Struggling With the Notes App... Is Pages Any Easier?

Hello!
Is it just me, or has iOS 18 made the Notes app harder to use with VoiceOver?
In the past, I was able to hide the toolbar and use explore by touch to read the contents of the text field. Now, the editing toolbar contains many more items, including some things that should really be in the Formatting menu, the "Hide Toolbar" button has vanished, and VoiceOver can't seem to locate the text field half the time. Explore by touch reveals empty space, and swiping left and right just shows the toolbar controls and the buttons at the top.
Can the toolbar be customized, or better yet, hidden entirely? I checked Notes settings, and even Googled it, but it seems that most sighted people like the toolbar the way it is, because no one else is asking.
If Notes isn't fixable, I might switch to Pages. I tested it about a year ago. It looked a bit cluttered, but the text field was reliable, at least. Then again, Notes was much more VO-friendly a year ago, so clearly, things could have changed with Pages.
I don't need much fancy formatting, just a place to write individual scenes and chapters of a story. This is a collaborative project. My co-author and I are both VO users, and Notes worked very well for us, until it didn't.
If any of you have experience with Pages, what are your thoughts? Can the formatting controls be hidden or collapsed so they don't get in the way? Does Pages have any bugs that make it particularly labor-intensive to use with VoiceOver?
Thanks for any input!