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Mobile Apps opportunities·tracked since 29 Sept 2026·evidence from 10 Jun 2017·scored 53m ago

QR Code Reader: Frustration with Persistent Ads After Payment

Users are frustrated with the persistent and intrusive ads that disrupt their experience, even after paying for ad removal. Despite the option to eliminate ads, many find that the functionality remains compromised, leading to a cycle of annoyance and dissatisfaction.

12 different people have complained about this since 10 Jun 2017, most recently on 23 Sept 2026.

  • user·5021· App Store· 23 Apr 2017original ↗
    “Does not work redirects to amazon all the time.”
  • user·a166· App Store· 21 Jun 2026original ↗
    “I used to love this app and I had the pro version.”
  • user·5600· App Store· 10 Jun 2017original ↗
    “Can pay to remove ads ( fair enough) but couldn't use bc as soon as you close an ad and go back to scanner it would automatically pop up another add and the cycle continues lol”
See every post behind this page ↓Hit this yourself? Say what you use instead →

12 people in 12 posts across 1 source · demand low, pain moderate, competition low

Pain pointRisingEvidence: medium
Index score
43.2
ahead of 93% of the rest of this market
100.0%signals / 7d
Posts per week, last 16 weeks · 1 in the past 4
Demand
0.6low
Momentum
80.1high
Pain
43.2moderate
Competition
38.9low
lower is better
Monetization
10.5low
Market size
29.1low
Evidence
50.8moderate

The pain

shares of 12 quoted posts

What goes wrong, and for whom

Who
12 people using QR Code Reader ·
What goes wrong
  • Doesn't work8% of posts
How bad
92% of posts are complaints · pain score moderate (43/100)
Since
10 Jun 2017 → 23 Sept 2026

Is this a startup idea?

Not directly. These are complaints about a product or service people already use — the fix belongs first to that provider.

Complaints are about
QR Code Reader ·
Looking for something else
0% want an alternative · 8% ask the provider for a feature
What the numbers say
Almost nobody is looking for a different product — people want this provider to fix it, not a new option.
Build a prototype from thisA landing page written from these 12 complaints by 12 people.50 credits · sign in →
1

The pain — what people say

Their asks, who is writing, and the posts themselves

What people were doing

Every post behind this page, by what its author was doing — and when each one was written

12posts
  • Complaint1192%
  • Request18%
03 Mar 201712 posts23 Sept 2026

Sources

12 signals · 1 sources

App Store12
Only public content is collected, author names are stored as one-way hashes, and every excerpt links back to its original post.

Evidence

Raw public posts behind this opportunity — click through to the original. 2 posts were held back as off-topic; all 12 still count toward the score.

  • user·5021App StoreApp Store AU/Utilities·23 Apr 2017·Complaintsource ↗

    QR Code Reader · — Rubbish Does not work redirects to amazon all the time. Useless even after you pay to get rid of the ads

    Doesn't work
  • user·a166App StoreApp Store US/Utilities·21 Jun 2026·Requestsource ↗

    QR Code Reader · — Used to love but no more I used to love this app and I had the pro version. I just cancelled it due to the ads. I probably wouldn’t have minded them but it was the kind of ads where they have x’s so small or light that you can’t get out of the ad as it try’s to force you to get whatever product it…

  • user·5600App StoreApp Store AU/Utilities·10 Jun 2017·Complaintsource ↗

    …er · — Couldn't use because of ad pop ups Every time I went to scan! Can pay to remove ads ( fair enough) but couldn't use bc as soon as you close an ad and go back to scanner it would automatically pop up another add and the cycle continues lol

  • user·593eApp StoreApp Store AU/Utilities·25 Jul 2017·Complaintsource ↗

    QR Code Reader · — Ad central It's hard to rate the app's functionality when you are berated with obnoxious ads after any little thing you try and do. QR codes are made to speed up processes, not slow things down.

  • user·99d5App StoreApp Store AU/Utilities·05 Jul 2026·Complaintsource ↗

    …just want a simple dumb barcode scanner and this app is far from it. The amount of ads makes it unbearably slow to use

5 more evidence rowsSign in — it's free
2

Market and score

Products already there, how the score moved, and what it is made of

Opportunity history

Every score change is stored as a snapshot — click a sub-score to overlay it

Not enough history yet

Why did it move?

Needs at least two snapshots

No movement recorded yet

A second snapshot is needed to explain a change.

How the score was measured
38 measured values behind the seven sub-scores · each shows the value, then the points it earned out of 100
Show ↓
Market size
Distinct people affected12 → 34
Distinct communities1 → 17
Distinct sources1 → 35
Adjacent categories1 → 32
Regions / languages1 → 28
Competition
Existing products5 → 50
New entrants (90d)0 → 0
Funded players0 → 0
Market maturity8.1 → 74
Incumbent activity96.1 → 96
Monetization
Stated willingness to pay0 → 0
Existing paid products4 → 45
Pricing complaints0 → 0
Business context0 → 0
Momentum
Period-over-period growth100 → 95
Latest period growth100 → 96
Sustained trend2.7 → 48
Acceleration9.9 → 62
Pain
Complaint intensity40 → 40
Complaint frequency100 → 100
Negative sentiment-100 → 100
Willingness to switch0 → 0
Urgency0 → 0
Willingness to pay0 → 0
Repeat complaints0 → 0
Demand
Mention volume1 → 9
Explicit requests0 → 0
Distinct people1 → 10
Questions asked0 → 0
Alternative searches0 → 0
Feature requests0 → 0
Evidence
Evidence volume12 → 32
Source diversity1 → 35
Extraction confidence18.1 → 18
Source credibility72 → 72
Duplicate rate0 → 100
Freshness5.8 → 76
Cluster cohesion96.4 → 96

Questions about this idea

Is Frustration with Persistent Ads After Payment a startup idea?
Not directly. These are complaints about a product or service people already use, and the fix belongs first to that provider. The page shows what is frustrating users and how badly — not an open market to start a company in.
How many people have this problem?
12 different people described it independently, in 12 mentions, the earliest from 10 Jun 2017 and the most recent from 23 Sept 2026. The quotes, with dates and links to the originals, are in the Evidence section.
Is this problem getting worse?
Current status: rising — mentioned more often than before. Momentum is 80/100, measured as how often it is mentioned recently compared with before.

Adjacent opportunities

Nearest neighbours by embedding similarity

Have you run into this?

Written by readers. Not part of the evidence above and not counted in any score.

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