If you are going to buy this hardware in the first place it's better to buy
the lesser restrictive hardware. Apple goes out of its way to do everything
it can to prevent you from owning your hardware. They make the hardware
impractical to repair by designing them in such a way that they break if you
try. They release patches to brick phones and prevent jail breaking. They
bully everybody into self-serving policies.
Some of the aspects that make these phones nicer come from GNU/Linux
(repositories). It's the restrictive nature and how they incorporates the
concepts that is so problematic.
It's completely acceptable to implement policies to protect users interests
(security) that a technical user might not like. Such as disabling the
installation of non-repository software. The problem is you can't disable
that. What it should be is a means to implement self-serving policies that
create monopolies and allows the dictation of prices or eliminates free
software. It's one thing to limit software. This could be done in a fairer
non-discriminatory manor. Like listing software by rating, only listing
applications with a GUI (no libraries by default or similar). That shouldn't
be an issue. Even implementing a system that locks out some applications
isn't a problem. Debian doesn't allow in every application which is written.
There are policies which restrict whom can become a Debian maintainer
(requires two other maintainers approval). I should point out that Debian
isn't free software perfect and aren't a FSF approved distribution. The
distribution is probably the next best thing after a non-FSF approved
distribution though. Debian has for instance removed proprietary drivers /
firmware.
