Have you looked into the Shortcuts app automations, to see whether you can forward incoming SMS to Gmail using that?
Just a couple of days ago, I deleted a shortcut/automation to forward messages to email which I had sitting around for ages. I had disabled it, but I don't remember if I disabled it because didn't need it, or I never got it working. I know WhatsApp was harder.
Free VPN? Does ProtonVPN do what you need?
Edit: By the way, I agree about wanting Android apps. I can't remember what I feel like I'm missing now - I must have learned to live without them.
Just a couple of days ago, I deleted a shortcut/automation to forward messages to email which I had sitting around for ages. I had disabled it, but I don't remember if I disabled it because didn't need it, or I never got it working. I know WhatsApp was harder.
Free VPN? Does ProtonVPN do what you need?
Edit: By the way, I agree about wanting Android apps. I can't remember what I feel like I'm missing now - I must have learned to live without them.