I usually follow creators through RSS, so I mix and match platforms avoiding YouTube for any creator that cross posts. A lot cross post to Odyssey though so if you wanted to have like one app in addition to YT that’d probably be the way to go, or at least worth checking out.

Odyssey is alright. Plenty of generic creators syncing YouTube channels to there, including some surprisingly big ones. I follow them through the subscribe via RSS option though so I can’t say for sure what lies outside the bubble of creators I follow

Google’s a much bigger part of the ecosystem by default. Used to be the Google app store was a selling feature, now Google is integrated into pretty much every device (and has contracts with manufacturers to force that).

It’s also, like Shortwavefilter mentioned, much harder to root or flash a devices.

Though the AOSP has gotten better in ways too. It’s gotten a lot better hardening, and still is fairly open (e.g custom app stores added one click).

Last, there’s still plenty of bloat pre-installed on some brands, but I think that was the case a decade ago as well if my memory is correct.

Honestly I can’t think of too many essential settings or apps that’d be a necessity for everyone. Usually I’d say change privacy settings and disabled as much bloat if you’re not using a ROM; but that might not be applicable if you’re on a work phone. Apps wise, I’d say stick to open source if you can for the basic offline utilities -F-Droid is great for that if you’re allowed to install it.