> I like the walled garden and have no interest in it going away. I like that my mom can install apps and not worry about them spying on her.

This is super ironic given how extensively Apple is spying on their customers. I guess you consider it OK too since it's Apple?

And btw, Apple's policy absolutely doesn't prevent spying: Google Chrome is still spying her your browsing habits, Gmail is reading her emails, Whatsapp has all her contact information (including identity and phone numbers of non-consenting friends of her), etc.

Apple policy is about malware, not user privacy.