The way iOS ratings work is both good and bad. If you get some unwarranted low ratings it's helpful to know that all you need to do is release a point release t

The way iOS ratings work is both good and bad. If you get some unwarranted low ratings it's helpful to know that all you need to do is release a point release to push them behind the All Versions tab that few ever touch. Unfortunately this also gives incentive to postpone updates if the current reviews are good to avoid hiding those. And, of course, the way it works is easily abused. Every review system can be gamed, but I think the best possible compromise is how Amazon reviews work. Being able to comment on a review can at least help mitigate bad reviews without requiring moderation labor on Apple's part. I personally always read the comments on Amazon reviews when doing product research. As for prompting for ratings, I absolutely loathe those panels. I believe the request could be done more tastefully and inline with the actual content of the app without blocking everything with a modal alert. For example, in a game add the prompt to the pause screen or end of level screen and don't require its dismissal to resume play or move to the next level. Allow it to be ignored. Would this approach be as effective? I don't know. It'd be much less annoying though.