If it’s any consolation, “one handed mode” (at least on pixels) has an option to let you bring the shade down by swiping down on the gesture bar
Swiping down on the fingerprint scanner was my favorite thing on my pixel 5, for checking notifications or fidgeting with it! I was a little bummed when I eventually upgraded, but found that and it works relatively well
Back tap is pretty sick, I have it set up to trigger my flashlight
How are the false positives when using your phone and the notification shade? Sometimes I’ll get false positives holding my phone resting against a hard surface and blast whatever’s behind it