Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Cosmetic Ingredient Scanner
The product I need isn’t in the database
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 90 reviews, in 11 of 19 apps. - Mind maps
Sync with iCloud or OneDrive
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 45 reviews, in 5 of 10 apps. - Mind maps
Can't export the map in a usable format
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 38 reviews, in 9 of 10 apps. - Weight tracker
The app can’t find the foods I eat
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 128 reviews, in 11 of 27 apps. - QR & barcode scanners
The code just won't scan
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 70 reviews, in 22 of 31 apps. - Invoices for clients
The client paid, but the money is stuck
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 79 reviews, in 9 of 26 apps. - Intermittent fasting
Can’t go back and edit a fast
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 153 reviews, in 24 of 53 apps. - Driving test prep
The real test had different questions
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 108 reviews, in 30 of 44 apps. - Cycling
Won't connect to the bike or sensors
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 128 reviews, in 31 of 56 apps. - Messaging apps
Bots and fakes instead of real people
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 323 reviews, in 30 of 96 apps. - Guitar: tuner and learning
The tuner made me snap a string
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 196 reviews, in 28 of 61 apps. - Ride-hailing apps
Drivers accept the ride, then cancel
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 216 reviews, in 39 of 90 apps. - Interior design and floor plans
More furniture and decor to choose from
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 195 reviews, in 25 of 61 apps. - Car maintenance
My mileage tracker misses trips
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 136 reviews, in 21 of 56 apps. - Blood pressure
Readings don’t sync to Apple Health
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 121 reviews, in 20 of 54 apps. - Interior design and floor plans
Multiple floors in one house plan
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 166 reviews, in 19 of 61 apps. - Recording and transcribing speech
Recording cuts off partway through
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 111 reviews, in 21 of 30 apps. - Yoga
Too fast to get into each pose
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 155 reviews, in 31 of 66 apps. - AI image generation
Censorship blocks harmless prompts
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 187 reviews, in 46 of 99 apps. - Password managers
Switched phones, lost all my data
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 166 reviews, in 55 of 95 apps. - AI assistants
The content filter is too strict
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 176 reviews, in 29 of 58 apps. - Running
A full Apple Watch app
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 131 reviews, in 27 of 50 apps. - Video streaming apps
Can't cast video to my TV
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 230 reviews, in 45 of 95 apps. - Recording and transcribing speech
The recording has no sound
Pain 7 out of 10, strong. 86 reviews, in 24 of 30 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.