Good for privacy! But I really doubt it would work for all recognition systems.

Some funny pitfalls that may occur - Self driving cars would prefer to hit that person if had to make a choice between him and some other human. And, there is possibility that the Street mapping cars would not blur his face for the lack of detection.

+1 for recommending Fossify over ‘SimpleApps’

Extending the reply for ‘Sandboxed Play Store … F-Droid … Aurora Store’ -

1. In case of Sandboxed Play Store - we’d need to login via a Google account in order to be able to download apps. Also, when we allow network access to the Play Store, it may send device info, app downloaded, updated etc related telemetry to Google. Also expect the promoted apps/games ads in the Play Store home screen.
2. In case of Aurora Store - we can use it via Anonymous User or we can supply our own Google Account. Aurora Store just uses the credentials to download apps from Google Play, but other telemetry is limited compared to Play Store.
3. In case of F-Droid store - It mostly hosts open-source Apps. And has cautions whenever an app uses proprieray libraries, code or needs access to specific network(eg - Telegram FOSS needs Telegram Servers access to function) in order to work.

I’d recommend you have both - F-Droid and Aurora Store. If you need to access the Play Store subscriptions, then you’d need to install Play Store as well.