Need to use the restroom in the middle of a movie but don’t want to miss any juicy parts? There’s an app for that.

The age of the smartphone is upon us, and since we began to have the power of the internet in our pockets, our tiny computers have evolved beyond a simple means of communication—they’re our schedules, our photo books, our grocery shoppers, and our intelligent world maps. Instead of waiting for a cab or calling a taxi service, just tap a few buttons and you’ll have a cheap ride. Are you feeling hungry but especially lazy? Watch as food magically appears at your doorstep, hot and ready to eat.

Nowadays, going without your phone for a day feels like you’re not wearing any clothes. And similar to choosing a place to live, choosing an operating system and device that meets your needs is important. You’re going to be interacting with it every day, and you’ll need it to perform duties based on your unique work life and lifestyle.

Two monoliths monopolize the market—Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. So, the critical question consumers are faced with is this: what’s better, iOS or Android?

Price

The iOS system is only available on Apple’s iPhones, which have historically been top-dollar in the smartphone market—the iPhone X took the price bracket next-level, to a start of $1,000. But on the (slightly) more affordable range, you can find the iPhone XR for $750 or the iPhone 8 for $800. Your last option before diving into the secondhand marketplace is the iPhone 7, which runs around $450.

Andriod’s boundless variety of devices make it fall nearly everywhere on the price spectrum. You can get the Alcatel 1X for under $100, or you can opt for the Galaxy S10 plus for an iPhone-equivalent price—over $1,000. Android also is the king of the free-app marketplace, so it makes it attractive to the budget-conscious along with many options for those seeking the best systems.

Updates

Apple offers consistent and simple security updates, bug fixes, and software updates—almost 80 percent of iOS devices are running the latest version, and this is mainly thanks to their continued, timely updates. If you have an iPhone 5S—now considered an outdated phone—you can have the same iOS software as those with an iPhone XS (but hardware limitations could slow things down).

By contrast, Android users are all over the map. A tiny percentage are running the latest Android 9.0 Pie, and the 8.1 Oreo has just 7.1 percent of users. Moving down in generations, the 7.0 Nougat has 18.1 percent of the market, and the 5.1 Lollipop, which was made available in 2014, still has over 14% of the Android user market.

Performance

Overall, the iOS system and iPhones feel a smidge faster than that of the Android system, mainly due to Apple’s UI and touch detection rate as well as their custom, heavily-optimized A-series chips. But Android’s faster phones demonstrate comparable speeds, with the iOS and iPhone’s speed advantage being nearly negligible.

Interface

On average, we look at our phones hundreds of times a day. So, naturally, we’d want a device with a smooth interface and navigations. Available with the Android system is live wallpapers, theme packs, and customizable widgets (like live weather info, stocks, social updates) that can live in various places on your device.

Widgets were finally made available in iOS but have to be accessed manually with either a swipe to the side or a swipe down.

Battery Life

In this day and age, consumers need a device that can keep up with their day. Both Android and iOS allow users to view their battery usage, but Android gives you an estimate on just how much time you have left before your phone is kaput. Both systems offer power-saving modes, but the customizable features run far and wide on Android, and some Android devices have much bigger batteries that will outlast any iPhone.

Voice Assistant

iOS’s Siri is a useful mini-assistant to store in your back pocket. She’ll make calls, set calendar appointments, calculate tips, and much more. But according to iPhone X owners, who rate nearly every feature in the 90th percentile and above, Siri’s satisfaction scores reach only 20 percent.

The Information found that Siri is a “major problem” within Apple and remains “limited compared to the competition”—i.e., Google Assistant. Android’s voice assistant seems to check all the boxes, and according to experts and consumers alike, remains superior to iOS’s Siri.

Apps

Apps are a phone’s bff, and the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store each have a few perks and downsides. The number of Android Apps available hovers around 3.5 million while Apple’s weighs in at about 2.2 million, but it’s not just the numbers that differ. There’s a much higher percentage of free apps available within Google Play.

But even though Google Play has more at your fingertips, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all better. Traditionally, the best apps become available on the Apple App Store first because it’s a more lucrative market for app developers. What’s more is the best games tend to pass through Apple first and don’t always land a spot on Google Play’s marketplace.

Memory/Storage

Apple’s newest iPhones offer anywhere from 64 to 256GB of memory, while Android’s best systems rank in from 64GB to a hefty 512GB. However, both offer cloud storage—Apple’s iCloud and Android’s Google Drive. Both are similar in cost and scope and each offers a monthly fee of $10 for an entire terabyte of storage.

As technology evolves, it’s meshing deeper with the way we live, aiming to make life a little easier so we can—on occasion—put the devices down and venture out to the world. Which OS works best, be it iOS or Android, is entirely up to you and your unique lifestyle.