But Apple will change those "warnings" into straight-up lies, and fail to mention the user can override them, and hide those overrides in non-discoverable places:

Whenever I try to open an unverified app, this popup comes up saying "[AppName] Not Opened" "Apple could not verify [AppName] is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy." Then there's only two options to either press "Done" or "Move to Trash." - https://old.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1ekv55h/cant_right_cli...

Your only option is to click on OK button, which won’t open the app. So how do you do it? - http://www.peter-cohen.com/2016/12/how-to-open-a-mac-app-fro...

Apple knowingly falsely claiming unsigned apps are "damaged": https://appletoolbox.com/app-is-damaged-cannot-be-opened-mac...

This also implies that Apple does verify that app store apps are free from malware, when that's not the case. It only verifies that they are from a developer who paid the fee and whose apps pass Apple's automated screens.

Apple does verify that App Store apps are free from known malware. https://support.apple.com/guide/security/about-app-store-sec...

And yet, that is still less bad than what Android is doing.