Are you seriously implying Apple catching 17 malware apps in 2022 means the App Store isn’t safer than being able to download whatever you want from the internet?
No, I just provided more examples as requested in an attempt to reduce confusion over which parts of the ecosystem are actually providing security. Apple app store is plagued by malicious apps as much as any other place on the internet, but what's making the difference - why these malicious apps are primarily engaging in ad fraud rather than stealing all of your personal data, is OS-level security.
All Apple can do is revoke app certificates and pull the app from the store after someone else discovers their malicious nature. That's a very low bar that can be met by nearly every app store in existence and it would be a reasonable security requirement for anyone who's operating an alternative app store on iOS.
The rest of it is just theater as there's no security-focused special sauce that Apple is providing in this area, despite prevailing beliefs. This is further demonstrated by their acceptance of an obvious impersonator like "LassPass".
