The vast majority of American app users (96 percent) find themselves frustrated with apps to the extent that they would give them bad reviews, according to a survey by API company Apigee.

Issues that prompt bad reviews include apps freezing (76 percent of respondents), crashes (71 percent), slow responsiveness (59 percent), heavy battery usage (55 percent) and too many ads (53 percent).

Almost every user quizzed (98 percent) said performance matters, with banking (74 percent) and mapping apps (63 percent) the categories where this is most critical.

When app performance fails to meet expectations, 99 percent of respondents said they would take action, with 44 percent saying they would delete an app immediately.

Around 38 percent said they would delete an app if it froze for longer than 30 seconds, with 18 percent saying they would do the same thing if it froze for five seconds. However, 27 percent said they would keep an app longer if they had paid for it.

If an app had an issue, 32 percent of users said they would tell their friends how bad the app is, while 21 percent would complain about the app on Facebook or Twitter.

The most popular response if there is an issue is for app companies to fix the problem quickly, with 89 percent of those surveyed stating this preference.

Other responses favoured were easy refunds (65 percent), providing a customer service number (49 percent) or providing a personal response (46 percent). Just over a fifth (21 percent) said a public apology would be appropriate.

In terms of app discovery, 75 percent of consumers said they find apps by periodically searching app stores, 58 percent through word-of-mouth, 45 percent via a Facebook posting, 26 percent from news stories and blogs and 14 percent from Twitter.

Separately, Apigee has launched its mobile app performance and configuration tool, Apigee Mobile Analytics, as part of its API Platform.