Piece of shit iOS has absolutely zero privacy for God's sake

I'm setting up an iPhone for someone and after setting it up without a
login/password, she wants to add apps from the app store. Sigh.

I already was forced by Apple to set it up with a Wi-Fi access point, which
isn't too bad as even Android tablets would need to have Wi-Fi access to be
used (although only an iOS device *requires* it for the initial setup!).

This lack of privacy on an iOS device is simply astounding.
Yet Apple lies about privacy in their advertising.

Why don't the idiot consumers realize they're being lied to by Apple?
Anyway, it's an iPad so I'm stuck with the total loss of privacy.

So I'm at this moment creating an account which allows me to give bogus
information for most of the data (which insists on a last name & DOB).

But the lack of privacy on an iOS device rears its ugly head with the
verification process - which - as far as I can tell - requires your phone!
 <https://i.postimg.cc/nhG215Wb/IMG-0001.jpg>

WTF?

Doesn't Apple advertise privacy?
Where is it?

Why is it that *every* other common consumer operating system can be set up
without giving the mothership your phone - except Apple's POS iOS setup?

Is there a way to SKIP that privacy-robbing collection of your phone?