> Maybe I just don't mind having an app on my phone because I know that I can set it to basically never bother me.

Apps are a problem in more ways than just the nuisance of notifications and having an icon on your home screen.

As long as an app is installed it can run in the background whenever it feels like it collecting and sending data. If you have a physical product that requires an app to use, it may not bother you until you go to use it and it fails because a server shut down or it refuses to run because it silently updated at some point and has now decided that your phone is no longer supported and suddenly the product you paid for is useless.

If you are very careful about which apps you install/refuse to install you'll probably be fine, but most companies that push apps are doing it because they want your device to work for their benefit at your expense.