Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
My companion forgets what we talked about
Pain 8 out of 10, strong. 165 reviews, in 26 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
The bot keeps repeating the same lines
Pain 8 out of 10, strong. 138 reviews, in 30 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
The content filter is far too strict
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 70 reviews, in 19 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
The character’s replies make no sense
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 41 reviews, in 19 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Explicit photos from my companion
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 39 reviews, in 16 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
More characters to choose from
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 28 reviews, in 14 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
My companion lashes out at me
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 28 reviews, in 14 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Voice calls don’t feel real
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 27 reviews, in 10 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Characters don’t stay in character
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 24 reviews, in 16 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
A way to search for characters
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 8 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
My companion’s generated photos come out wrong
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 10 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
My companion won’t send photos when I ask
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 11 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Customize my companion’s appearance
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 22 reviews, in 7 of 43 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Videos and video calls with my companion
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 21 reviews, in 15 of 43 apps.
How we count
The sample is up to 500 recent App Store reviews for each of about 100 popular apps per category. We look for each need across all of the category’s reviews and check a random sample of matches by hand: at least 80% are correct.
“Pain” is a rough score from 1 to 10: half comes from the share of the category’s reviews that mention it, 30% from how many such reviews there are in total, 20% from the share of apps where it comes up. It is not search demand and not market size.
In words: 1–3 mild · 4–6 noticeable · 7–8 strong · 9–10 acute.