I still can't get over the fact we allow Smartphones, the tiny PC we carry around everywhere, to be controlled by someone else.

Sure, you could take back some of that control, but
Apple will straight up sue you for jailbreaking their devices
while Android works mostly fine, except for banking or other ID related apps that we are forced to use for basic services nowadays.

Why is this okay?
I'm calling bullshit on "for our own safety".