Perhaps a solution to this would be using an app like Mastodon Redirect? The app does the work of getting instance links so they can be automatically opened and there is also a variant called Lemmy Redirect for Lemmy. The catch is that both developers need to support it and users have to enable each instance manually or run through various commands to do them all at once.

I love Sync’s theming and looks but Infinity for Lemmy is also looking promising.

There are a lot more customization options in Lawnchair compared to Pixel Launcher so that’s one.

I’ve cut out most “for profit” social media. Main reason being is that the UX on a lot of clients for the Fediverse are miles ahead and aren’t bloated with crap.

Yep

I use Thunder because it’s the most M3 looking app but still pretty functional.

Assuming “fuck you” money is along the lines of being able to give away money without feeling a hit, I think it would be very interesting to use the money to donate to small open source projects to help them grow and expand with new features and resources.