How reliable are calorie counting apps?

[Frequency]

I recently joined SW. I have around 9 stone to lose to get to healthy weight. I like the recipes on slimming world (the real recipes not the shite where people roll a bread bun in stevia and call it a donut, that shit just confuses me.) but I'm not convinced about some of the rules i.e why can't I have porridge for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch? I decided to combine SW with calorie counting and ignore the less common sense parts of SW in favour of CC.

But now I'm not convinced by my app. It seems I have too many calories to eat to be able to lose weight. Today it tells me I've eaten 1044 calories and have 1216 left to eat as I "earned" 692 by exercising aka walking about at work. I think I've eaten more than 1044 calories and can't understand how I would lose weight if I ate 1200 more?

You're not doing SW so probably best to post this elsewhere

Sorry. I thought I'd posted this in calorie counting. I must have clicked the wrong link without realising

I have been following all of slimming world's rules up to now there are just parts of it that confuse me so I wanted a CC app as a back-up/way to ensure I'm not accidentally overeating on SW and also as a quick opt out if I get stuck at work and need a sandwich and porridge. But now I'm not convinced by CC either. I don't have loads of time to do meal prep so I often need quick, low cal lunches and breakfasts on the go.

I started slimming world online about 6 weeks ago and like you it confuses me.
The other day I wasn't that hungry so thought i could just have a bowl of porridge for dinner but as I'd already had that for breakfast I would go over my syns. Calorie wise the porridge was way less than if I had a big bolognese with cheese and salad for "free".
I have lost weight on it but some of it makes no sense, it basically is just cutting out processed crap and cook from scratch remembering a ⅓ of your plate should be veg or salad and you can have a small allowance for a treat in the day.

As for calorie counting apps once you have put in your height, weight, activity levels and your end goal it works out a healthy calorie allowance that will leave you in a deficit which is what makes us lose weight. There is a certain number of calories our body needs to stay healthy though so if you try to log the day and you've not reached the healthy amount then it won't let you.

I use My Fitness Pal. Good for calories in foods but they way overestimate calories burned during exercise. I found it better not to eat back those calories, or cut them by half. Also found putting in sedentary lifestyle, even though I exercise regularly, was more realistic in terms of calories allowed.