Sonalder explained it very well. I just want to emphasize that it’s much more private than any other vpn because its impossible for Nym to keep logs.
I also want to add to his comment that it’s like Tor network but a decentralized one. As there aren’t as many and as fast nodes as in Tor, it’s slower. Here is the owners conversation with the Youtuber The Hated One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVtw-4Eox2E
I have LineageOS installed on my phone. Without the app InviZible Pro from F-Droid, my phone connects to Google servers for connectivity checks, system webview and time adjustments. The disadvantage in terms of privacy of /e/OS would be the default presence of micro g, which is proprietary. In LineageOS it’s not present by default.