That's odd, I got lots of friends om the 9a and they don't have many issues, outside of banking apps and some proprietary apps. I'd advise trying again if you're still relatively open to it.

To counter what you said earlier, it's not just a "privacy advantage" it's the difference between no privacy (closed source iOS) and nearly 100% privacy. GrapheneOS is really one of, if not the most, user friendly FOSS privacy projects we have. If you're not willing work with it, you're going to give up without a fight as they clamp down on privacy in all aspects of life. Really we should be excercising our ingenuity and patience to constantly push for more privacy and sovereignty, not concede with minimal resistance.