To the sound of a distant toilet flush (bear with me), the first phase of our quest to find the world's best city app has certainly underlined the global nature of this cutting-edge contest. No fewer than 150 cities in 26 countries are represented in the 2014 AppMyCity! entries, from Albania to Ecuador, Pakistan to Peru.

The content ideas are no less diverse: as the graphic below shows, these mobile apps set out to improve almost every aspect of city life, whether you're an ardent cyclist, a fresh-off-the-plane tourist, a committed clubber or a bit of a foodie.

In one case, it will even, yes, map your toilet flush. Many thanks to San Francisco's Swirl.ly for dreaming up what is surely the start of a whole new toilet tech bubble (if only one could think of a suitable acronym for these new Customer Ready Apps …)

Personally, I also can't wait to try the London-based Run An Empire app, a strategy game set in a real urban environment, if only to discover how embarrassingly ill-suited I am to my current position. Another intriguing city game app, iPunch - Play the Change, comes from Bangalore with promises of a new kind of civic gameplay (but no actual punches, obviously – although we know how heated these civic meetings can get).

Rest assured, touchscreens will glow white hot as every city app entry is tried and tested long into the night. Finally, on 6 May, we will emerge to announce the shortlist of 10 mobile city apps still in the running to win the $5,000 first prize, courtesy of our friends at the New Cities Foundation. At which point, while we get our breath back, we'll be asking you to give them a try and give us your feedback.

• Judge Naomi Alderman on how to script an urban app