No problem browsing STW on my Google Pixel 3 flashed with Lineage OS. That’s got more niche points I feel. Ergo your argument invalidated 100% :-p
Damn sidetracked, only really came here to gloat about an Apple product not working properly and express my lack of sympathy!
So, how old is the Pixel 3, anyhow? The iPhone 7 was released in 2016, so six years old. I noticed that you’ve played around with the software, something the great majority of phone users, neither know how to do, or care about doing. My iPhone 5, when I replaced it, was six years old, and starting to show its age, as most smartphones do, continued updates of operating systems outgrow the abilities of the hardware to cope.
Of course, there’s a very large number of Android phones shipped with out of date versions of the OS, and which never, ever get upgrades…
Re: the iP7 – it might be worth making sure it’s fully backed up, do a Factory reset and re-install everything, starting fresh. Then set DuckDuckGo as the search in Safari, and install either DuckDuckGo or Firefox, or all of them, and set DuckDuckGo as search on all of them. Don’t use Chrome, and don’t use Google as search.
I haven’t had any significant issues with STW on either my iPhone or my iPad for a few years now, basically because I stopped using Google as search, and use one or other of the suggested browsers. I also use a VPN as well. It completely stopped runaway advertising garbage screwing up the usability of the site, which is why I pay for membership.