Well, all the sortware is free and the code is open source for non-commercial use. I am not sure if it technically counts are free software but you can always have a copy of the older code and use that.
Why do you expect Apple to increase your privacy over Google? It’s just moving from one megacorporation to another. You have no reason to expect better privacy.
No, it is simply not possible for a company woth multiple developers to work on bugs and new features at the same time.