I agree requiring a smartphone in general is a bad idea, but realistically 99.9% of smartphones in the US have iOS or Android. Maybe outdated Android, but I think HN sometimes overestimates the prevalence and practically of alternative smartphone OSs (or gapps-free Android).

With some very rough maths, 0.1% of the US population is still over 330,000 people, and what, all these people should be excluded from renting (perhaps even buying) a home because they don't use the right phone?

My point is if you’re requiring smartphones, realistically you’re only going to target those two OSs. That’s independent of the fact that requiring it to rent an apartment is bad. Pick apart that last 0.1% and it’s mostly end of life devices like Windows/Blackberry.

And yet a key is truely ubiqitous.

It's more about : how are competitors are supposed to arise under these conditions ??

or you have rooted Android without gapps, my case, you can say goodbye to plenty of apps