> All those Apple-specific icons with the different dimensions- really a pain for a casual web dev like me.

You'll be glad to know you it's not like that anymore; you just need one Apple-specific icon now [1]:

    <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico" sizes="32x32">
    <link rel="icon" href="/icon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
    <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png"><!-- 180×180 -->
    <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.webmanifest">

[1]: https://evilmartians.com/chronicles/how-to-favicon-in-2021-s...