Originally there was a technical reason for that: Google Fi uses several carriers, not just T-Mobile, to increase coverage, and at the time preliminary iPhone support first came out for Google Fi, iPhones didn't have support for connecting to two carriers at once and switching back and forth between them based on signal.
So right now, someone on Google Fi with an iPhone and someone on Google Fi with an Android phone can be standing next to each other, and the Android phone could have great signal while the iPhone has zero signal because T-Mobile has no coverage at that location.
I don't know if iPhones now support that; if they do, then there's no longer any technical reason iPhones couldn't have first-class support for Fi.
It is worth noting that even with this upgrade, Google FI is still just a T-Mobile MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) on the iPhone. The Verizon, Spring and US Cellular networks are not supported on the iPhone.
Sorry, I did not mean to say that is how it is but how it seemed. My understanding is that the modems aren’t capable. That being said, activation is done only with a nexus or pixel device (software) and while switching might be a hardware issue, iPhone works on both sprint and Tmobile (on an iPhone on Tmobile after moving from Verizon) and so google fi should still work.
As I mentioned, I AM already using Google Fi on my iPhone. What does not work is the hardware feature of handing off between providers mid-flight. With my [now deceased] Nexus X, a call would seamlessly [to me, anyways] switch between providers during medium/longer commutes. With my iPhone using just T Mobile, calls get dropped during my daily route as there are certain "T Mobile blind spots".
Google Fi phones will accept any SIM card, they're not locked down at all. However, the Google Fi service will only work properly with designated phones. If you stick a Fi SIM in a non-Fi unlocked phone, you only get T-Mobile service.
(I've done this with a backup phone - both an iPhone 7 and a Moto E4 - when my Pixel was being RMAed)
I wanted to switch to Fi many times, but I have an iPhone and when you use Fi on iPhone, only t-mobile network is accessible and they don't have an app for iOS like they do for android.
Google Fi only allows Their Nexus and Pixel phones on their network. It is like an ISP seeing that you are running Linux and not letting your traffic through, just a bit more complicated than that. (SIM Card, Modems, Frequencies)
Although Google Fi claims to support eSIM, the front-line support was unable to help me connect an iPhone 13 Pro, and the back-line support never responded. The solution was to buy a physical SIM card.
Perhaps Google is uniquely incompetent, but I would be very wary about assuming that an eSIM-only phone will work with a given provider.
Once Google Fi is activated, it can work on iPhones and other devices. I use it all the time when traveling. Data-only SIM cards are free on Fi, (with no monthly recurring fee) so you can roam on multiple devices and only pay a very low fee ($10/gig) for what you use.
That's for official support. Project Fi worked fine on my iPhone SE.
However, I had problems with Project Fi sending my calls to random other peoples' phones across the country even when I was using my sim in my Nexus so I went back to T-Mobile.
> Project Fi isn't supposed to work with Apple phones. Turns out that it does work, somewhat. I hear there's limitations (it only uses the T-Mobile network, none of the international data works)
I have been using Google Fi on iPhone since they allowed it. Supposedly still in beta but works great. It's true that it's limited to T-Mobile (sadly) but it does include international data, same as in Android. Still one of the main reasons to stick with Fi, honestly.
It's not that they're blocking iOS, but more that iPhones don't support the network.
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