What add-ons do you recommend?

Ah fair enough. Yeah moving here from a country where unlimited data was around $3 a month was a shock. That said I get 40 GB for $50 a month with Koodo so I've never even come close to reaching my limit.

Nobody's forcing anyone to opt-in to the beta. If you want new features before the company is ready to release it on a stable channel, you pay for it in a buggier experience. That's literally what a beta means.

I usually keep data turned off on my phone (because Canada)

What does this mean? I'm in Canada and I've got data turned on virtually the entire time

There's no revolutionary advantages. They're a bit easier to toss in your pocket and the outer screen's limited functionality seems to be a good way to do things like check the time, check notifications, turn on/off smart devices, or switch songs without having to open the phone and potentially falling down an instagram/reddit/lemmy rabbit hole

It's pretty much identical to the Apple Find My network, which means you get tracking for phones, trackers, and headphones (support has been confirmed by Google, JBL, Beats, and Sony).

There's really no real reason to stay loyal to a brand when you're using Android. If you like a particular OEM's UI or a feature they provide, good for you! If not, then there's literally no reason not to switch brands. It's not like your apps won't work or your contacts won't move over.

I haven't paid a cent for YouTube in my life. Wouldn't that mean it's free?

For a legitimate question you sure do keep countering answers with "I don't do it so why do you?"

As for why people use a dedicated app? Convenience. All my podcast are in one place, they get updated automatically, and if I want it they get downloaded to storage automatically too so I can listen to them offline.

If someone tells me about a new podcast I might like, I can search for it and be listening to it within seconds, rather than having to download it from a website. Plus if I'm using Google Podcasts, playback is synced across devices so I can pick up on my phone where I left off on my computer.

Besides there's a ton of open source podcast apps and most don't have ads or tracking.

I don't understand it so nobody does

Just because you don't understand what security patches are doesn't mean your phone can't be exploited, especially when it's running an os that's half a decade old.

What do you mean? You're telling me you don't want to watch reviews for the weekly Oppo/Honor/Xiaomi/Nubia phones with identical specs?

My first comment was the most upvoted comment on a subreddit. I got 19 upvoted.