The point I'm trying to make is less about what Apple and Google are doing for us, and more about what their policies allow developers to do with their apps on their platforms.
Google gives you that freedom (or used to), Apple doesn't. The discussion here is that we Android users want to keep that freedom of choice.
Ok. I am saying GrapheneOS and F-Droid is the answer, but I don't think 17 years of what I would describe as Early Access Android was the way to get there.