Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- AI image generation
Several people in one photo
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 12 of 99 apps. - Document scanners
Pages end up in the wrong order in the PDF
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 25 reviews, in 12 of 52 apps. - Period tracker
More symptoms and moods to log
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 19 of 75 apps. - Photo editors
The app can’t find the face in my photo
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 46 reviews, in 18 of 100 apps. - Personal finance
Your budget on a computer or in a browser
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 33 reviews, in 19 of 99 apps. - Calories and nutrition
Can’t fix or delete a food I’ve logged
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 30 reviews, in 16 of 95 apps. - AI photo
It can't find the face in my photo
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 39 reviews, in 19 of 100 apps. - Journaling and mood
Search through past entries
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 30 reviews, in 22 of 95 apps. - Shopping & ecommerce apps
The item looks nothing like the photos
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 36 reviews, in 22 of 95 apps. - Workouts and fitness
Workouts that work around my injury
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 35 reviews, in 22 of 91 apps. - AI writing assistants
Pictures right inside my text
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 21 reviews, in 6 of 91 apps. - Personal finance
Your budget right on your Apple Watch
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 32 reviews, in 22 of 99 apps. - Messaging apps
Schedule messages to send later
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 29 reviews, in 11 of 96 apps. - Meditation and mindfulness
Logging sessions to Apple Health
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 39 reviews, in 23 of 100 apps. - Meditation and mindfulness
Audio stops when the screen locks
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 39 reviews, in 19 of 100 apps. - Calories and nutrition
Set my own calorie and macro targets
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 29 reviews, in 16 of 95 apps. - Step counter
A step widget for the phone screen
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 21 reviews, in 12 of 66 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Sort notes into folders
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 18 of 91 apps. - Workouts and fitness
My plan needs equipment I don’t have
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 33 reviews, in 14 of 91 apps. - Faith, Prayer & Bible
Typos in the Bible text and prayers
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 35 reviews, in 23 of 88 apps. - AI writing assistants
Swipe typing in the AI keyboard
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 20 reviews, in 6 of 91 apps. - Calories and nutrition
Food tracking on Apple Watch
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 28 reviews, in 17 of 95 apps. - Notes and knowledge base
Handwriting with Apple Pencil or a stylus
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 26 reviews, in 18 of 91 apps. - Messaging apps
Spam calls flood my second number
Pain 2 out of 10, mild. 27 reviews, in 13 of 96 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.