Pulse
Concrete pains from app reviews — and how strong they are
- Interior design and floor plans
Decks and paths around the house
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 77 reviews, in 21 of 61 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
The character’s replies make no sense
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 41 reviews, in 19 of 43 apps. - Translators
It doesn't catch what I say
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 57 reviews, in 18 of 38 apps. - Focus and productivity
An Apple Watch app
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 74 reviews, in 28 of 75 apps. - Personal finance
The same transactions show up twice
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 132 reviews, in 32 of 99 apps. - AI image generation
It changes my skin tone and ethnicity
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 97 reviews, in 48 of 99 apps. - Interior design and floor plans
A roof for the house I designed
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 74 reviews, in 11 of 61 apps. - Calories and nutrition
AI gets the calories wrong
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 119 reviews, in 32 of 95 apps. - Couples
Add more than one person
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 45 reviews, in 14 of 35 apps. - AI Companion & Roleplay Chat
Explicit photos from my companion
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 39 reviews, in 16 of 43 apps. - Guitar: tuner and learning
More songs by artists I love
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 70 reviews, in 16 of 61 apps. - Hikes and routes
Tracked distance is way off
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 33 reviews, in 11 of 26 apps. - Hikes and routes
Tracking stops in the middle of a hike
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 33 reviews, in 12 of 26 apps. - AI assistants
The AI gives false information
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 91 reviews, in 24 of 58 apps. - AI assistants
It doesn’t do what I ask
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 91 reviews, in 29 of 58 apps. - Video streaming apps
Can't watch with subtitles
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 124 reviews, in 38 of 95 apps. - Menus and shopping lists
Can’t undo an accidental delete
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 48 reviews, in 16 of 54 apps. - Recipe & meal-planning apps
Ingredients are missing from the box
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 87 reviews, in 7 of 79 apps. - AI Photo Restore & Unblur
The AI adds things that weren’t there
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 28 reviews, in 15 of 28 apps. - Video streaming apps
Doesn't remember where I left off
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 121 reviews, in 42 of 95 apps. - Guitar: tuner and learning
Lessons don’t hear what I play
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 67 reviews, in 15 of 61 apps. - Cycling
Apple Watch support
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 43 reviews, in 19 of 56 apps. - Listening to music
Downloaded music won’t play offline
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 96 reviews, in 23 of 95 apps. - Food delivery apps
Food arrives cold
Pain 5 out of 10, noticeable. 126 reviews, in 36 of 94 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.