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Perceived vs. Actual Rating Impact
How a 4-star rating affects an app's average compared to user intent.
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App Store ratings 'broken' as your 4-star review could hurt a developer
Developers are arguing that Apple’s App Store ratings are fundamentally broken in at least a couple of different ways – including the fact that your 4-star rating could do more harm than good. They also highlight the conflict between users not wanting their app experience to be interrupted, while Apple effectively forces developers to nag you for a rating and review … All iPhone developers know that Apple highlighting their app can mean the difference between languishing in obscurity and a runaway success. This, they say, is where the first problem with App Store ratings arises. Prompting/nagging users to review App users generally don’t like being nagged to rate and review an app, especially when it interrupts the very thing they are using the app for. Developer Steven Troughton-Smith says they have absolutely no choice about it because a critical mass of 5-star reviews is what leads Apple to highlight apps – and prompting users is what generates those reviews. Review prompts are the difference between a great app getting five positive reviews, and thousands of positive reviews. I would never recommend to a developer to not implement the APIs. It’s App Store Editorial suicide for most apps, since Apple tends to only pick things up when they have that body of review data. He argues developers should show this prompt when a user opens the app, and repeat it every few months. However, others argue that this is the most annoying time to do it. Show it after an action that finishes what the user wanted to do. Like saving or publishing. But please never after opening the app. I opened the app because I want to do something with it – this is the worst moment for distractions. This can be tricky, however, as developers don’t necessarily know when you’ve met your objective. A 4-star rating is a negative review Another issue is the disparity between how users perceive the star system and how things actually work in reality. This is exactly the same issue that’s occurred with Uber driver ratings. Logically, we might think that the star ratings would work like this: 3 is the default rating, meaning the app performed as expected 4 = ‘Better than expected’ 5 = ‘Perfect – could not be improved’ 2 = ‘Worse than expected’ 1 = ‘Awful/unusable’ Developers like Terry Godier say this isn’t how things work in practice. Apple is looking only for 5-star reviews, and if you leave a 4-star one intending it to be positive, that can actually damage the standing of a...
Follow-Up Regarding App Store Reviews, Which Are Definitely Busted
Follow-Up Regarding App Store Reviews, Which Are Definitely Busted I wrote yesterday: And the apps that do the right thing — like Godier’s Current — and never solicit a review like a needy hustler are penalized. On Mastodon, Steven Troughton-Smith responded: Review prompts are the difference between a great app getting five positive reviews, and thousands of positive reviews. I would never recommend to a developer to not implement the APIs. It’s App Store Editorial suicide for most apps, since Apple tends to only pick things up when they have that body of review data. I can see how my describing not prompting for reviews as “the right thing” looks like I’m suggesting developers should not prompt for reviews. That wasn’t my intention. You have to play the game as the game stands, and Apple controls the game. And in the game as it stands, apps need 5-star reviews to gain traction in the App Store, perhaps especially so for apps in crowded categories. And for most apps, the only way to achieve that is through prompting. But the right thing to do, for the user experience in the app, is never to prompt for reviews. That’s the problem with how Apple has set this up — to be competitive, apps need to do the wrong thing. I’m a competitive bastard. If I had an app in the App Store today, I’d probably prompt for reviews. I don’t begrudge developers who do it today. That’s the game. I admire developers who refuse to play this part of the game. It’s noble. But it’s not a winning strategy. I want Apple to fix the game — that’s the only real solution. The system is so twisted that even Apple itself begs for these reviews from its own apps, even the system apps built into iOS. When else does Apple ever ask for anything? It looks needy and pathetic. Real Gil Gunderson vibes. The funny thing is, this morning while I was reading the Mastodon thread with Troughton-Smith’s post, Ivory prompted me for a rating. Which I dutifully submitted. 5 stars, of course. Which brings me to another follow-up point. A few readers have emailed to object to the argument that it hurts developers to give apps anything short of a 5-star rating. (A few of these readers are from Germany, no surprise.) It’s logical, I agree, that a 4-star rating ought to be considered fair and just for a good app with obvious room for improvement. But anything short of 5 stars pulls down any good app’s average, because the overwhelming majority of users who rate apps only ever assign 5 stars for apps they l...
Apple warns developers against frequent app rating and review prompts ...
Apple's official guidance for app developers now explicitly warns against frequent requests for user ratings and reviews, labeling such practices as potentially irritating and counterproductive to user experience. The company's updated design principles, published on its developer portal, advise spacing prompts at least one to two weeks apart and only after users demonstrate meaningful ...
Responding to App Store reviews: Why every reply raises your rating
79% of users check app ratings before downloading. Developer responses raise ratings by an average of +0.7 stars, here is how you should respond to App Store reviews.
