Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Notes and knowledge base
Search notes by keyword
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 97 reviews, in 32 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Add photos right into a note
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 77 reviews, in 29 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Make words bold or italic
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 68 reviews, in 33 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Sort notes or put them in my own order
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 53 reviews, in 28 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Lock notes with a passcode or Face ID
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 50 reviews, in 26 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
A notes widget for the home screen
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 44 reviews, in 13 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Print notes and lists
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 41 reviews, in 24 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Transcripts are full of errors
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 38 reviews, in 11 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Undo an accidental deletion
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 36 reviews, in 23 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Shapes and straight lines in handwritten notes
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 33 reviews, in 13 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Sort notes into folders
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 18 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Handwriting with Apple Pencil or a stylus
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 18 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Notes right on the Apple Watch
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 10 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Access notes from a computer
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 17 of 91 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Colored text and highlighting
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 17 of 91 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.