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> Imagine if a professional writer for the tech news media submitted this app review to their editor for publication. The writer would likely be fired for incom

> Imagine if a professional writer for the tech news media submitted this app review to their editor for publication. The writer would likely be fired for incompetence. It's not an article, it's a review. Everyone knows it's some random fuckwit. > Below is a one-star review that I discovered today—App Store developers must check manually for reviews because Apple fails to send us email notifications... There's an API. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appstoreconnectapi/customer-reviews https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appstoreconnectapi... IIRC there's a webhook too. > The reviews are irrationally nitpicky, choosing one quibble and making the entire review about that. I've got bad news on those "professional writers" from the first bit. > Some App Store users even abuse the review system for technical support purposes... This probably means you've made your support system too hard to find/use. > Indeed, if ratings requests were initiated by Apple, then Apple could go as far as to ban developer-initiated ratings requests in the App Store. They did! It's a one-shot dialog now. App devs responded by adding a "Are you liking the app?" nag screen of their own, which I say "yes" to, then decline the real one. Developers made this bed for themselves.

FabHK 3mo ago
> > Indeed, if ratings requests were initiated by Apple, then Apple could go as far as to ban developer-initiated ratings requests in the App Store. > They did! It's a one-shot dialog now. No. Apple provides an API, but Apple doesn't ask for reviews. The app has to initiate the process to ask for a review (through Apple's API). That is what the developer highlights: If Apple were to solicit reviews from customers, then said API could be retired and apps could reasonably be banned entirely from soliciting reviews. As it stands, they're caught in a tragedy of the commons, with unscrupulous developers winning (e.g. with fake reviews, or the annoying "are you satisfied" pop-up before displaying the Apple API).
- ceejayoz 3mo ago
  > Apple provides an API, but Apple doesn't ask for reviews. The app has to initiate the process to ask for a review (through Apple's API). I'm aware. The API to do so limits how often you can ask, because of the incessant nagging people did. Minor correction to my earlier comment: It's 3x/year, not 1x. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/ratings-and-reviews/ https://developer.apple.com/app-store/ratings-and-reviews/ The nagging devs now get around this by doing their own prompts before it. (As many shitty websites do for web-based push notifications, for similar reasons.)
- ezfe 3mo ago
  The API limits how frequently (3/year) *and* can be fully blocked by any user for all apps. They do get banned, effectively.
  - spacedcowboy 3mo ago
    And there is nothing to stop a developer putting up their own nag screen as many times as they like, only pushing through to the real one when they get a good response... And they do.
    - ezfe 3mo ago
      If the OP did that then they deserve a 1 star rating. If they used Apple's system then they deserve a rating that doesn't deduct for the popup (and evidence seems to show that's what happens)

FabHK 3mo ago

> > Indeed, if ratings requests were initiated by Apple, then Apple could go as far as to ban developer-initiated ratings requests in the App Store. > They did! It's a one-shot dialog now. No. Apple provides an API, but Apple doesn't ask for reviews. The app has to initiate the process to ask for a review (through Apple's API). That is what the developer highlights: If Apple were to solicit reviews from customers, then said API could be retired and apps could reasonably be banned entirely from soliciting reviews. As it stands, they're caught in a tragedy of the commons, with unscrupulous developers winning (e.g. with fake reviews, or the annoying "are you satisfied" pop-up before displaying the Apple API).

ceejayoz 3mo ago
> Apple provides an API, but Apple doesn't ask for reviews. The app has to initiate the process to ask for a review (through Apple's API). I'm aware. The API to do so limits how often you can ask, because of the incessant nagging people did. Minor correction to my earlier comment: It's 3x/year, not 1x. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/ratings-and-reviews/ https://developer.apple.com/app-store/ratings-and-reviews/ The nagging devs now get around this by doing their own prompts before it. (As many shitty websites do for web-based push notifications, for similar reasons.)
ezfe 3mo ago
The API limits how frequently (3/year) *and* can be fully blocked by any user for all apps. They do get banned, effectively.
- spacedcowboy 3mo ago
  And there is nothing to stop a developer putting up their own nag screen as many times as they like, only pushing through to the real one when they get a good response... And they do.
  - ezfe 3mo ago
    If the OP did that then they deserve a 1 star rating. If they used Apple's system then they deserve a rating that doesn't deduct for the popup (and evidence seems to show that's what happens)