Speaking of children, I think you A) massively overestimate the security that Apple's current review process provides (it's really just an automated virus scanner, and not a very good one at that; nobody actually reviews the apps by hand) and B) assume for some reason that the EU would cavalierly conflate the rights of children with the rights of adults. There are tons of regulations that treat the two groups quite differently, and allowing parents to control the freedoms of their own children would not be incompatible with this regulation.
I choose to let Apple be my nanny and police the apps. That’s the choice. Does everyone need to be forced to make that choice? No. But the reason the platform is nice and polished is largely because they can make hundreds of millions run the same thing.
I use an iPhone because I value the managed experience, somewhat more like an appliance than a computer. I already have enough computers in my life. I don’t want more of them.
I’ve literally never had any issue transacting with businesses through my phone. I can download the food delivery app and get dinner. I can download the transit app and get to where I’m going. What are these scams you speak of? Who are the dodgy people that Apple would allow through my hypothetical door?
The dodgy salespeople are the ones selling over-priced apps that ask for unnecessary permissions.
Of course, all of that covers the few friends who want to take my money. In reality, nearly all of my friends aren't selling anything, they just want to hang out in my pad. They value my company in other ways which the door doesn't concern itself with.
And if it turns out one of my friends wants to surveil my home and send the information onto a third party, the door makes sure I'm okay with that first. Thanks, door! While it's true that the door isn't perfect and can't spot every scam, I'm still overall more comfortable in my home.
And when I want to risk getting beaten up by the local mafia, I don't need to uninstall my door — I can just hop into my very comfortable patio shed any time I want. It doesn't even have a door at all, only some Windows.
--
[1] Epic sets their price for commercial use of their APIs. Why can't Apple? I've never understood why Epic are allowed to be such hypocrites here.
[2] Epic hasn't been able to turn a profit on their Epic Games Store with a 12% margin. And they're not even maintaining an entire ecosystem; just a file downloader and game launcher client.