SoapDogPosted a long rant about #Apple and how they lost me after being a user for 26 years:
AlexanderMars@soapdog exclusive Apple user since 1985, ditched to Linux and Android.
If I may suggest, first get a Pixel so that you can try several Android ROMs, particularly GrapheneOS which others have recommended. It was the only one my banking app worked with(YMMV) and they've committed to never doing age verification.
If you have lots of friends and family with Apple Stockholm Syndrome(edit: ASS, how did I not see it?), then also check out openbubbles.
@AlexanderMars oh thanks for letting me know about OpenBubbles. That seems really cool. Not sure if I will need it as I plan to migrate to Linux before migrating the phone.
@soapdog open bubbles is great because you don't need to keep a mac around after that initial set up. There's no "server" the phone pretends to be your Mac when communicating with Apple. As long as you have one laptop that can dual boot into macos, you can nuke that partition later if you needed it. You can do it on a phone, but the devs don't recommend it.