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What I was really hoping for is a solution to the problem of every app begging me for a review after upgrading. I get a "please review" popup pretty much every

What I was really hoping for is a solution to the problem of every app begging me for a review after upgrading. I get a "please review" popup pretty much every day. When I got back from Christmas vacation and synced a bunch of apps, my iPhone was painful to use for about three days and every app begged for my help. I actually review apps I use and like, I just wish I didn't have to do it every update to help keep the developer eating.

tgsovlerkhgsel 10y ago
I review every app that annoys me with a review popup, and voice my opinion about my most recent memory of the app (the annoying popup, 1 star). Seems like enough people have started doing it that app developers no longger do this that much, at least on Android. There was even an article how to properly beg for reviews. Boils down to: * Do it after you have delighted the user, not during startup. * Do it respectfully without annoying the user (e.g. with an additional entry in a long scrolling list, not a modal dialog). * Ask the user whether they're happy. If they say no, ask if they want to provide feedback (which you then read and act upon), if they say yes, you ask them if they're willing to leave a review. If they don't want to provide feedback/a review, you leave them alone.
- mikeash 10y ago
  I really dislike that last technique in your list. Attempting to select only the people who like the app is an obvious thing to do as a developer, but as a user it seriously hurts the usefulness of reviews.
  - st3v3r 10y ago
    I agree it can be kinda icky, but at the same time, there's no real good way to get people who like the app to leave a good review. And the way things are in the stores, you have to have those good reviews.
    - Rex206 10y ago
      I could list 200 problems with no good solutions. Can I have your # to call and discuss them with you? How about a single text every month or two? Have you shown any concern for our problems? Any concern at all?
  - whostolemyhat 10y ago
    But one-star reviews just because the app asked for a review doesn't hurt the usefulness of reviews?
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Nope. It's an honest reaction, which is exactly what I want to see when looking at reviews. Imagine I'm comparing two apps, A and B. If A has the higher rating because it steers unhappy people away from posting reviews, that's not useful to me. On the other hand, if B has the lower rating because it keeps bugging its users to post reviews, that's a good reason to choose A instead.
- scosman 10y ago
  Please don't give an app a 1 star review just because they ask for a review. Apple and Android have made ratings incredibly important, and the vast majority of happy users never take the time to review. You get some happy users rating, and a disproportionate number of unhappy users. Asking people (at an appropriate time) is the only way to level the field. We've had a few 5.0 releases of our iOS app, but usually a few silly 1 star reviews make that impossible and knock us down to 4.5. Too many of those are "uggg, don't ask me to review, 1 star". Secondly, the 3rd items you list is actually a dark pattern. If you are going to ask users to review, let them be honest. Directing 5 stars to app store and 4 or fewer to an internal system is gaming the system.
  - eridius 10y ago
    It's not gaming the system. If the user is unhappy, leaving a review won't make them happy. Providing support via some other mechanism to try and fix their issue, that's what makes them happy. If the user is already happy, they don't need support. But maybe they'd like to leave a review to tell other people that they're happy.
    - Rex206 10y ago
      The ratings are not for you, or the customer leaving it. They are for other customers. The problem is, you think something is for you, that is not for you, and you are asking for everyone to behave like it is for you, and you are telling them that, if they don't treat it like it is for you, that you don't want them as a customer. Fair enough, if that's the way you feel, but if that's really what you want ... put it on the app page, not some off-store forum. I question your sincerity.
      - eridius 10y ago
        Reviews are for the customers, yes. But if a customer has a problem, leaving a bad review does not help that customer. And if it's a problem that can be easily fixed, it doesn't help other customers either. Directing people with problems to internal support is unambiguously a good thing. If that customer's issue can be resolved, that's the best solution all around. And if it can't be resolved, well, the user can still go leave a bad review if they want to.
- Ensorceled 10y ago
  It seem suboptimal to sabotage the sales and marketing of apps you use on a regular basis by leaving 1 star reviews. This is what I meant by keep the developer eating.... and providing updates.
  - Rex206 10y ago
    If a developer eats by rating nags, the developer is going starve. Regardless of what anyone else does.
- NTripleOne 10y ago
  > If they say no, ask if they want to provide feedback, if they say yes, you ask them if they're willing to leave a review. I really, really hate this practice - it just feels scummy as hell to me.
taspeotis 10y ago
"Using the SKStoreReviewController API, you can ask users to rate or review your app while they're using it" It sounds like this is the first step to a solution - route applications through this class and then Apple can add a preference to "take no action if nagged for reviews."
- brianwillis 10y ago
  It looks like that's exactly what they've done. There's a screenshot of the setting buried in here: https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/24/ios-10-3-beta-1/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/24/ios-10-3-beta-1/
  - ubernostrum 10y ago
    Now I just want an option to forbid apps repeatedly asking me to turn on notifications, and repeatedly asking me to get on a wifi network.
    - fossuser 10y ago
      They already can only ask once, but apps use a trick to get around that. When they ask you if you want notifications turned on they'll first show you a fake pop up that asks if you want them on - you need to click yes to this one in order to get the real Apple one which you can then deny. If you do that the only way to turn them back on is to go into system settings.
- radley 10y ago
  According to Gruber / Apple it's a max of three prompts per year, regardless of version. https://twitter.com/gruber/status/824022727870861316 https://twitter.com/gruber/status/824022727870861316 [UPDATE] There's also an App Store setting so you can disable requests: https://youtu.be/_qA5p9dQGas?t=2m40s https://youtu.be/_qA5p9dQGas?t=2m40s
  - Ensorceled 10y ago
    Right. But I want to help developers I like (especially small developer shops).
austinl 10y ago
There's an unfortunate cause of excessive app rating prompts — what's shown in search results/top charts/other areas is the average of the latest version, not the overall aggregate. If you're at a company that does scheduled releases (e.g. once every three weeks), you'll need to continually ask people to review the app to keep that rating high. Otherwise you only get ratings from new users and users that are discontent with the particular version. It's rare that people who have already rated the app 5-stars will continually go out of their way to rate the app 5-stars again without prompting.
- Ensorceled 10y ago
  It also doesn't make sense to suspect that you would need to. I don't need to redo Yelp reviews for my favourite neighbourhood restaurant whenever they update their menu, for instance.
- jader201 10y ago
  What's almost worse, is that it disincentivizes developers from updating their apps. If they want to keep their apps bug free, they have to weigh the severity of the bugs against wiping the slate clean on their reviews.
  - raverbashing 10y ago
    But to be honest you don't do that by updating every couple of days
- jlarocco 10y ago
  FYI, some people rate apps down when the apps beg for for reviews like that.
  - username223 10y ago
    austinl's comment: > If you're at a company that does scheduled releases (e.g. once every three weeks), you'll need to continually ask people to review the app to keep that rating high. implies that the best response to such antisocial behavior is to give any pestering app one star. They're mining this dark pattern for publicity.
ClassyJacket 10y ago
Tinder asks you to review it almost every day, even if you already have. I really don't like this, it feels like bullying, or like they're annoying you into leaving a positive review.
- mratzloff 10y ago
  I use that as a helpful cue to immediately close the app and do something else.
whyenot 10y ago
One iOS app I used to use (Baytomat) offers to reward you with credits (normally purchased for money) if you write a 5 star review. This seems like it should be a blatant violation of Apple's App Store policies, but there is no easy way for me to even report it to Apple. Very frustrating.
- chris_7 10y ago
  I've been APNS spammed by Yelp, Lyft, and Etsy, and by reading the guidelines, they should be removed from the App Store for this. No way to report that either.
keehun 10y ago
I would leave a lot more reviews if I didn't have to leave the app. If Apple pushes this interface through, I would definitely leave reviews. I don't mind the nagging—as long as I can make it permanently go away per app, and it doesn't nag me once I review.
- Ensorceled 10y ago
  And especially if I don't have to enter my 32 character apple password every time ...
  - LeoNatan25 10y ago
    With iOS 10.3, you will no longer need to do that.
wineisfine 10y ago
It's crazy Apple can't get basic funtionality like this right. Like on the web in 2001.
ben174 10y ago
Apple is trying to limit how often your iPhone apps can bug you to give them a rating http://www.recode.net/2017/1/24/14375558/apple-limit-app-rating-reminders http://www.recode.net/2017/1/24/14375558/apple-limit-app-rat...
codecamper 10y ago
I've said this for 5+ years... iOS should optionally prompt for user reviews, not the app. As in, there should be an API for requesting reviews. Only that API should be able to control going to the app store review page. This would greatly cut down on fake apps, as the users would actually have to use the app to leave a review. Also, usage data should be correlated against a review. If the user doesn't really use the app, then the review should be quite low priority or filtered out. This would cut down on fake reviews and also PO users who use the app once, leave a trashy review, and leave. Those messages are better directed as PMs to the developer.
- wodenokoto 10y ago
  As long as you can link to the app store, apps can beg for reviews.
  - ascagnel_ 10y ago
    I would assume that Apple will eventually make this API required, and ban any app that links out to the app store directly.
beachstartup 10y ago
the entire apple ecosystem is a non-stop barrage of notices, warnings, and requests, from all apps and the OS. even if you try to turn it all off, they still come at you relentlessly. it's exhausting.
homakov 10y ago
Easy to fix 1) prohibit popups asking for review 2) show ratings inside of app store and only after iOS knows you used this app for a while 3) stop asking for damn password every time and requiring review "title". This will make it easier
tonyedgecombe 10y ago
If they do that just give them a negative review for doing so. If enough of us do that the problem would soon be solved.

tgsovlerkhgsel 10y ago

I review every app that annoys me with a review popup, and voice my opinion about my most recent memory of the app (the annoying popup, 1 star). Seems like enough people have started doing it that app developers no longger do this that much, at least on Android. There was even an article how to properly beg for reviews. Boils down to: * Do it after you have delighted the user, not during startup. * Do it respectfully without annoying the user (e.g. with an additional entry in a long scrolling list, not a modal dialog). * Ask the user whether they're happy. If they say no, ask if they want to provide feedback (which you then read and act upon), if they say yes, you ask them if they're willing to leave a review. If they don't want to provide feedback/a review, you leave them alone.

mikeash 10y ago
I really dislike that last technique in your list. Attempting to select only the people who like the app is an obvious thing to do as a developer, but as a user it seriously hurts the usefulness of reviews.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  I agree it can be kinda icky, but at the same time, there's no real good way to get people who like the app to leave a good review. And the way things are in the stores, you have to have those good reviews.
  - Rex206 10y ago
    I could list 200 problems with no good solutions. Can I have your # to call and discuss them with you? How about a single text every month or two? Have you shown any concern for our problems? Any concern at all?
- whostolemyhat 10y ago
  But one-star reviews just because the app asked for a review doesn't hurt the usefulness of reviews?
  - mikeash 10y ago
    Nope. It's an honest reaction, which is exactly what I want to see when looking at reviews. Imagine I'm comparing two apps, A and B. If A has the higher rating because it steers unhappy people away from posting reviews, that's not useful to me. On the other hand, if B has the lower rating because it keeps bugging its users to post reviews, that's a good reason to choose A instead.
scosman 10y ago
Please don't give an app a 1 star review just because they ask for a review. Apple and Android have made ratings incredibly important, and the vast majority of happy users never take the time to review. You get some happy users rating, and a disproportionate number of unhappy users. Asking people (at an appropriate time) is the only way to level the field. We've had a few 5.0 releases of our iOS app, but usually a few silly 1 star reviews make that impossible and knock us down to 4.5. Too many of those are "uggg, don't ask me to review, 1 star". Secondly, the 3rd items you list is actually a dark pattern. If you are going to ask users to review, let them be honest. Directing 5 stars to app store and 4 or fewer to an internal system is gaming the system.
- eridius 10y ago
  It's not gaming the system. If the user is unhappy, leaving a review won't make them happy. Providing support via some other mechanism to try and fix their issue, that's what makes them happy. If the user is already happy, they don't need support. But maybe they'd like to leave a review to tell other people that they're happy.
  - Rex206 10y ago
    The ratings are not for you, or the customer leaving it. They are for other customers. The problem is, you think something is for you, that is not for you, and you are asking for everyone to behave like it is for you, and you are telling them that, if they don't treat it like it is for you, that you don't want them as a customer. Fair enough, if that's the way you feel, but if that's really what you want ... put it on the app page, not some off-store forum. I question your sincerity.
    - eridius 10y ago
      Reviews are for the customers, yes. But if a customer has a problem, leaving a bad review does not help that customer. And if it's a problem that can be easily fixed, it doesn't help other customers either. Directing people with problems to internal support is unambiguously a good thing. If that customer's issue can be resolved, that's the best solution all around. And if it can't be resolved, well, the user can still go leave a bad review if they want to.
Ensorceled 10y ago
It seem suboptimal to sabotage the sales and marketing of apps you use on a regular basis by leaving 1 star reviews. This is what I meant by keep the developer eating.... and providing updates.
- Rex206 10y ago
  If a developer eats by rating nags, the developer is going starve. Regardless of what anyone else does.
NTripleOne 10y ago
> If they say no, ask if they want to provide feedback, if they say yes, you ask them if they're willing to leave a review. I really, really hate this practice - it just feels scummy as hell to me.

taspeotis 10y ago

"Using the SKStoreReviewController API, you can ask users to rate or review your app while they're using it" It sounds like this is the first step to a solution - route applications through this class and then Apple can add a preference to "take no action if nagged for reviews."

brianwillis 10y ago
It looks like that's exactly what they've done. There's a screenshot of the setting buried in here: https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/24/ios-10-3-beta-1/ https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/24/ios-10-3-beta-1/
- ubernostrum 10y ago
  Now I just want an option to forbid apps repeatedly asking me to turn on notifications, and repeatedly asking me to get on a wifi network.
  - fossuser 10y ago
    They already can only ask once, but apps use a trick to get around that. When they ask you if you want notifications turned on they'll first show you a fake pop up that asks if you want them on - you need to click yes to this one in order to get the real Apple one which you can then deny. If you do that the only way to turn them back on is to go into system settings.
radley 10y ago
According to Gruber / Apple it's a max of three prompts per year, regardless of version. https://twitter.com/gruber/status/824022727870861316 https://twitter.com/gruber/status/824022727870861316 [UPDATE] There's also an App Store setting so you can disable requests: https://youtu.be/_qA5p9dQGas?t=2m40s https://youtu.be/_qA5p9dQGas?t=2m40s
- Ensorceled 10y ago
  Right. But I want to help developers I like (especially small developer shops).

austinl 10y ago

There's an unfortunate cause of excessive app rating prompts — what's shown in search results/top charts/other areas is the average of the latest version, not the overall aggregate. If you're at a company that does scheduled releases (e.g. once every three weeks), you'll need to continually ask people to review the app to keep that rating high. Otherwise you only get ratings from new users and users that are discontent with the particular version. It's rare that people who have already rated the app 5-stars will continually go out of their way to rate the app 5-stars again without prompting.

Ensorceled 10y ago
It also doesn't make sense to suspect that you would need to. I don't need to redo Yelp reviews for my favourite neighbourhood restaurant whenever they update their menu, for instance.
jader201 10y ago
What's almost worse, is that it disincentivizes developers from updating their apps. If they want to keep their apps bug free, they have to weigh the severity of the bugs against wiping the slate clean on their reviews.
- raverbashing 10y ago
  But to be honest you don't do that by updating every couple of days
jlarocco 10y ago
FYI, some people rate apps down when the apps beg for for reviews like that.
- username223 10y ago
  austinl's comment: > If you're at a company that does scheduled releases (e.g. once every three weeks), you'll need to continually ask people to review the app to keep that rating high. implies that the best response to such antisocial behavior is to give any pestering app one star. They're mining this dark pattern for publicity.

ClassyJacket 10y ago

Tinder asks you to review it almost every day, even if you already have. I really don't like this, it feels like bullying, or like they're annoying you into leaving a positive review.

mratzloff 10y ago
I use that as a helpful cue to immediately close the app and do something else.

whyenot 10y ago

One iOS app I used to use (Baytomat) offers to reward you with credits (normally purchased for money) if you write a 5 star review. This seems like it should be a blatant violation of Apple's App Store policies, but there is no easy way for me to even report it to Apple. Very frustrating.

chris_7 10y ago
I've been APNS spammed by Yelp, Lyft, and Etsy, and by reading the guidelines, they should be removed from the App Store for this. No way to report that either.

keehun 10y ago

I would leave a lot more reviews if I didn't have to leave the app. If Apple pushes this interface through, I would definitely leave reviews. I don't mind the nagging—as long as I can make it permanently go away per app, and it doesn't nag me once I review.

Ensorceled 10y ago
And especially if I don't have to enter my 32 character apple password every time ...
- LeoNatan25 10y ago
  With iOS 10.3, you will no longer need to do that.

wineisfine 10y ago

It's crazy Apple can't get basic funtionality like this right. Like on the web in 2001.

ben174 10y ago

Apple is trying to limit how often your iPhone apps can bug you to give them a rating http://www.recode.net/2017/1/24/14375558/apple-limit-app-rating-reminders http://www.recode.net/2017/1/24/14375558/apple-limit-app-rat...

codecamper 10y ago

I've said this for 5+ years... iOS should optionally prompt for user reviews, not the app. As in, there should be an API for requesting reviews. Only that API should be able to control going to the app store review page. This would greatly cut down on fake apps, as the users would actually have to use the app to leave a review. Also, usage data should be correlated against a review. If the user doesn't really use the app, then the review should be quite low priority or filtered out. This would cut down on fake reviews and also PO users who use the app once, leave a trashy review, and leave. Those messages are better directed as PMs to the developer.

wodenokoto 10y ago
As long as you can link to the app store, apps can beg for reviews.
- ascagnel_ 10y ago
  I would assume that Apple will eventually make this API required, and ban any app that links out to the app store directly.

beachstartup 10y ago

the entire apple ecosystem is a non-stop barrage of notices, warnings, and requests, from all apps and the OS. even if you try to turn it all off, they still come at you relentlessly. it's exhausting.

homakov 10y ago

Easy to fix 1) prohibit popups asking for review 2) show ratings inside of app store and only after iOS knows you used this app for a while 3) stop asking for damn password every time and requiring review "title". This will make it easier

tonyedgecombe 10y ago

If they do that just give them a negative review for doing so. If enough of us do that the problem would soon be solved.