But out of curiosity what apps didn’t work for you that were deal breakers?

Works for me on Verizon and has for 5+ years. Google Fi even works as I’ve tried that with a different phone on GrapheneOS.

The problem I had with products like Airalo is that if you are traveling and need to actually call a hotel, excursion, or any company in the country you are visiting you cannot do that with just a data eSIM like Airalo.

Sure you could use WiFi calling maybe but in my experience when I really needed to call someone I had to switch back to my original carrier and incur the $10/day fee.