I don't doubt that you'll get better customization options with apps, but you aren't doomed to a life devoid of color without them.

We've got some colored lighting in the form of plain old LED strips with wired controllers, we've had a couple old fashioned single color bulbs at times, and there are other options like this: https://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-93100205-Replacement-Spec...

I'd really like to see something like openrgb (openrgb.org) for light bulbs though.