Sadly, this kind of thing with Apple has become the norm. I've experienced similar myself and heard anecdotal similarities from friends and family. My next mobi

Sadly, this kind of thing with Apple has become the norm. I've experienced similar myself and heard anecdotal similarities from friends and family. My next mobile will likely be a PinePhone, and my next laptop will be from System76. I'd rather roll my own private ecosystem anyway, as I don't do anything in the "cloud". Between teaching my children on the Raspberry Pi and mucking about with this and that, it's far less expensive and more sane to stay out of anyone's ecosystem. I get that for a lot of people, it's all about the apps. I guess I'm one of those odd, rare people who don't use a single app. I just can't be bothered and I see no value in giving up what little privacy I have remaining.