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You can use the Messages app on your MacBook Air to send and receive texts and calls too.

When texting Android users, don't use reactions. It spams them with an additional text saying "Soandso liked your post blah blah." They don't share a compatible messaging protocol.

"Find My" with precision finding can be useful for locating your devices or wallet (with an Airtag).

If your iPhone has a lidar, you can have some fun with photogrammetry apps. It's like a Kinect in your phone.

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Those are just the random things I'm jealous of as an Android user. Had an iPhone for a while but couldn't get used to it.




Google has updated the Android default Messages app to catch and handle reactions from iPhones for almost two(?) years now, and you can message from any browser you are logged into. There is also an equivalent for find my in your Google account: https://www.google.com/android/find. The lidar thing sounds cool though.


You can also access your messages from the browser: https://messages.google.com/web/welcome


The Messages web app is pretty slow and flaky in my experience (I use it every day). The iMessage protocol seems more reliable across devices, but that's just anecdotal.

The Reactions thing depends on your phone's default app. On Pixels and a few Samsungs the Google app comes default, but that's not the case across Android (especially older and cheaper devices). In a mixed group, you can't reliably predict who can and cannot see them. There's usually 3 or 4 separate protocols (SMS/MMS/RCS/iMessage). Safer to not use them unless you're talking 1 on 1 with someone you know can receive them.

Precision Finding is different from the base location system. The iphones have a separate ultrawide band radio that can triangulate and point to things nearby with a compass. Some Android phones have dormant UWB radios in their chips but as far as I know there is not yet ecosystem support for it yet except maybe in limited Samsung devices. That's supposed to coming to Pixels later this year. We'll see.

Yeah the lidar is neat. Mostly just a toy though since most of the photogrammetry is done by the visual camera instead (you can disable the lidar and still get similar results).




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