the public later next month, you’ll be able to customize even more parts of your iPhone.

For instance, you’ll finally be able to place widgets and icons anywhere on the screen, and you’ll be able to customize their colors however you like. What’s more, you’ll also be able to customize the Control Center and add third-party controls.

And while all of that is great there are some things that Android users have and iPhone users still want. For instance, the ability to use custom third-party icons for the Home Screen icons. 

Sure, you can create a custom icon with the help of the Shortcuts app, but it really isn’t the same, and it takes a lot longer. But who knows, maybe iOS 19 will be the one to change that.

Siri Isn’t as Smart as it Should Be (At Least for Now)

This is another thing iPhone users don’t like that’s about to change. Everyone has complained that Apple has left Siri behind, and it hasn’t really improved it to make it smarter.

And while that’s true, that will change near the end of this year.

With iOS 18, Apple is also introducing Apple Intelligence, a new AI technology that will make your iPhone and Siri smarter than before. This technology will allow Siri to understand the context of a previous request and other contexts based on the content of your iPhone.

While the new Siri is already available in the iOS 18 developer beta, we’ll still need to test its full capacity once Apple Intelligence is completely available.

Of course there is a catch. Unless you have an Apple Silicon Mac or iPad, an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max, or the new iPhone 16 models, you won’t be able to use Apple Intelligence. This means all of us with older iPhones won’t get to try Apple’s smarter Siri unless we’re willing to make an upgrade.

The iPhone’s Keyboard

It doesn’t matter how much you like the iPhone; we can all agree that the keyboard needs some serious improvements, especially if you’ve used an Android phone’s keyboard before.

The first thing users complain about is the lack of extra buttons in the main keyboard. For instance, Android phones have an extra row at the top of the keyboard with digits. Not only that, but most Android keyboard also have a comma or period next to the spacebar so it’s easier to access them.

Sure, the iPhone didn’t have this before probably because of the smaller display. But that was years ago. Now the iPhone has a larger display that’s capable of having numbers and extra characters without ruining the typing experience.

Unfortunately, if you want to have these buttons on your keyboard, you’ll probably need to download a third-party keyboard, which isn’t the best solution for this issue.

You Can’t Select Specific Characters When Typing

Another thing iPhone users complain about is how impossible it is to select any character when typing.
So, for instance, let’s say you’re texting something, and you typed “ocasion” with just one “c.” If you were on an Android phone, you could simply tap near the letter “c,” and the cursor would go to that specific place.

On iPhone however, things aren’t as simple. If you type the letter “c,” your iPhone would put the cursor at the beginning of the word. Tap it again, and the cursor will probably move to the end of the word.

Sure, you can simply press and hold near the word and move the cursor manually or press and hold the keyboard’s spacebar to change the keyboard into a trackpad, but both options are more time-consuming than they should be. It’s way easier to simply tap in the middle of the word and make the cursor go to that specific place.

Autocorrect Is Still Annoying

It’s 2024, and Apple still hasn’t fixed autocorrect on the iPhone. The autocorrect feature can still change your “hahas” for “gagas” if you aren’t careful. 

Apple has tried to improve it over the years but it still seems autocorrect just doesn’t work as it should. And the worst part is that it sometimes it feels like you’re fighting autocorrect. Even if you delete the word that was correct it and write it again, your iPhone will try correcting it again. 

And the button to cancel the correction is so small, you’re more likely to tap the incorrect correct than to dismiss it. 

Overall, it is annoying, and let’s just hope Apple finds a way to make it work properly.

The App Store Can Be More Expensive

Ever since its conception, the App Store has featured some amazing apps and games that are definitely worth paying for. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for every app store available.

After all, not all app stores are created equal, and developers know this. This is why you might sometimes see that some things are more expensive if you get them from the App Store than from other platforms.
Subscription services are the most common example. Since Apple takes a cut for every subscription, developers will often need to charge us more to cover all expenses.

But that’s not all; sometimes, paid apps on the App Stores are actually free to download from other app stores. For instance, if you search for Alto’s Odyssey on the App Store, you’ll need to pay $4.99 to download it. 

On the other hand, if you go to the Google Play Store, you’ll find Alto’s Odyssey, which is a free-to-play game. Of course, that doesn’t mean the game is entirely free on Android, but it at least lets you download it and try it before you decide to purchase it.

This has been changing over the years, and now most developers go for the free-to-download approach, but you’ll still find some apps and games that are more expensive on iPhone than on Android.

No Sideloading for iPhone Users

Maybe not every iPhone user will use this, but some users have asked for sideloading to be available on the iPhone for years.

In case you don’t know, sideloading means you can install apps from a third-party source instead of solely using the App Store. For instance, you could go to any website and install an app normally, similar to what you can do on a computer.

Unfortunately, that isn’t available on iPhone. Folks who are part of the European Union sort of got it when Apple announced you could download apps from third-party platforms, but it really isn’t the same.

Hopefully, Apple will allow sideloading in the future, but it doesn’t seem likely.

Slow Fast Charging

For many years, iPhone users have complained about how slow the iPhone’s fast charging is. After all, the iPhone only supports 27W charging, which allows users to go from 0% to 50% in thirty minutes.

While that’s not necessarily bad, other smartphones are capable of charging to 65% in the same time. Moreover, there are higher-wattage chargers available, but the iPhone just can’t use all of the extra wattage to charge faster.

The good news for people who can’t stand long charge times is that Apple might change this with the iPhone 16.

If the rumors are true, the iPhone 16 Pro models will support a wired charging speed of up to 40W. Of course, we’ve heard this rumor in previous years, so we’ll have to wait and see if this actually happens.

Lack of Multitasking

Multitasking is a feature many of us have asked for years, and Apple still won’t budge. 

If you have an iPad, you already know you have the ability to open two apps side by side at the same time. Not only that, but you can even have an app floating at all times and hide it when you don’t need it.

And if you have an Android phone, you know that you can have these features in those phones as well. You can have floating apps and apps in split screen whenever you want. 

The only device that can’t do this is the iPhone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like Apple is working on adding this feature, but let’s hope we see it in the near future.

iPhone Repairability

Apple has always had issues with repairability, especially with the iPhone. Recently, there’s been more controversy around this topic, especially because the iPhone 15 was pretty easy to damage or scratch.

Unfortunately, the iPhone isn’t as easy to repair as other devices, which makes it a nightmare when something happens to it. And even when Apple confirmed that the iPhone 15 Pro models were easier to repair, some reports showed that changing the parts of your iPhone can be extremely risky, especially when it comes to the battery.

Combine that with the fact that not many people put a case on their iPhones, and you have a recipe to become a trillion dollar company in the future.