Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Ride-hailing apps
Drivers accept the ride, then cancel
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 216 reviews, in 39 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
Can't find a single driver
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 133 reviews, in 41 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
The driver never shows up
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 112 reviews, in 39 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
Cancellation fee when the driver's at fault
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 100 reviews, in 32 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
Booked ahead, but no car at pickup time
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 106 reviews, in 22 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
Drivers demand more than the app price
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 56 reviews, in 19 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
The final fare is higher than quoted
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 50 reviews, in 21 of 90 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
The car takes far longer than the ETA
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 47 reviews, in 21 of 90 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.