Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Journaling and mood
Handwrite entries with Apple Pencil
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 68 reviews, in 27 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
Forgot the passcode, can’t get back in
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 61 reviews, in 22 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
More emotions to choose from
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 55 reviews, in 21 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
Journal widget for the home screen
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 39 reviews, in 19 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
Search through past entries
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 30 reviews, in 22 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
Backdate an entry for a missed day
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 17 of 95 apps. - Journaling and mood
Sync with Apple Health
Pain 1 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 10 of 95 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.