As you didn’t read the article:

“This move seems driven by the government’s interest in collecting and centralizing biometric data for identification, tracking, and surveillance purposes,” he said. Omar agreed: “Probably to keep track of the refugees.”

They hand out SIM cards to track those SIM cards. Using a certain messaging app on the phone or not doesn’t change SIM card tracking within the network.

The old Hue app still works and I’m also using Hue Essentials, both without any account.

I have a Hue bridge of the 1st generation and a few years ago, the original app was showing pop-ups, that I need to get a new bridge because of the new app that will no longer support my old bridge. So I just kept the old app and the old bridge. Works like a charm all offline.

When I added a motion detector two years ago, the old app didn’t find it for setup. That’s when I tested the alternative app Hue Essentials and it works just fine offline.