Apple vs Google
The battle for the market and world dominance has existed forever. These two giants of the digital industry are competing - among other things - for the smartphone software supremacy. They try to do the opposite than the other so they differentiate and polarise individuals. The further your smartphone usability is from the competition, the more difficult it will be for you to switch. So that’s the why. And we can find some evident examples of that behaviour in the last decade.
So this is iOS vs Android.
“If you place the navigation bar over there, I’ll place it on the very opposite side of the screen.”
“If you use a calendar to pick dates, I’ll just use a random scroller.”
“If you make a white phone, I’ll do mine black.”
“If you have a permanent navigation bar at the bottom, I won’t have it and instead I’ll have a universal button.” (which only goes home)
“If you organise your apps from top to bottom, I’ll organise them from bottom to top.”
“If you create a vertical scroll for that functionality, I’ll do it horizontal.”
Okay, come on. Kids, can you agree on something? A checkbox, for example. Easy-peasy right? They found the way.
But in the end it is the market and the users who have the decision power. Thanks to that, we have seen a progression towards homogeneisation by the different app developers on both platforms. See the example of Youtube:
That was Youtube app on Android in 2014 and 2015. And see on the next image how it went from there to meeting the “iOS standards” in 2019:
All that being said, I think common sense is starting to win over stupid kid fights between millionaires.
Still, one needs to be aware of their guidelines when designing an app for the specific OS. However, it is not a bad idea to do the same design for both. Consistency and ease of use.
