Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Video streaming apps
Can't cast video to my TV
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 230 reviews, in 45 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
DVR recordings don't work in the app
Pain 6 out of 10, noticeable. 218 reviews, in 14 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Can't watch with subtitles
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 124 reviews, in 38 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Doesn't remember where I left off
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 121 reviews, in 42 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Blocked because of my location
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 107 reviews, in 29 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Can't watch episodes offline
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 99 reviews, in 32 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Can't rewind or fast-forward
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 80 reviews, in 38 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Picture-in-picture mode
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 71 reviews, in 23 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Video won't go full screen
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 57 reviews, in 19 of 95 apps. - Video streaming apps
Audio is out of sync with the picture
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 41 reviews, in 20 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.