Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Period tracker
Ovulation predictions are wrong
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 50 reviews, in 22 of 75 apps. - Workouts and fitness
The exercises I do aren’t in the app
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 67 reviews, in 26 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. - Personal finance
Log spending in any currency
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 61 reviews, in 31 of 99 apps. - AI assistants
Answers are politically slanted
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 44 reviews, in 21 of 58 apps. - AI photo
It doesn't do what I ask
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 72 reviews, in 29 of 100 apps. - Calendars and tasks
A Mac or web version
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 82 reviews, in 30 of 100 apps. - Period tracker
A perimenopause and menopause mode
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 47 reviews, in 26 of 75 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. - Photo editors
Search through hundreds of effects
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 79 reviews, in 29 of 100 apps. - Photo editors
Edited photos look like someone else
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 78 reviews, in 27 of 100 apps. - Calendars and tasks
Shared lists and calendar with family
Pain 4 out of 10, noticeable. 70 reviews, in 35 of 100 apps. - Hikes and routes
Planned routes don't follow the trails
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 6 of 26 apps. - Fishing
Spots turn out to be on private land
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 30 reviews, in 6 of 41 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
Outfits that ignore the weather
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 8 of 46 apps. - Hikes and routes
Maps on the CarPlay screen
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 22 reviews, in 6 of 26 apps. - Teleprompter and captions
Auto captions are full of mistakes
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 12 of 41 apps. - Wardrobe & outfits
Suggestions that aren’t my style
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 7 of 46 apps. - Teleprompter and captions
Video looks worse than the phone's camera
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 13 of 41 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
A way to search for characters
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 24 reviews, in 8 of 43 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Can’t track extended fasts
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 13 of 53 apps. - Pregnancy
Home and lock screen widget
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 31 reviews, in 9 of 46 apps. - Teleprompter and captions
External mic or AirPods won't work
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 7 of 41 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
My companion’s generated photos come out wrong
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 10 of 43 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.