Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Night sky and astronomy
The app misses the satellite overhead
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 9 of 53 apps. - Document scanners
Doesn’t detect the page edges
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 37 reviews, in 22 of 52 apps. - Baby tracking apps
Type times instead of scrolling
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 28 reviews, in 13 of 61 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Names species that don’t live where I am
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 14 of 48 apps. - Focus and productivity
A desktop app
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 28 reviews, in 16 of 75 apps. - Period tracker
Log any kind of birth control
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 40 reviews, in 18 of 75 apps. - AI photo
Bring back removed filters
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 59 reviews, in 21 of 100 apps. - AI Species Identifier (Plant/Bug/Animal)
Keeps asking to retake even a clear photo
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 7 of 48 apps. - Sleep trackers and alarms
The sound cuts out at night and wakes me
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 48 reviews, in 23 of 94 apps. - Recipe & meal-planning apps
Scan a recipe from a cookbook or photo
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 35 reviews, in 12 of 79 apps. - Translators
Stops listening mid-sentence
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 21 reviews, in 10 of 38 apps. - Photo editors
Erased objects leave a blurry smudge
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 68 reviews, in 15 of 100 apps. - Listening to music
An Apple Watch app
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 39 reviews, in 19 of 95 apps. - AI writing assistants
The grammar check misses mistakes
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 8 of 91 apps. - Yoga
The voice sounds like a robot
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 29 reviews, in 11 of 66 apps. - Password managers
Search through saved entries
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 33 reviews, in 19 of 95 apps. - White Noise & Sleep Soundscapes
You can hear the loop restart
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 36 reviews, in 24 of 82 apps. - White Noise & Sleep Soundscapes
Play sounds on a speaker or TV
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 36 reviews, in 18 of 82 apps. - White Noise & Sleep Soundscapes
The sound stops when the screen locks
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 36 reviews, in 18 of 82 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Print notes and lists
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 41 reviews, in 24 of 91 apps. - Calendars and tasks
An Apple Watch app
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 65 reviews, in 27 of 100 apps. - Language learning
Adjustable speed for lesson audio
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 58 reviews, in 30 of 100 apps. - Night sky and astronomy
It gets my location or time wrong
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 23 reviews, in 12 of 53 apps. - Document scanners
Recognized text comes out full of errors
Pain 3 out of 10, mild. 34 reviews, in 14 of 52 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.