You could definitely argue that you do not wish to or cannot have this app on your device. Buying a smartphone and installing the app for you would probably be the management’s next step. A cheap $100 smartphone costs relatively nothing compared to a year of NYC rent ($25k-$75k). So you would probably be stuck carrying two phones around.
I’m not sure a phone contract would be needed, especially if the building has WiFi.
So you would probably be stuck carrying two phones around.
The main point is that if landlords want to go this route -- they must provide means of egress, without any additional costs imposed upon the tenant (unless agreed to otherwise in the lease).
This idea that they can just decide to require that you go out and buy smartphone (or to run their app on your phone) in order to gain entry to your apartment -- again, unless you've agreed to a lease that says otherwise -- is (despite what both the lawyer and the columnist in the original article) just nonsense, in any jurisdiction (such as NYC) with a reasonably healthy suite of tenant protect law on the books.
I’m not sure a phone contract would be needed, especially if the building has WiFi.