Skip to main content

The Army is reportedly swapping its buggy Android devices for iPhones

Military autonomous trucks 014
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Changes are afoot in U.S government … in choice of handset, that is. Just this month, U.S. congressional staffers received the disheartening news that they’d no longer have their pick of BlackBerrys, and now the U.S. Army is reevaluating its options, too. According to DOD Buzz, the Army’s Special Operations Command (SOC) will soon eschew the Android phones it uses operationally for a platoon of iPhones.

The reason is a tactical one, apparently. The Android handsets comprise part of the Army’s Assault Kit, a “battlefield situational awareness tool” that’s intended to provide a big-picture overview of troop maneuvers by plotting troop movements on an electronic, communal map. They also serve as miniature mobile command stations, allowing troop leaders to stay abreast of “intelligence, surveillance, [and] reconnaissance sensor feeds” using a networked radio, according to DOD Buzz.

Recommended Videos

The only problem? The Samsung-supplied Android units fail frequently. DOD Buzz reports that the handsets “freeze up” and require frequent reboots, and apparently become particularly uncooperative when attempting to view video feeds from unmanned aerial systems — drones. “‘When [pulling up] a split screen showing the route and UAS feed, the Android smart phone [sic] will freeze up and fail to refresh properly and often have to be restarted,'” according to DOD Buzz’s source. “‘[It’s] a process that wastes valuable minutes.'”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The iPhones, by contrast, suffer from no such maladies. “‘It’s seamless on the iPhone,'” said DOD Buzz’s route. “‘The graphics are clear, unbelievable.'” In light of that finding, the Army is reportedly moving swiftly to swap Android kits for iPhone 6S variants, although DOD Buzz wasn’t able to discern a timeline.

Assuming the field reports are accurate, it’s tough to fault the Army for this move. Smartphones within the United State’s armed forces have become essentially indispensable, thanks to programs like the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Transformative Apps. Troops download software distributed via a secure server to perform tasks like identifying high-risk combat zones; tracking drones in real time; calculating the ballistics of a sniper shot; avoiding friendly fire casualties; reviewing weapons and ammunition specs; measuring nearby radiation levels; and much, much more. There’s always pen and paper when those apps don’t work properly, but wasted seconds are dangerous seconds on an active battlefield.

We’ve reached out to the Army for comment, and we’ll update this article once we hear back.

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple has stopped selling these three iPhones in the EU. Here’s why
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) being held in a mans hand.

From today forward, the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, and the third-gen iPhone SE are no longer available for purchase in the majority of European Union countries. We knew this was coming after a set of EU guidelines stipulated that all mobile devices must charge through USB-C.

You'll no longer find any of these phones for sale online in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and most other EU countries, according to MacRumors. The iPhone 14 generation was the last to use Lightning cables, so rather than update an already-outclassed handset, Apple pulled the devices from the market.

Read more
Apple’s futuristic iPhone display may not be released for a while longer
Someone holding an iPhone 16, showing a home screen.

If you wish to use an iPhone with virtually no bezels around the screen, you will need to wait a little longer than initially thought. A new industry report says the release of Apple's long-rumored OLED display with "zero bezels" for the iPhone has slid further into an uncertain timeline.

South Korean outlet The Elec, which was the first to report of the existence of a "zero-bezel" iPhone display, has now reported the launch date is unforeseeable because the technology "is not yet developed enough."

Read more
I finally have RCS on my iPhone, and it’s one of my favorite iOS 18 features
An iPhone 16 Pro showing RCS messaging.

Apple’s Messages app has certainly come a long way. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it could only send SMS -- there weren't even picture messages. Then it got MMS protocol support in iPhone OS 3.0 with the iPhone 3GS. With iPhone OS 5.0, Apple implemented its own iMessage chat protocol, making it easy for Apple users to communicate with other Apple device users.

However, when it came to messaging Android users, Apple dragged its feet for the longest time, sticking with SMS and MMS, which aren’t encrypted and don't offer full-quality photo and video sending. It also sparked the whole blue bubble versus green bubble war.

Read more