You said it's different from spying because there is no PII in the information. Now you're saying it's different because it's not given to app owners.

Why is it relevant whether they provide it to app owners directly? The issue people have is the information is logged now and abused later, in whatever form.

Which has clear logically consistency, at the app owner level, which is the context of my reply.

If the app owner can't obtain PII, I don't believe the app owner is spying.

Is Apple spying?

> Routing like this requires trust

It depends on if you trust them, and their privacy policy. If they're functioning as a PII stripping proxy, as they claim, then I would claim no, to the extent of what's technically possible. I would also claim that a trustworthy VPN is not spying on you. YOMV.