# Android 372 Hacker News commenters recommended Android and 694 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 13 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (26 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for openness, sideloading, alternative app stores, customization and fine notification control, but many worry Google is locking it down with developer verification and proprietary services. ## Why people recommend it - Sideloading and alternative app stores (7 comments): "you can still install arbitrary APKs (after a 24-hour wait period). This alone still puts android leagues and bounds above iOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50083734)) "On Android, if you don't like the app store(s) that came with the device, you can use another one or none at all." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46691546)) "On Android, if you don't like Google providing the service, you can switch to OpenAI, Alexa, or even your own service." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45829429)) - Fine-grained notification controls (3 comments): "Android users highlight a better system. On that platform, developers must separate promotional, transactional, and service-related notifications into channels." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46471277)) "Android is better because they allow you to change individual notifications right from the notifications themselves" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301778)) "Android does help a little for existing toggles by giving you an 'About 129 notifications per day' blurb below the entry." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48301885)) - Well optimized for mobile hardware (4 comments): "Android was built from the ground up for mobile devices and handles things like background apps, notifications, and charging as expected on a phone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49362527)) "Android is a unified system working together to make the device race to sleep as fast as possible, with as few wakeups as feasible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48795600)) "Android is by far the most optimized OS (as a whole, including user space, graphics stack everything) for mobile devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48795029)) - Strong permissions and security model (4 comments): "Android practices the principal of least privilege where individual permissions are granted instead of giving it blanket access to everything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48759095)) "Android 17 fixed a massive number of privacy weaknesses including vulnerabilities which will not have patches backported." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060126)) "The hardware and software security of Android/iOS/iPadOS/GOS devices are leagues ahead of Linux servers in all aspects" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49394896)) ## What people warn about - Developer verification restricts app installs (5 comments): "Android users will at some point next year not be able to install software unless the developer has paid and registered itsef with Google" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45810251)) "I would not consider having to send a copy of my government ID to Google, or having them be able to block apps when so ordered by government, to be acceptable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47940252)) "Sounds like just trying to save face, they didn't have a language of "we're only _MAYBE_ stopping everyone from installing non-verified apps" back then." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912826)) - Google shifting features to proprietary services (4 comments): "They've been chipping away at AOSP for years, pulling more and more parts of the Android experience into their proprietary Google Play Services." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49857675)) "The hostility of Google's business side towards projects based on AOSP has also led to many additional issues for the Pixel OS which could have been avoided." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947567)) "Android is closed-source but with some open-source components, for only some of which they'll actually follow the license and give you the source code." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108410)) - Power-user freedoms steadily eroded (4 comments): "Most of power-user's potential self-defense mechanisms against abusive and monopolist app and service providers are intentionally neutered by Android" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49612004)) "It's a clear loss of functionality for a group of people who are educated about the advantages and disadvantages of embedded EXIF data." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751222)) "There's a long history of Google slowly making the experience worse if you want to take advantage of the things that make Android open." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970894)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Apple iOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ios.md): 308 recommend - [LineageOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lineageos.md): 186 recommend - [/e/OS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/e-os.md): 89 recommend - [Sailfish OS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sailfish-os.md): 80 recommend - [Ubuntu Touch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu-touch.md): 35 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Android", https://hackerapproved.com/p/android/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).