I have an EPSON MFP, had the exact same experience. Their mobile app integrates with everything I need and the amount of control I have over printing settings is great.
They introduced recharging cartridges, dropping ink prices by an order of magnitude, while still keeping ink quality very high. Third party ink quality was always hard to predict, I prefer relying on the manufacturer's.
My point is, I've been printing from IOS (via AirPrint) and Android (via Google Cloud Print) for 5 years, never installed an app. I've also printed (wirelessly) from Mac and Windows, never downloaded their drivers, or installed any software, or created an account, or passed any personal data, etc. There's no subscription either. It just works as is.
As long as Brother will make printers that work that way, I will continue to buy them.
You can certainly do that on Epsons and other brands.
The app gave me much better experience by integrating with Dropbox, Drive, Evernote, etc. It's extremely easy to print/scan documents from/to the cloud.
They introduced recharging cartridges, dropping ink prices by an order of magnitude, while still keeping ink quality very high. Third party ink quality was always hard to predict, I prefer relying on the manufacturer's.
I'm happy with their approach.