iTrapped: All the things Apple won’t let you do with your iPhone

Send iMessages to someone with an Android phone? Nope. Backup your iPhone to Google Drive? Nope. Get your own iPhone repair parts from Apple? Nope. Transfer your digital life to a different kind of smartphone? Good luck, my friend. When you buy an iPhone, it isn’t really yours.

It’s time to reclaim our iPhones. The debate that’s happening in courts and Congress about Big Tech’s power is also playing out in the palm of our hands.

I’ve used an iPhone for the last 12 years, and like most of you I am not looking to change. But we’ve become so accustomed to restrictions Apple built into the iPhone, we don’t even realize how we’re contorting ourselves to comply — or what we’re missing out on. One sign we’re being manipulated by a monopoly is when it’s hard to even consider an alternative. Apple says it’s protecting our security and privacy, but it has become clear that locking down our iPhones is also about controlling us so Apple can make more money.

This column — an iPhone owner’s Bill of Rights, we-the-people style — is an inventory of the things we ought to be able to do with our iPhones, but Apple won’t let us. Let me know what you agree with, disagree with, and what else you’d add —I’ll accept quill on parchment or email.

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