Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Language learning
Add the language I need
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 240 reviews, in 45 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Speech recognition mishears me
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 145 reviews, in 34 of 100 apps. - Language learning
The lessons contain mistakes
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 83 reviews, in 44 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Adjustable speed for lesson audio
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 58 reviews, in 30 of 100 apps. - Language learning
A word-of-the-day widget
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 47 reviews, in 20 of 100 apps. - Language learning
The version of the language I need
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 44 reviews, in 19 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Robotic voices instead of native speakers
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 17 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Can't start at my level
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 18 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Grammar explanations, not rote drills
Pain 1 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 17 of 100 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.