Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- AI Photo Restore & Unblur
The AI changes people’s race
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 29 reviews, in 12 of 28 apps. - Fishing
The fish finder won’t connect or stay connected
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 43 reviews, in 6 of 41 apps. - Weight tracker
No decimals for weight or height
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 31 reviews, in 6 of 27 apps. - Water & hydration
Sync with Apple Health
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 24 reviews, in 17 of 33 apps. - Water & hydration
Watch entries don’t reach the phone
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 24 reviews, in 8 of 33 apps. - Recording and transcribing speech
The other person can tell they're being recorded
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 46 reviews, in 8 of 30 apps. - Cycling
Sync with Strava
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 42 reviews, in 15 of 56 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
Background removal does a sloppy job
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 35 reviews, in 12 of 46 apps. - Hikes and routes
An Apple Watch app
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 30 reviews, in 12 of 26 apps. - Fishing
Depth maps for the lakes I fish
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 39 reviews, in 11 of 41 apps. - Travel planning
Travel eSIM gets no signal abroad
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 88 reviews, in 10 of 90 apps. - Plant care
Mixes up sick and healthy plants
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 49 reviews, in 13 of 64 apps. - Weight tracker
Sync with Fitbit and smart scales
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 28 reviews, in 9 of 27 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
Color analysis gets my season wrong
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 33 reviews, in 4 of 46 apps. - Driving test prep
The sign in the question is missing
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 33 reviews, in 10 of 44 apps. - Pet care
The tracker loses signal and I can't find my pet
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 22 reviews, in 4 of 27 apps. - AI Photo Restore & Unblur
A slider for enhancement strength
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 25 reviews, in 13 of 28 apps. - Car maintenance
Climate control from the app
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 44 reviews, in 6 of 56 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
Not enough clothing categories
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 32 reviews, in 11 of 46 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
No customer reviews on clothes
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 32 reviews, in 5 of 46 apps. - Study flashcards
Pronunciation on word cards
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 36 reviews, in 11 of 34 apps. - Study flashcards
The pronunciation button makes no sound
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 36 reviews, in 15 of 34 apps. - Night sky and astronomy
The telescope won't respond to the app
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 51 reviews, in 6 of 53 apps. - Baby tracking apps
Pregnancy week is miscalculated
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 57 reviews, in 7 of 61 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.