It's apple's appstore that is being dystopian. Not being able to install free apps without providing a credit card is ridicilous. I have 0 apps from the appstore on my work laptop for this reason.
you can use the App store without a credit card. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204316
>4. Enter your credit card and billing information, then tap Next. You can also choose None.
If you could install your own App Store, there would be no issues.