The app is, frankly, pants. I have it so I can check the syn value of food while I'm out, but that's about all it's useful for.
The website, on the other hand, is excellent. Lots of recipe ideas, lots of other people's inspiring stories, and places to track your food/check syn or free values etc.
I'd also advise going to group - for the first couple of weeks instead.
How it will work:
On your first week, you need to arrive at the start time that the meeting meets at, and you'll be taken to a table to be given the "new member" talk by the leader (unless you start this week - most meetings for the first week of the year run slightly differently because there's so many new members, everyone gets the "talk" so it acts as a refresher for the existing members). This will take about 1/2 an hour. During this time, the other members will arrive, pay their money and be weighed and be milling around chatting/buying their stuff from the shop/making a cuppa or whatever. In subsequent weeks, you can arrive at any time during this half hour slot.
At the end of the half hour "weighing" time, the group starts properly. The leader has a tablet that shows everyone's weight on. They start with any awards - so anyone who has reached a half or stone gets a certificate and a sticker, and anyone who's got their Club 10 (for 10% body weight loss) or reached target will get theirs too. Then the leader goes through any new products, gives you any news from head office (such as there's going to be a new hifi bar or a recipe book) and you could possibly have a bit of a talk about (for example) how to avoid pigging out at a buffet or whatever is topical.
Then the leader uses the tablet to go around the group. Everyone gets a round of applause for their weight loss. No gains are ever read out, or the actual weight that someone is, just the loss that week, and the total loss (for example, a couple of weeks ago, it was " emwithme has lost 2.5 lb this week, making a total loss of 1 stone 10lbs" but the week before it was " emwithme has had a little gain this week, but is still keeping off 1 stone 7 1/2 lbs". Then the leader will ask how you feel about that, whether there's anything troubling you about the plan, how you feel about the week ahead. Sometimes ours asks us for our favourite on plan thing we've eaten that week and possibly to share the recipe. Then they'll move on to the next member. You don't have to say much - if anything - here, in fact, we have a couple of members who don't say anything, the leader knows they don't want to talk but still want the support of the group, so she just acknowledges them, and their weight loss, and moves on. No fuss, no muss.
After everyone's been talked to, then the leader will announce who is "Slimmer of the Week". Everyone is meant to take in a piece of fruit (or other speed food) to go into the basket for SotW. This is the person who's lost the most weight that week (it can't be their first week on plan, and they have to have lost or maintained the week before). They also get a certificate and a sticker. Then it's the raffle (most places are 50p a strip) and then you go home.
On your first week, this will be when you get weighed. The only person who can see your actual weight is the leader or the person they have nominated to do the weighing (part of the "social team"). I used to be on the social team at my last group and I can honestly say that I didn't even register what people's weights were. The only person who's weight stuck in my mind was my own!
If you want to go to group, Woman Magazine has a voucher for free membership in the edition on sale now (until 4 January). This means you don't pay the £9.90 joining fee, just the £4.95 meeting fee.