The alternative is progressive disclosure and contextual actions, mostly. Only show buttons and options when they are functional (e.g., a fixed bottom nav bar changes to copy/cut/paste only when text is selected, otherwise it displays nav icons, or changes to something else entirely on some other action).

For overflow, have the bottom nav bar slide up (kind of like old iOS control center) to reveal more options, just have to be cautious not to re-create the three dots menu junk drawer in there too.

I think the three-dot menu junk drawer is just a result of lazy design from a goal of re-using the same UI everywhere, no matter the OS.

If we want good design, then (collective) we need to start making unique native UIs per platform, using that platform’s toolkits and HIG instead of “branded” experiences using cross platform UIs.

That’s for mobile, for desktop just dump mobile design entirely. Go full on information density, menus, etc. Make it designed to be navigated with a keyboard and a mouse.