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Apple's hostile App Store rating system

lapcatsoftware.com

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Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#101

Post by lapcat »

echoangle wrote: post #98

> 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. Yet Apple allows reviews like this to be published to the App Store. Yeah, like every public rating system. Google reviews on restaurants wouldn’t directly go into a Michelin guide either, and the same is true for Amazon ratings. Welcome to the real w…

> Yeah, like every public rating system.

My opinion is low of them all.

> Google reviews on restaurants wouldn’t directly go into a Michelin guide either

One important difference is that Google does not review restaurants before they open, whereas Apple claims to review every app before they are published to the App Store.

> the same is true for Amazon ratings.

Amazon, like Apple, has a major problem with scam and copycat products in their store.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#102

Post by echoangle »

lapcat wrote: post #94
cosmotic wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many people in the HN comments supporting the decision to rate apps with one star when said apps solicit ratings. You posted a screenshot of another person agreeing with this perspective, and I'm yet another.

I said, "Some of the comments are making baseless speculations about my software, without having used it." Have you used my software? If not, then your speculation about the design of my review request is indeed baselesss. I did not question whether some people have a personal one-star policy. Obviously they do. My statement was about my software. The person in my App Store review screenshot has indeed used my softwa…

How is that baseless?

If someone says “hey, this guy has a nag screen” and your response is “but everybody does it!”, it’s not baseless to think you have a bag screen without checking your app. If you don’t, I would expect you to write “the reviewer here is wrong, I don’t have a nag screen”.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#103

Post by lapcat »

echoangle wrote: post #100
lapcat wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The one star nag review is accurate to me. As a potential user, I know not to buy the app. I despise ads and nag screens are in the same boat. How do you know it's accurate, when you haven't used my app? That's actually not accurate. I don't have a nag screen.

> complaining that my app requested a rating… like the majority of other apps in the App Store! But your paid for app does request a rating when using it? That’s what people call a nag screen

> But your paid for app does request a rating when using it?

Yes.

> That’s what people call a nag screen

No. Where do you get "screen from?

Ironically, there are some comments here that suggest I do the something that I'm in fact doing already:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099655

> So put a "hey, a rating really helps" somewhere in the app that doesn't interrupt?

> The bottom of the dashboard. Top of settings. A banner that shows up after a while. Let me permanently say no; none of the passive-aggressive "maybe later" shit.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49102435

> Well, not covering content helps.

People read the single word "nag" and assumed something much worse than the reality. If you define "nag" as any request for a review, regardless of the form in which it appears, then you could say that it nags, but as soon as you start talking about a nag screen, covering content, a modal dialog, etc., that's a totally inaccurate depiction of what my app does.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#104

Post by echoangle »

lapcat wrote: post #101
echoangle wrote: post #98

> 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. Yet Apple allows reviews like this to be published to the App Store. Yeah, like every public rating system. Google reviews on restaurants wouldn’t directly go into a Michelin guide either, and the same is true for Amazon ratings. Welcome to the real w…

> Yeah, like every public rating system. My opinion is low of them all. > Google reviews on restaurants wouldn’t directly go into a Michelin guide either One important difference is that Google does not review restaurants before they open, whereas Apple claims to review every app before they are published to the App Store. > the same is true for Amazon ratings. Amazon, like Apple, has a major problem with scam and co…

> My opinion is low of them all.

Sounds like a you problem, people like them and find them useful, so I doubt they’ll be going away.

> One important difference is that Google does not review restaurants before they open, whereas Apple claims to review every app before they are published to the App Store.

What does that have to do with anything? So if google went around and checked food safety of every restaurant before listing them, you would say that google ratings for restaurant are stupid because the people doing the rating aren’t professional food critics?

The App Store review is like the food safety check but the ratings are the ratings.

> Amazon, like Apple, has a major problem with scam and copycat products in their store.

Ok, does that imply fake ratings or what does that have to do with the discussion?

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#105

Post by interfeco »

ptmkenny wrote: post #54

In Settings -> Apps -> App Store, I have “In-App Ratings and Reviews” toggled off. Nevertheless, I still occasionally get shown a review prompt, even for paid apps. You can bet I leave a one star review in this case; I paid for the app, and I opted out of reviews. If you want to ask me to leave a review without respecting my time and stated preference, you deserve one star.

This might be bit unfair.

App developers, can signal the OS when they believe is the right time to ask for a review, but it is the OS that decides to show the prompt. The app developer has no idea about your OS preferences and I don't think they deserve a 1 star review just because the OS failed to honor your stated preference.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#106

Post by paxys »

interfeco wrote: post #105
ptmkenny wrote: post #54

In Settings -> Apps -> App Store, I have “In-App Ratings and Reviews” toggled off. Nevertheless, I still occasionally get shown a review prompt, even for paid apps. You can bet I leave a one star review in this case; I paid for the app, and I opted out of reviews. If you want to ask me to leave a review without respecting my time and stated preference, you deserve one star.

This might be bit unfair. App developers, can signal the OS when they believe is the right time to ask for a review, but it is the OS that decides to show the prompt. The app developer has no idea about your OS preferences and I don't think they deserve a 1 star review just because the OS failed to honor your stated preference.

If the app was relying on the OS to make the decision then you would never see the pop up. In my experience most apps bypass that entirely and show their own custom versions.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#107

Post by lapcat »

echoangle wrote: post #102
lapcat wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said, "Some of the comments are making baseless speculations about my software, without having used it." Have you used my software? If not, then your speculation about the design of my review request is indeed baselesss. I did not question whether some people have a personal one-star policy. Obviously they do. My statement was about my software. The person in my App Store review screenshot has indeed used my softwa…

How is that baseless? If someone says “hey, this guy has a nag screen” and your response is “but everybody does it!”, it’s not baseless to think you have a bag screen without checking your app. If you don’t, I would expect you to write “the reviewer here is wrong, I don’t have a nag screen”.

The App Store review in the screenshot used the phrase "ratings nag on the app interface." It did not say "nag screen".

My app does have a ratings request on the app interface, which does not interface with the other controls on the app interface. It does not have a dedicated ratings request screen.

People are just assuming "nag screen" based on the single word "nag", and even that word is questionable in my opinion, but I do indisputably present a ratings request.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#108

Post by echoangle »

lapcat wrote: post #103
echoangle wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> complaining that my app requested a rating… like the majority of other apps in the App Store! But your paid for app does request a rating when using it? That’s what people call a nag screen

> But your paid for app does request a rating when using it? Yes. > That’s what people call a nag screen No. Where do you get "screen from? Ironically, there are some comments here that suggest I do the something that I'm in fact doing already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099655 > So put a "hey, a rating really helps" somewhere in the app that doesn't interrupt? > The bottom of the dashboard. Top of settin…

Do you seriously not see how this misunderstanding is coming about though?

If you write a blog post over a negative review accusing you of nagging, I would expect you to say “actually I’m not really nagging, I just have a line saying to please leave a rating in my app” if that’s the case. If you instead double down and make excuses and advocate to just ban the reviews because you don’t like user reviews anyways, it sounds like you’re actually wrong and the rating is correct.

And I’m not surprised that readers don’t proactively go out and look for your app to check themselves before criticizing you.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#109

Post by echoangle »

lapcat wrote: post #107
echoangle wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that baseless? If someone says “hey, this guy has a nag screen” and your response is “but everybody does it!”, it’s not baseless to think you have a bag screen without checking your app. If you don’t, I would expect you to write “the reviewer here is wrong, I don’t have a nag screen”.

The App Store review in the screenshot used the phrase "ratings nag on the app interface." It did not say "nag screen". My app does have a ratings request on the app interface, which does not interface with the other controls on the app interface. It does not have a dedicated ratings request screen. People are just assuming "nag screen" based on the single word "nag", and even that word is questionable in my opinion,…

It would have helped to write that when talking about the review.

Re: Apple's hostile App Store rating system

#110

Post by lapcat »

echoangle wrote: post #108
lapcat wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But your paid for app does request a rating when using it? Yes. > That’s what people call a nag screen No. Where do you get "screen from? Ironically, there are some comments here that suggest I do the something that I'm in fact doing already: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099655 > So put a "hey, a rating really helps" somewhere in the app that doesn't interrupt? > The bottom of the dashboard. Top of settin…

Do you seriously not see how this misunderstanding is coming about though? If you write a blog post over a negative review accusing you of nagging, I would expect you to say “actually I’m not really nagging, I just have a line saying to please leave a rating in my app” if that’s the case. If you instead double down and make excuses and advocate to just ban the reviews because you don’t like user reviews anyways, it s…

> If you write a blog post over a negative review accusing you of nagging, I would expect you to say “actually I’m not really nagging

This is itself a misunderstanding of the blog post.

There's a whole setup where I talk about my other blog post from the previous day, Apple App Store curation, and the origin of the App Store from the iTunes Music Store. Why do you think I wrote all of that?

And then after I mention my review, I immediately move on to mention another developer's review, which was not about nagging.

If you think my blog post was about me responding to that one review, then you've missed most of the paragraphs in the blog post.

I'm critiquing the system, but people want to turn it into a simple personal complaint. That's missing the point. I've been consistently criticizing the App Store for years: https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2026/1/9.html Of course I have personal experience with the system, and bring that into my blog posts, but I'm speaking about common problems.

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