> Everything there is mostly out to exploit me, or a direct security liability regardless of what app store.

As a shining bright light of hope, I will list some apps I have installed which do not appear to me to fall into those buckets.

1. Anki - Flash cards app, I can memorize stuff. It's really good.

2. KDE Connect - Zero exploitation, open source, even sorta works

3. Peakfinder - So far this app has seemed okay. "I programmed PeakFinder during the day and danced Tango during the night" - Peakfinder's creator

Also, about 70% of the apps on F-Droid https://f-droid.org/ are fine. This is what I miss most about android.

I do think that by percentage more of the iOS apps are exploitative crap or full of ads, probably because you need to pay $100/year for the app to keep existing at all.

One of tricks to get fewer exploitative apps is to avoid iPhone and never install anything that needs google play services.

Also, delete any app that has an ad instantly unless it's really important.