Sounds like they're basically requiring parental controls on device, which I think is the optimal solution. Though a lot of parental control apps get really privacy invasive.
It's true, but it's also not an excuse. They broke the law because they were unlawfully collecting this data without explicit consent. They should absolutely be getting fucked for privacy violations.
I have a lot of complaints about this too, but namely lack of seamless updates is baffling to me.
Luckily I found Droid-ify and solves both those problems. Also has the common repos frequently added, like IzzyOnDroid, easily pre-available to enabled in the settings.
This definitely replaced the archaeic fdroid client for me, they desperately need an overhaul as it's a terrible first impression.
You say that from your signed in account