Let’s keep in mind the user story: “Being able to wirelessly perform an incremental backup of all your photos and data is life-changing”
The LOL is telling your Mom about DropbearSSH when this is now how iCloud Photos and Files just works. The equivalent goal is baked in.
You can still use cables or local WiFi via iTunes, but now all media and files sync over-the-air as files, along with an incremental backup of all state.
For the first time in last fall’s iPhone hardware upgrade, I didn’t use a wired backup/restore and every app’s and settings worked, along with device config. I’ve had an iPad Pro unexpectedly need replacing, no wired backup/restore needed. All my stuff syncs across all devices including desktop, all ambiently available.
The life changing part is confidence it’s working to the point of not having to think about it any more.
// Note: Photos and media end up as originals on Mac, along with all files. Those all backup in turn to Backblaze, for loss scenarios not covered by rsync style replication.
Everything in iCloud, including your encrypted messages, are easily accessible to Apple[0] and will be released without a fight, despite Apple's vaunted privacy stance. (Perhaps that social contract has some fine print if the CEO of your company looks at your files and decides you're guilty without wasting time with 'a jury of your peers' and all that nonsense.)
Android (with Google) offers the same functionality (AFAIK) as iCloud, but sometimes you just prefer that your private photos remain just that.
For non-jailbroken devices that wouldn't be possible in the same way, but an app could certainly implement SSH with libraries (photos, contacts, etc) exposed as a filesystem and interpret a set of commands (like rsync).