Yes. Users have always been willing to disable security measures to get shady software. Think of all the free screensaver malware out there. To a pretty big chunk of users basic computer security is inscrutable technobabble.

Given that tons of people blindly mash through any vaguely worded permission box, you either have to have so many strongly worded permission boxes that genuine competitors cry foul (like what Epic alleged Google was doing) or you have to make it easy for people to install alternatives, making it ripe for abuse.

Depends a) on who is doing the adding and b) if they know what they are adding.

Therefor the average user will not be able to keep themselves safe. QED. Om the other hand, I do want root on my devices. It can see both sides and it is not clear to me what the solution is. I have already left Android because I don’t have time or interest to security assess all the evil apps that look real similar to the free flow games I like or the solitaire games. But thirty percent is steep. And arguably Epic can curate games as well or better than Apple. Debian for phones would be good but so far the open source things are pricy and underpowered. And the it is true the Apple store has a lot of bad apps already and fake reviews. Lot of evil people clustering around so many chances to become rich without delighting customers.