Why does it take so much time for "Require Password" to get turned on/off? Settings &gt; [your name] &gt; iTunes &amp; App Store &gt; Password Settings &gt; Require Password (under FREE DOWNLOADS)
This just takes somewhere between a couple of seconds to a lot of seconds to get turned on/off. It's never worked instantly (even a second's delay that is perfectly observable isn't considered to be instant).
Is it still a thing now? I'm on an iPad Gen 7 (2019 version)
This is not a thing anymore (or maybe just means your device is slow, running poorly):

FaceID makes this setting go away entirely
Turning off FaceID I am able to tap the toggle 6 times in 8 seconds. (Three complete on/off events)

It’s absolutely not instant to enable this as the system has to generate cryptographically secure tokens and store them in the Secure Enclave. Actual work has to be done when you modify this item. From my screen recording, it appears the disable is close to instant and the enable takes the majority of the duty cycle time.