My choices:
- Desktop: Manjaro Gnome, because it feels like macOS. It even does the 3 finger swipe up to see all your apps with Apple's Touchpad. My wireless Apple Keyboard also works fine.
Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/UYPfgkC
To install it on my older MacBook Pro from 2014, but I had to use Android internet tethering to install the WiFi driver. To install it on my super new desktop, I had to use an ISO with a newer Kernel (5.13) due to the Radeon 6700 XT graphics card. I got that one from https://github.com/manjaro/release-review/releases/ instead of the Manjaro main website.
- Phone: I considered a Pixel with CalyxOS, but ended up buying a OnePlus 8T with microG variant of LineageOS from https://lineage.microg.org
Alternatively a Pixel phone would also run this version of LineageOS. MicroG (https://microg.org/) re-implements some parts of Google Play Services, while safeguarding your privacy, like push notifications. It also has some other Google-specific features re-implemented. I have over 40 apps and only found 1 that didn't work so far (which is Uber Eats, because they seem to require Google Advertisement ID). I pushed a modified Google Camera app to it (from https://www.celsoazevedo.com/), so my camera is better supported. I think only 3 out of 4 cameras are working, but I don't care.
- Watch: Amazfit GTR 2e with the official app. Alternatively it should work with Gadgetbridge if you don't want to use the offical app ("Zepp"). Amazfit GTR 2 is a better option if you want it to have WiFi and want to store music on it. Alternatives I considered: OnePlus Watch and Fossil Hybrid.
Apple features that I gave up:
- Apple Carplay: Because I don't want to use the Google ecosystem, Android Auto is not an alternative. I'll use my car's own GPS system, or I'll end up using my phone's offline maps.
- Apple Pay: My bank luckily has a contactless payment app for my phone, but I won't be making payments with my watch anymore.