Very nice stories. I just switched to Linux on my laptop to avoid all the iCloud ads. Now I'm considering ditching my iPhone too because as you say my laptop and my iPhone no longer work together perfectly anyway. So I have a bunch more options for phones!
I'm actively looking into running mainline Linux on a Snapdragon 845 phone, actually: https://nikodunk.com/2022-11-05-gnome-shell-mobile-with-post...