Choosing the right app for what you want can be easier said than done. A simple search for a photo enhancing app can return a plethora of results and digging through them to find the golden ticket can be overwhelming. Where do you begin when trying to figure out if an app is the best of its kind – and the best at doing what you need? Here is your checklist for how to get the perfect app or collection of apps for your needs. 

Understand its functionality

The first thing you need to do when looking for an app is to check out its main functions in the app description and see if it ticks all the boxes. The next thing to work out is how well it does each of these things.

For example, if you’re looking at a photo editing app to lighten some pictures or do simple manipulation, there’s a multitude of apps that can offer this functionality – but some apps such as Lightroom, specialise in delivering a much leaner interface with less diverse capabilities than apps like Photoshop.

Specialised or leaner design approaches give these apps space to make a workflow and navigation much easier. It’s always worth considering whether your app requires all the bells and whistles of functions you might not use, or if you would be better suited to stripped down and specific software. If you’re more familiar with powerful tools like Photoshop and plan to use all of the functionality then a more all-encompassing software would be the goal.

Make sure the developer is well established

A big giveaway that an app has quality production behind it is that the developer is well established and has some longevity. Sometimes you can hit a golden nugget with a start-up company and supporting growing developers is fantastic – but when it comes to choosing the right app for what you need, going with the household names can be a sure-fire way to success.

If you’re looking at apps for your business, then building your company’s digital system on software tools that you know will be continuously available and improved upon. That means going for the big gun developers who have established a strong name over time.

Read for positive reviews and app ratings

User reviews and star ratings can sometimes be a good litmus test of how well the app will function and whether the experience will be disrupted by bugs and design flaws. How well a developer combats these flaws and offers support can also be gauged with how frequently and appropriately they are responding to these App Store and Google Play reviews.

To get a full understanding though, it’s definitely worth doing a bit or background research. A quick Google search can usually turn up quite a few hits from third party reviewers – which can give you a broader overview of how the general public find using the software and what they think the advantages and disadvantages are.

A review on from a software reviewer on YouTube can be a great way to see the app in action and see the look and feel of the app. A video review will generally cover the main functions of the app, so you can get an idea on whether it’s what you’re looking for or not.

You can also check out the top charting apps in each category you’re looking at – you might find an app that does what you want even more effectively.