But from what I hear of it Android is a mess, rife with malware, and a blatant rip-off of the success of iPhone and iOS. The sideloading support while convenient also opens up opportunities for abusive apps like spyware that unethical people use to track their household members without permission. I would not hold any of that up as a model.
Have you actually used it? Android with free software stores like F-Droid is pretty comfy. It's community-curated, so none of the garbage asset-flips that Apple loves to greenlight makes it onto the platform. It's also entirely transparent with regards to who gets removed, and doesn't allow you to use harmful proprietary software that infringes your personal liberty as a user. There are no ads when you search for things, and malware is removed when the community spots it, rather than when Apple decides to remove it.
Remind me of how Apple is doing a better job here, again?
