Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Period tracker
Can’t correct my period dates
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 74 reviews, in 27 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Sync with Apple Health
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 53 reviews, in 25 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Ovulation predictions are wrong
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 50 reviews, in 22 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
A perimenopause and menopause mode
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 47 reviews, in 26 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Doesn’t work for irregular cycles
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 45 reviews, in 21 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Log any kind of birth control
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 40 reviews, in 18 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Blocked by age, though I have periods
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 9 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
More symptoms and moods to log
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 19 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
A postpartum and breastfeeding mode
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 15 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
A cycle widget for the home screen
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 21 reviews, in 14 of 75 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.