Do you mean water lock?

It’s almost as convenient now, albeit behind a different button: press once on the side button to bring up control center. You should find water lock there.

What’s more annoying, I’ve found, is that end workout now requires two button presses. End and yes, really do end workout. 🤦‍♂️

Syncing over iCloud drive works well (Obsidian, iOS).

The question you ask in the title is a more general one that you ask in the title.

Yes, Gentoo is a good choice.

No, it is not worth compiling every package. This should not be the main reason you choose Gentoo.

Admittedly, I started with Gentoo for the same reason (per-package compilation), hoping for performance gains. However, I stayed because of the excellent documentation, the great user community; the rolling versions; the customizability and control I have over my system, the choices I need to make when installing, and keep making as the install is continuously set up over the years.

I’ve tried quite a few distros over the (+20) years of Linux-use. I keep choosing Gentoo.