The only app I ever paid for through the store was Pixelmator (desktop) and that was when it was $10 a number of years ago. I don't have any paid iPhone apps at all. The impact of the store on me as an end user is mostly zero.
I haven't had to repair anything yet. I've got phones going back to 2015 which have had new batteries and that's it. I took them to Apple and they sorted it within a couple of hours each time. I had one display issue on a 6s back in 2016 and they just gave me a new phone there and then in the store that day. Also you can buy official parts and equipment to repair your stuff from them as well.
I barely use iMessage. It's not a controversy. Everyone here (UK) uses WhatsApp. Half the people out there, even on iPhones don't even know or care what iMessage is.
My mac just sort of works mostly. I have a PC too because I have two bits of software I can't get rid of yet. I'd rather use the Mac because it doesn't kick me in the balls every 30 minutes like the PC does. The PC is a dire experience from hell (Windows 11). And I've got a lot of experience with Linux running back over 25 years and then a decade of commercial unix before thaet. I don't want to take the day job home thanks.
As for privacy, what other options do I have? It's not perfect but it's the least bad. I either use an android infested with microsoft stuff which is full of Telemetry as well as Google stuff which is infested with advertising and tracking or I use just Google stuff which is infested with advertising and tracking or I get a defanged Android which adds a thousand layers of friction to every day of my life.
My position is distinctly "meh" at this point when I hear people telling me what is good for me because they're not telling me that. They're telling me what I am doing is bad for me then going silent when they're asked to cough up a better solution.