Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Gets even common species wrong
Pain 8 out of 10, strong. 192 reviews, in 36 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Misdiagnoses my plants
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 122 reviews, in 20 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Same thing, different answer every time
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 99 reviews, in 32 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Can’t tell chicken, dog or cat breeds
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 53 reviews, in 9 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Can’t identify a bird by its song
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 50 reviews, in 6 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Diagnoses the plant but won’t say how to fix it
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 43 reviews, in 15 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Can’t handle lawns or tell grass types apart
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 35 reviews, in 11 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Following its care advice killed my plants
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 31 reviews, in 8 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
The species I need isn’t in the database
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 30 reviews, in 14 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Let me fix a wrong identification
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 29 reviews, in 8 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Names species that don’t live where I am
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 14 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Keeps asking to retake even a clear photo
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 7 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
The bird is gone before I can hit record
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 6 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Says “spider” or “flower”, not the species
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 6 of 48 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Tell me if it’s poisonous or edible
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 10 of 48 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.