It's weird how the first half of your response miss-characterizes what I said and the second half basically sums up what I said.

Or did you not think that my comments about trusting Google searches extended to using critical thinking when it comes to App Store results? That would be weird.

I think you folks are making this a lot more of a thing that it is. The way I see it, if you don't already know what app you need (because you need it for a service you already use**, for example), here's what I do:

1- Google search for the app category, look for reputable resources in the results
2- See what they have to say and determine if any of the apps jump out at you
3- Go to any other resources you have available for opinions, like social media, or ancient discussion boards for long-defunct consumer electronic devices
4- See what the App Store brings up
5- Compare your notes
6- Try out all of the free apps and any paid apps you're willing to try

Is that crazy? Why is this contentious?

I was just suggesting that the best apps are probably going to pop up on the most lists in your research. That doesn't seem too controversial to me. I didn't even say always, just usually.

I say this as someone who's most-used app is a middlingly-popular podcast app called Pocket Casts.

And if you find that diamond in the rough, then good for you! Congrats!

**this describes probably 90% of the apps on my phone