Mobile apps have taken a turn for the worse in the past year — here's why

App icons appearing on a smartphone screen.

I found myself outside a promising-looking pizza joint not long ago and decided to do some impromptu research on my iPhone. The initial Safari search turned up Yelp information on the pizza place, and tapping on those prompted me to download the Yelp app onto my phone for further information.

That turned out to be a mistake.