tbc I think F-Droid is much _more_ secure than Play. What I am saying is I have many family members who can just about follow the rule "First search F-Droid then search Play". No, they are not going to use a phone with only F-Droid software*. Most will probably take the deal with the Devil; and those that won't, even if they chose a great ROM, will end up using apkpure.com and be substantially less secure.

* Guessing you have to search for Fennec to get a relatively respectful Browser is one thing; no banking, doctors, taxi apps rules out anyone who has ever run stock.