The best app is the one that completes your important task with an acceptable amount of effort. Start by writing that task as a sentence: “Capture a receipt and find it next month,” for example. This gives you something more useful to compare than the longest feature list.
Separate requirements from attractive extras
Choose three requirements that would rule an app in or out. They might concern offline access, sharing with a particular person or exporting a usable file. Keep the list short enough to test. A feature you will rarely use should not outweigh a daily inconvenience.
Include the way you interact with your phone. Apple describes accessibility information that developers can publish in the App Store, including support for Larger Text and VoiceOver. Where those features matter, use the listing as a starting point and check the relevant workflow on your device.
Give each candidate the same small job
Use sample information and repeat the complete task: create, retrieve, change and share or export the result. Notice how you recover from a mistake. A beautiful first screen is less important than being able to find yesterday’s work without remembering an exact title.
Record a few observations immediately. “Needed three attempts to export” is easier to compare than a vague impression that an app felt complicated. Avoid moving your only copy of important information during this exploratory stage.
Check what staying with it requires
Review the permissions and the information the app handles. Apple’s App Privacy Report, when enabled, adds visibility into permission use and network activity; it begins gathering information after you turn it on.
Also identify the billing arrangement and how to manage it. For subscriptions billed through Apple, the subscription settings show the cancellation route. Then decide whether the task improvement justifies the ongoing commitment. Keep the app because it repeatedly helps, and keep an understandable way to take your information elsewhere.