Hello and welcome to the Community. The most impactful way to make change your user experience is to install a launcher (method 1 in your link). Launchers need some permissions to function properly, so there is always a privacy and security risk involved. This also won't change how your settings look, but you'll probably spend most of your time in the launcher and inside the apps you use.
That being said, I would recommend you try GrapheneOS for a few days without forcing it to behave in a way it's not meant to. You might actually like what you see, because it is set up to be easy to use while at the same time having more customizability than iOS (widget control, sorting apps, privacy and security settings, appstore selection etc.). If after a few days you still miss the iPhone experience, you can try out different launchers and icon packs.