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iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

developer.apple.com

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Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#161

Post by jrockway »

metafunctor wrote: post #106
epaga wrote: post #102

As a small indie dev (dealing with hundreds or thousands, not hundreds of thousands of customers), the best way I've found to encourage reviews is to prominently display my email address for any questions or ideas. Then, when customers write (many of them do), I write back a nice response and then add: P.S. If you enjoy Mindscope, would you take a minute to write a short review? It would mean a lot and helps give Min…

Some people here would probably call that a "dark pattern" (I of course don't). Because, you know, it's soliciting for positive reviews from a preselected set of users.

Yeah. I wish Apple implemented that star-before-redirection thing and captured the rating. Then if you liked the app, your fake 5 star review would help them without having to actually write a review, AND you'd be getting honest feedback from everyone, not just a filtered subset.

I don't know why people write AppStore reviews though. If I like an app, I'll go on my computer and tell people via social networking. Typing out a credible-sounding review on my phone sounds like work, not fun.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#162

Post by LeoNatan25 »

Ensorceled wrote: post #68
keehun wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And especially if I don't have to enter my 32 character apple password every time ...

With iOS 10.3, you will no longer need to do that.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#163

Post by ascagnel_ »

wodenokoto wrote: post #137
codecamper wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

As long as you can link to the app store, apps can beg for reviews.

I would assume that Apple will eventually make this API required, and ban any app that links out to the app store directly.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#164

Post by Ntrails »

anotherturn wrote: post #133
epaga wrote: post #102

As a small indie dev (dealing with hundreds or thousands, not hundreds of thousands of customers), the best way I've found to encourage reviews is to prominently display my email address for any questions or ideas. Then, when customers write (many of them do), I write back a nice response and then add: P.S. If you enjoy Mindscope, would you take a minute to write a short review? It would mean a lot and helps give Min…

I've done a similar thing, but getting people to review is like pulling teeth. We've tried plenty ways to make this happen: 1. append a footer in the email asking for a review Finding: People ignore it. 2. include custom copy in the emails asking for a review People say yes yes, and then most do nothing. 3. The annoying rate us with stars popup and redirect to appstore. People rate 5 stars inapp, and then close down…

>3. The annoying rate us with stars popup and redirect to appstore. People rate 5 stars inapp, and then close down the AppStore before they apply a rating

Every now and again I click through on that to leave a shitty review as a disincentive to a) annoy me with a dumb pop up every time I use the app and b) dark pattern it such that I only get sent to the app store if I give you a positive review.

I get to the review page and have to sign in/up/whatever and I can't be bothered, even with all that spite motivating me. I sure as heck am not going to as a way of being nice about a product especially when I know reviews have such a short half life to an even slightly actively updated app.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#165

Post by solarexplorer »

NTripleOne wrote: post #130
bookmarkacc wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a dark pattern at all. There are no interface tricks

Yeah - however, the whole "do you like our app? yes/no" thing, where yes takes you to the store for review and no takes you to a feedback form (that probably doesn't even post)? Definitely a dark pattern.

The advantage of a feedback form is that the developer can come back to you with suggestions, ask you for details to reproduce a bug, etc. If you just go to the App Store and leave a (negative) review, there is no way for the developer to contact you. Hence the dialog/feedback form pattern. Allowing developers to respond to reviews on the App Store will help with this problem.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#166

Post by Humdeee »

jordansmithnz wrote: post #51

As an indie developer that has a lot invested in the App Store - this is really, really, great. It doesn't matter how much effort you put into making an app that is polished, well thought out, and one of the best out there - there will always be reviews like 'App gets stuck downloading' or 'App doesn't support x' (when x is clearly stated as being a paid addition). The ability to respond to reviews should more clearl…

I hear you. I've had those experiences. I put in minimal usage analytics on my backend, and the users that are the harshest with reviews are my biggest users. It's all worthwhile when you get the occasional email from someone that your app has helped them immensely with a task.

I make utility apps for some side income and one of the strangest reviews I received was a 1 star -- "cannot beat level 6. Paywall. Deleted."

The moron somehow reviewed the wrong app, from some game. Apple however is pretty good at responding to review removal requests.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#167

Post by ercu »

vbezhenar wrote: post #148
anotherturn wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done a similar thing, but getting people to review is like pulling teeth. We've tried plenty ways to make this happen: 1. append a footer in the email asking for a review Finding: People ignore it. 2. include custom copy in the emails asking for a review People say yes yes, and then most do nothing. 3. The annoying rate us with stars popup and redirect to appstore. People rate 5 stars inapp, and then close down…

I'm not sure about newer phones, but with iPhone 4S it took so much time to load appstore, that I'm usually giving up. AppStore is very slow application, it feels like bad website on 2G connection and I don't understand that.

I guess app store is made of webview or some ui framework dynamically updated with xml/html. That might be one of the reasons it loads so slow and can be updated remotely.

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#168

Post by jayrhynas »

jrockway wrote: post #161
metafunctor wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people here would probably call that a "dark pattern" (I of course don't). Because, you know, it's soliciting for positive reviews from a preselected set of users.

Yeah. I wish Apple implemented that star-before-redirection thing and captured the rating. Then if you liked the app, your fake 5 star review would help them without having to actually write a review, AND you'd be getting honest feedback from everyone, not just a filtered subset. I don't know why people write AppStore reviews though. If I like an app, I'll go on my computer and tell people via social networking. Typi…

That's actually coming with this update too. It looks like this [1]

> Using the SKStoreReviewController API, you can ask users to rate or review your app while they're using it, without sending them to the App Store.

[1]: https://twitter.com/iCalvin/status/823977790382993409/photo/...

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#169

Post by mikeash »

jclardy wrote: post #156
mikeash wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We understand, we just don't care.

You think you don't care, but look at your App Store purchase history from two or more years ago and see what is still around.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Are you saying that I really do care, because it helps apps I like to use to survive?

Re: iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews

#170

Post by mikeash »

metafunctor wrote: post #103
mikeash wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a minor inconvenience, and my retaliation is in proportion to that.

If it's a "minor inconvenience", shouldn't you rate the app, say, 3 or 4 stars if you otherwise enjoy it?

Maybe. On the other hand, it's an honest reflection of how I feel at the moment. Maybe I could put in some effort to figure out a broader view, but on the other hand, why put in effort to help people who don't value my time?
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