Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Intermittent fasting
Can’t go back and edit a fast
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 153 reviews, in 24 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Fasting timer on Apple Watch
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 40 reviews, in 26 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Fasting timer widget
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 40 reviews, in 17 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Can’t track extended fasts
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 13 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Food log with calorie counting
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 15 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Can’t enter the portion I actually ate
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 7 of 53 apps. - Intermittent fasting
An alert when the fast is over
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 12 of 53 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.