Question In your opinion, what's a good place to find app and game reviews?

[ManicIowa62]

Not much else to say, just something that's relatively better than just the Google Play Store by itself, and maybe allows you to search by "purchase model" as in, one time purchase vs subscription (the latter being more common, but that doesn't mean a consumer shouldn't be able to find the ones that still work the other way)

 

[VidJunky]

Do you not feel like you can trust the reviews at the Play Store?

Anyway, the mainstream advice around here is to use trusted sources for anything you install on your device. Those would be Google Play Store, Amazon App Store, your carrier's app offerings, and your device manufacturer's app offerings. A lot of times here in the forums we see people with device issues after getting apps from the interweb at some cheap or shady app store, where no one knows if the apps are truly vetted, monitored, or maintained. The other issue with those places is that they differ from the first 4 by usually only suggesting apps compatible with your device. Those other places don't care if the app is not compatible with your device which leads to installation issues, stability issues, and function issues.

As for free, paid, or subscription apps, my advice would be to search for the app you want, and if you find it to be any of those that you don't want, sounds like subscription in your case, do a search for alternatives. Using myself as an example, I do some specific things with photos and I'm cheap, like if I can't get it for free, I might not need it cheap, and a lot of the photo editors are subscription now, so when or if I find something I like but don't want to pay for I'll search for alternatives to that app. There is usually someone putting it out there if not for free than maybe less than the other guy. You should be cautious of this too, because the free versions of some apps are not as well tested as the expensive one. It's really a balancing act, between what you trust, like, works, and is affordable.

I can't think of a paid app that I care too much about but in a Google search, because Google puts out Android, I name the app I want an alternative for, and Google just that, alternative to XYZ, and just like the opinions of this world site after site pops up with someone's opinion of what might replace or be better than the app named. As far as that goes you could do the same but instead of asking for alternatives, ask for cheaper than/free version of, and get the same results. Googling doesn't guarantee compatibility with your device but the Play Store or one of the other 3 mentioned will let you know if they work with your device.

Does this help?