Touch ID is a big win for iOS and has hugely improved the experience of unlocking a phone or verifying a purchase. The various flavors of Android are trying to catch up, without much success—Samsung is the only manufacturer to have brought fingerprint-sensing technology to Android devices on a regular and consistent basis so far.
With Android Lollipop you do get the ability to ‘trust’ areas and even devices (like a Bluetooth car stereo) so that the PIN code is automatically disabled, making for a more customizable and flexible security setup. Lollipop has also finally joined iOS in offering full device encryption by default (on Nexus devices at least—it’s not yet mandatory for others).
iOS vs Android: The 2015 Edition
App security is another common discussion point. There’s no doubt that Android isn’t as locked down as iOS is, and thus it’s easier to get unauthorized software on your devices. That said, if you stick to the Google Play Store, the risk is minimal—last month Google confirmed that all apps are reviewed by staff prior to approval, and scanned for security issues.
As for stability and performance, the waters are muddied by the multitude of Android handsets and older iPhones on the market. The latest data from Crittercism points to a crash rate of 2.26 percent on iOS 8 and 2.2 percent on Android 5.0—on balance it’s perhaps fair to say that iOS and Android both run very smoothly on the latest hardware and are susceptible to the odd hiccup on older devices.
All factors considered, iOS wins in the security department, but not by a huge margin. In part, a slightly higher risk of malware or instability is the price users pay for the extra customizability and flexibility of Android.