Yes.
> have my phone tell me what to do next"
The phone is a tool. It doesn't tell me what to do.
> you are unable to mediate without the help of an app, start here, instead of pretending you are meditating just because some app tells you every step along the way.
Mindfulness and Buddhism is traditionally practiced in a teacher-student setting. Are they all pretending to meditate because they have a teacher telling them what to do every step of the way?
Your entire comment reeks of utter mindlessness. Maybe an app would help?