I switch between Main, Recording, and Gaming. Apart from backgrounds I have some apps specifically visible in that Activity, and also have a filtered desktop folder for each (each Activity has files that are only relevant to that activity). I did a video about my switching at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq-7KEeH7_U and how it differs from virtual desktops.
Could be yes - although I seem to think with my transfer from one Samsung to another it brought the files and settings over. Can’t remember for sure now as was over a year ago, but I did not recall any major issue.