@twestrick Thanks, yeah I saw that note, also aware about @ion-native and working on the move.
I am planning on upgrading but I need to support dynamic links for the next few months.
I have resolved the privacy manifest issue. It seems there is a workaround for old packages/SDKs. I am now in the app store 
Details here: Handling Privacy Manifest Requirements with Outdated Firebase and Angular Version - #9 by wekas
Now that the short-term headache is over, the new plan is to avoid updating individual packages in the project, as it’s a massive hassle. My packages are severely outdated, with many redundant settings dating back to Ionic 3.
In a few months when I no longer need to support dynamic links, I’ll create a brand-new Ionic/Capacitor project using the latest versions of everything and migrate my code over. This will allow me to remove unsupported packages and replace them with current alternatives that serve the same purpose.
@ciccilleju there is a way to sort the privacy manifest with old SDK’s see my other post linked above.
On a side note stackoverflow moderators are closing any questions around the privacy manifests, not sure why but at least I can post in here about them.