I made a spreadsheet, embarrassingly across two cities, so the sample is at least reasonable. Whichever option you pick, how much the interface pushes a subscription sets the ceiling on what you can achieve.

I read a lot of conflicting advice first across two cities, and I would do it the same way again. In my testing, whether the app works on a slow connection becomes obvious only after a month. The trend was steady again and again for both of the accounts I tested.

The checklist I ended up with:

  • Ask how much the app relies on push notifications — this is the one I would check first.
  • Whether the user base skews heavily in your area
  • How the app behaves after a fortnight away — this is the one I would check first.

I did the comparison properly with a bit of patience, rather than just skimming a couple of apps. Across all of them, how the ranking rewards activity is what people are really complaining about.