The way to get App Store reviews is to ask with Apple's own rating prompt right after a user finishes something that went well, keep a permanent "write a review" link in your settings screen, and reply to the reviews you receive. Apple shows the prompt to each person at most three times in 365 days, so the moment you pick matters far more than how often you ask. Paying for reviews, rewarding them or filtering who gets asked is against Apple's rules and can end your developer account.
This guide covers everything a developer can legitimately do, with each rule linked to Apple's or Google's own documentation as it stood in October 2026.
App Store ratings versus reviews
A rating is the 1 to 5 stars. A review is the written text a customer can add. Apple's ratings and reviews overview says customers can rate any app on every platform, and can write reviews for iOS, macOS and visionOS apps but not for tvOS apps. When someone changes a rating or review, the newest version replaces the old one.
The stars roll up into one number, which Apple's developer pages call the summary rating and App Store Connect now labels the overview rating. Your product page shows one such rating per country or region, tied to where the customer originally got the app. A 4.8 in the United States and a 4.2 in Germany can both be true at once. On iOS 18.4 and later the product page also shows a short summary of your reviews written by a large language model.
In practice, ratings are easy to collect in volume because the prompt takes one tap, while written reviews are rarer and carry the words you can learn from, reply to and (with permission) quote.
Why App Store ratings and reviews matter
- Search ranking. Apple's App Store search page lists user behavior, including downloads and ratings and reviews, among the factors behind search results, next to text matches for your title, subtitle, keywords and category. It adds that ratings and reviews can influence how your app ranks.
- Conversion. Your summary rating shows on the product page and in search results, and Apple's ratings and reviews guidance warns that a low number of ratings may discourage downloads. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines put it plainly: people often look at ratings and reviews before they download.
- Product feedback. Reviews describe, in the user's own words, problems your analytics cannot name.
- Marketing. A current rating and a permitted review are the most believable material you have for social posts, your website and your listing.
The iOS App Store rating prompt and its limits
Apple provides one sanctioned way to ask inside an app: the system rating prompt. In SwiftUI you read the requestReview environment value and call it, which is the RequestReviewAction API. The older SKStoreReviewController class still appears in many tutorials, but Apple's documentation marks it deprecated as of iOS 18 and points to RequestReviewAction instead.
You decide when to call it. The system decides whether anything appears. That split is the whole design, and it explains every limit below.
Which call to use depends on how the app is built. A SwiftUI view reads requestReview from the environment. A UIKit app calls requestReview(in:) on StoreKit's AppStore type, passing the window scene the card should appear over, and that call has been available since iOS 16. SKStoreReviewController still builds, but Apple's documentation lists it as deprecated from iOS 18 and macOS 15 and points to RequestReviewAction instead. Every one of these calls hands the decision to the same system, so the limits in the table below apply whichever one your code uses.
| Situation | What the system does |
|---|---|
| The person has not rated or reviewed your app on this device | Shows the prompt at most three times within a 365 day period |
| The person has already rated or reviewed | Shows it again only for a new app version, and only if more than 365 days have passed since their last review |
| The person turned off rating requests in their device settings | Never shows it, for any app |
| Your app is a development build | Always shows it, so you can test the flow |
| Your app is a TestFlight beta build | The call has no effect |
| You call it from a button tap | It may show nothing, so Apple tells you not to tie it to a button |
Those rows come from Apple's RequestReviewAction page and from Apple's guide to requesting App Store reviews. The takeaway for planning: you get three chances per user per year at most, and you cannot confirm that any single call was displayed. Spend them carefully.
How Apple's review request API works, in plain words
If someone else writes your code, this is what to ask them for, and what happens on the user's phone.
- The app raises its hand. At a moment you choose, the app sends the system one short message that means "now would be a good time to ask". The message carries no text, no star count and no design.
- The system decides. It checks whether this person has already rated the app on this device, whether the prompt has already appeared three times in the past 365 days, and whether the person has switched rating requests off for every app. If a check fails, nothing appears.
- The card appears. It is Apple's own card, laid over your screen, with five stars. The person can rate with one tap, add a written review without leaving the app, or dismiss it.
- The system handles the rest. Apple's documentation says the system manages the whole process once the card is on screen, and the call returns nothing to your app, so the app never learns whether a card was shown or which star was tapped.
Three things follow for whoever builds it. The wording and the look of the card are fixed, so there is nothing to design. The call belongs at the end of a flow and never on a button, because a button that sometimes does nothing looks broken. And the app has to remember two facts on the device: how many times the person has completed the success event, and which version it last asked on. Apple's sample app stores exactly those two values. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines list the system prompt for iOS, iPadOS and macOS.
When to ask for a rating
Ask after a success moment: the user just finished the thing your app exists for, it worked, and they have a second to spare. Apple's guidance says the same in three places. The StoreKit guide says to ask at the end of a sequence the person completed successfully and never right at launch. The Human Interface Guidelines say to wait until people have shown engagement, to skip first launch and onboarding, and to leave at least a week or two between requests.
- Fitness app: after the fifth saved workout, on the summary screen.
- Budgeting app: when a month closes under budget.
- Photo editor: after an export finishes, the third time.
- Language app: after a streak reaches seven days.
- Game: after a win, never after a loss.
- Utility: after the task completes (file converted, document scanned), once the user has done it several times.
Apple's sample project is a good template to copy. It asks only when three conditions hold: the person has completed the core process at least four times, the app has not already asked for this version, and the person has paused on the completion screen for about two seconds. Apple notes that with rules like these, days, weeks or months can pass before a user is asked, and that later asks produce better feedback because the person knows the app.
- Pick one success event and count it per user.
- Require a minimum count (start with 3 to 5) and a minimum number of days since install (start with 3 to 7).
- Skip the request if the session included a crash, an error message or a failed payment.
- Wait a second or two on the result screen, then call the API.
- Store the app version you last asked on, and do not ask twice for the same version.
When not to ask
- At launch, including the tenth launch. Apple's StoreKit guide says to avoid asking right when the app opens, even when it is not the first time.
- During onboarding. The Human Interface Guidelines warn that people may be more likely to leave negative feedback when an app asks before they have had a chance to use it.
- In the middle of a task or a game. Wait for a natural break, so the request does not feel like a chore.
- Right after a paywall, a failed payment, a crash or an error message. The last feeling a person had about the app becomes the rating.
- A few days after the last request. Apple suggests leaving at least a week or two between requests, and asking again only once the person has done more in the app.
Written as a rule a developer can build, the version for Trailhead (the invented hiking app used for the examples in this guide) reads: ask on the hike summary screen, two seconds after it appears, if the person has saved at least four hikes, installed the app at least seven days ago, saw no error in this session and has not been asked on this version. Every part of that sentence maps to one stored value or one check.
How to get more app reviews outside the prompt
The prompt is the main source of ratings. These five habits add written reviews on top, and they answer the common question of how to get iOS app reviews when the app is new and the prompt has barely fired.
- Add a "Rate this app" row in settings. Apple suggests a persistent link for people who want to review on their own schedule. The format is your normal product page link (apps.apple.com/app/id plus your numeric App Store ID) followed by ?action= and then the words write and review joined by one hyphen. Apple's guide to requesting App Store reviews prints the exact string to copy. It opens the App Store straight on the review form.
- Fix what reviews complain about, then say so. Apple recommends mentioning fixes in your release notes and replying to the original reviewers to tell them. That gives someone a reason to update an old 2 star review. There are patterns for this in the app release notes examples.
- Ask after a good support conversation. When someone thanks you by email for solving their problem, send the review link in your reply.
- Email your most active users. Send a short, personal note from the developer with the review link. Skip the newsletter template.
- Ask your audience in public. A post that says you read every review, with the link, reaches people who already like the app. The network by network details are in how to promote an app on social media.
Your first ten reviews will come from people who already know you: beta testers who moved to the App Store version, newsletter readers, your early community. Ask them directly, ask for an honest review, and send the link. One caution: the rating prompt does nothing in TestFlight builds, and people who got the app through a promo code cannot rate or review it, so both groups need the public version, downloaded the normal way.
Sample wording for asking
You cannot change the text of Apple's prompt. Everything around it is yours to write. Keep each ask short, say why it matters, and never mention a star count or a reward.
- Settings row: "Rate Trailhead on the App Store. It takes a minute and helps other hikers find the app."
- Support reply: "Glad that fixed it. If you have a minute, an honest review on the App Store helps a two person team a lot. Here is the link."
- Email to active users: "You have logged 40 hikes with Trailhead. I build this app with one other person and I read every review. If you are willing to write one, this link opens the form."
- Release notes: "Offline maps load twice as fast in this version. Thank you to everyone who reported the delay in a review. We read all of them."
- Social post: "We read every App Store review, including the 1 star ones. If Trailhead has earned a place on your phone, tell us what to build next."
A review request email template
Send this from your own address to people who have used the app for a while. Send it to everyone who passes the usage bar, whether or not you think they are happy.
- Subject: "A small favor from the two of us at Trailhead"
- Body: "Hi Maya, you have logged 40 hikes with Trailhead since March, which puts you among the people who know it best. We are a team of two, and App Store reviews are how other hikers find us. If you have two minutes, would you write an honest one? This link opens the review form directly. If something in the app annoys you, reply to this email and it reaches me, Jonas, the developer."
- Why it works: it names what the person did, says who is asking, asks for honesty instead of stars, and gives one link. The reply route for complaints is offered to everyone alongside the link, so it does not sort people by mood.
What Apple forbids: a table of do and do not
Apple's App Review Guidelines contain the rules, mostly in sections 3.2.2 and 5.6. Breaking them puts the app and the whole developer account at risk.
| Do | Do not | Where the rule is |
|---|---|---|
| Use Apple's system prompt to ask inside the app | Build your own star rating dialog that imitates or replaces it | Guideline 5.6.1: use the provided API, custom review prompts are disallowed |
| Ask every eligible user at a good moment | Ask "Do you like the app?" first and send only the happy users to the App Store | The guidelines name filtered feedback as manipulation |
| Let people use the app whether or not they rate it | Lock a feature, level or content until the user rates or reviews | Guideline 3.2.2: apps must not force users to rate or review |
| Ask for an honest review | Offer coins, discounts, premium time or prize entries for a review | The guidelines name incentivized feedback as manipulation |
| Earn reviews from real users | Buy reviews, join review exchange groups or have staff post as customers | Guideline 5.6.3: manipulating reviews is not permitted |
| Reply to reviews briefly and on topic | Put marketing, personal information or spam in a reply | Guideline 5.6.1 |
| Report abusive or spam reviews to Apple | Argue with, threaten or mock a reviewer | Guideline 5.6: treat everyone with respect in review responses |
| Show your current rating in marketing | Keep showing an old, higher rating after it drops | Apple's ratings and reviews guidance |
The second row deserves a note because so many tutorials recommend it. A "how are we doing?" screen that routes unhappy users to a feedback form and happy users to the store is review gating. A feedback form on its own is fine. Deciding who gets the rating request based on their answer is the practice the word filtered points at.
Apple is stricter than the law on this point. In the United States, the FTC's questions and answers on its reviews rule note that the rule contains no specific ban on asking only satisfied customers, while warning that the practice can still violate the FTC Act. The App Review Guidelines are the rules your developer account lives under, so follow those.
How to buy App Store reviews: do not
People search for how to buy App Store reviews because a new listing with zero ratings feels invisible. The honest answer is that buying them is the most reliable way to lose the app. Apple's App Review Guidelines say that developers who inflate their standing with "paid, incentivized, filtered, or fake feedback", or who use third party services to do it, may be expelled from the Apple Developer Program.
Apple also enforces it at scale. In Apple's fraud prevention report for 2025, the company says it processed over 1.3 billion ratings and reviews, blocked close to 195 million fraudulent ones before they appeared, and terminated 193,000 developer accounts over fraud concerns. Apple says it combines human review with AI to spot inauthentic reviews, and it does not warn you before acting.
There is a legal side too. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's rule on fake reviews, announced in August 2024, bars businesses from buying fake reviews or paying for reviews on the condition that they are positive, and allows civil penalties for knowing violations. Google Play bans the same practices in its own policy. Thirty real ratings earned with a well timed prompt are worth more than three hundred purchased ones that vanish along with your account.
Friends, family and staff are the quiet version of the same problem. The FTC's questions and answers say that reviews from insiders, such as employees and relatives, need a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the relationship, which few people think to write into a store review. The Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions bar reviewers from misrepresenting their affiliation, and Google Play's ratings and reviews policy for users bars reviewing an app made by a company you own or work for. Ask your team to tell real users about the app instead of rating it themselves.
How to respond to App Store reviews
Replying is free, public and one of the few things that changes an existing rating. When you reply, the customer is notified and can update their review, per Apple's overview page. The steps, from Apple's help page on responding to reviews:
- Sign in to App Store Connect with the Account Holder, Admin or Customer Support role.
- Open Apps, choose your app, and click Ratings and Reviews in the sidebar.
- Pick the platform at the top right, find the review and click Reply.
- Write the response and click Submit. It can take up to 24 hours to appear and shows as pending until then.
Only one response shows per review, and you can edit or delete it later. Apple's guidance on what to write: be concise, respectful and personal, keep marketing and personal information out, and if you cannot answer everything, start with the lowest star reviews and those reporting technical problems in the current version.
- Bug you fixed: "Thanks for reporting the sync problem. Version 3.2 fixes it. If anything still looks wrong, message us from the Help screen in the app and we will sort it out."
- Feature request: "Good idea. Apple Watch support is on our list for this year and your review moved it up."
- Billing complaint: "Sorry about the charge. Apple handles App Store billing, so Apple Support is the place to sort it out. We are happy to help with anything inside the app."
- Vague 1 star: "Sorry the app let you down. Could you tell us what went wrong? We read every reply."
How to respond to negative reviews: examples
A reply to a bad review has two readers: the person who wrote it, who is notified and can change the rating, and every later visitor who reads the page to see how you treat customers. A reply that works has three parts. Say what you understood, say what you did or will do, and give one way to reach you.
| The review | A reply that works | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| 1 star: "Crashes every time I open a saved route." | "Sorry about the crash. It hit saved routes with more than 200 points, and version 2.4.1, out today, fixes it. If it still happens after you update, write to us from Settings, then Help, and we will look at your route." | Names the cause and the version, so the reviewer has a reason to update the app and the review |
| 2 stars: "Used to be free, now everything is locked behind a subscription." | "Fair point, and thank you for using Trailhead since the early versions. Recording and viewing hikes are still free. Offline maps moved to the paid plan because we pay for map hosting on every download." | States what is still free and why the change happened, without arguing |
| 1 star: "Charged me after I cancelled." | "Sorry about that. Subscriptions bought in the app are billed by Apple, so Apple Support is the place to check the charge and ask for a refund. We are glad to help with anything inside the app." | Apple's guidance says to point billing problems to Apple Support |
| 3 stars: "Good app but no Apple Watch version." | "Thanks. A Watch app is our most requested feature and we have started on it. No date yet." | Honest about timing and promises nothing you might miss |
| 1 star: "Garbage." | "Sorry Trailhead let you down. If you tell us what went wrong, at the support address on our App Store page, we will try to fix it." | Short and calm. The next reader sees that you answered |
- Reply fast after a release. Apple suggests answering new and updated reviews promptly after a major version.
- Write each reply fresh. Apple asks for personal responses instead of one generic line pasted under similar reviews.
- Turn on the alert. App Store Connect can email you when someone edits a review you replied to, so you learn whether the reply worked.
- Do not ask for a higher rating. Google tells developers not to in replies, and on the App Store it reads as pressure. Fix the problem, say so, and let the person decide. Reviews that are abusive or not about your app get no reply at all: report them, as the next section describes.
How to report a fake or abusive App Store review
You cannot delete a review, and Apple does not remove one for being harsh. What Apple acts on is content that breaks its rules. Apple's ratings and reviews guidance names offensive material, spam and anything that violates Apple's terms, and the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, which every App Store customer accepts, spell those out.
| What the review does | Can you report it? |
|---|---|
| Uses abusive or offensive language | Yes. The terms bar objectionable and offensive content |
| Posts someone's personal or private information | Yes |
| Advertises another product or carries spam | Yes. Unsolicited advertising is named in the terms |
| Is dishonest or written in bad faith, for example a wave of near identical 1 star reviews in one afternoon | Yes. The terms bar dishonest, abusive, misleading and bad faith ratings and reviews |
| Was posted, changed or removed in exchange for payment | Yes. Compensation for a rating or review is barred on the reviewer's side too |
| Says your app is slow, overpriced or worse than a competitor | No. That is an opinion, and the answer is a reply |
The steps come from Apple's page on viewing ratings and reviews:
- In App Store Connect, open Apps, choose the app and click Ratings and Reviews in the sidebar.
- Pick the platform at the top right and find the review. The country menu at the top left helps when it was left on another storefront.
- Click Report a Concern on the review.
- Choose a concern from the menu, describe the problem and click Submit.
Write the description for a stranger at Apple who has thirty seconds. Quote the offending words, or for a suspected attack give the facts: "14 reviews with 1 star and near identical text between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on October 3". Do not reply to the review while you wait. The reviewer is not told that you reported it, and Apple's help page promises neither a timeline nor an outcome, so keep earning new ratings in the meantime. The same page explains how to report the review summary that Apple generates for your product page, through the menu beside the summary.
Can Negative Reviews Get an App Removed?
The App Review Guidelines set no minimum rating, and an honest 1 star review is not a rule break. Apple does watch the overall pattern, though. Guideline 5.6.4 of the App Review Guidelines, titled App Quality, names excessive customer reports about concerns with an app, negative customer reviews among them, and excessive refund requests as signs that an app is falling short. It adds that an inability to maintain high quality may be a factor when Apple decides whether a developer is following the Developer Code of Conduct, and section 5.6 says an account that breaks that code is terminated.
So treat a cluster of bad reviews as a bug report with a deadline. A run of reviews that names the same crash, the same missing feature or the same billing surprise is the pattern 5.6.4 describes, and the fix is in the product. The order that works: reproduce what the reviews describe, ship the fix, name it in the release notes, then reply to each review that reported it, so every reviewer is notified and can change the rating. If the wave is fake, with near identical text from accounts that never used the app, report it with Report a Concern as described above and do not reply.
- Watch refunds next to reviews. Apple lists refund requests beside negative reviews in 5.6.4, and both usually point at the same cause, such as a paywall that appears before people understand what they are paying for.
- Read the reviews per version. A drop that starts with one release is almost always that release, and App Store Connect lets you filter ratings and reviews by version.
- Keep the evidence of what you fixed. Release notes that name each fix are also your record that the complaints were answered.
App Store reviews not showing up: the usual reasons
- It was a rating, not a review. A tap on the stars changes your average and adds no text to the page.
- It is on another storefront. Ratings and reviews are tied to the country or region where the customer got the app. In App Store Connect, switch the country menu at the top left of Ratings and Reviews to find it.
- It is still pending. Apple documents a delay of up to 24 hours before a developer response appears, so give a new review a day before you worry.
- The customer used a promo code. Apple's promo code page states that customers who redeem one cannot rate or review the app.
- The person was on a TestFlight build. The rating prompt does nothing there.
- You reset the rating. After a reset the product page shows a notice until enough people rate the new version.
- Apple blocked it. Ratings and reviews that Apple's systems judge fraudulent never appear, and Apple reported blocking close to 195 million of them in 2025.
- You are filtering. Check the version, star and country filters in App Store Connect before assuming a review is gone.
App Review Is Not the Same as Customer Reviews
Many people who search for App Store reviews mean App Review, the check Apple runs on every new app and update before it goes live. The two have nothing in common except the word: customer reviews are what users write on your product page, and App Review is Apple's approval step. Apple's App Review page covers the approval side; how long it takes, what each status means and what to do when a submission is stuck are in our guide to how long App Store review takes.
Two parts of that page matter for the customer kind of review. First, you can request an expedited review when you face extenuating circumstances. Apple's examples are a critical bug fix, for which you include the steps to reproduce the bug in the current version, and a release tied to an event you are directly associated with. A crash that is producing a wave of 1 star reviews is the clearest case for asking. Second, if a submission is rejected and you believe App Review misunderstood the app, you can file one appeal per submission with the App Review Board, after answering any request for more information. Our guide to App Store rejection reasons covers each common rejection and how to reply.
A fix only helps your rating once people have it, so time the replies to reviewers for the day the version is released, not the day you submit it. A reply that says "fixed in 2.4.1" while 2.4.1 is still waiting for approval sends people to update and find nothing new.
App Store Ratings and Reviews API: Reading and Replying in Code
If you look after several apps or languages, or want reviews to land in a spreadsheet, a help desk or a team chat, App Store Connect has an API for them. Apple's Customer Reviews documentation describes an endpoint that returns all customer reviews for an app, which you can filter by territory and star rating, sort by date or rating, and split into reviews with and without a published response. A second endpoint returns the reviews for a single app version, which is the fastest way to see what people said about one release.
Replies have their own resource. Apple's Customer Review Responses documentation covers creating, updating, reading and deleting your response to a review, and keeps the same rule as the website: at most one response per review. The Customer Reviews documentation also lists a resource for reading review summarizations, the short paragraph Apple writes for your product page from individual reviews.
- Access starts with the Account Holder. Apple's role permissions reference names the Account Holder as the only user who can request access to the App Store Connect API. For teammates who only read and answer reviews in the website, there is the Customer Support role, which Apple describes as analyzing and responding to customer reviews.
- Let code collect and sort the reviews, and keep a person on the replies. Guideline 5.6.1 asks for responses targeted to the user's comments with no marketing or personal information, and Apple's ratings page asks for personal answers, which rules out one pasted reply under every review.
- Use the filters for the weekly check. Pull the reviews of 1 to 3 stars without a response, for your largest territories, and the routine later in this guide takes minutes.
- The API covers apps in your own account. For a competitor's reviews you have their public product page and the paid tools compared in our App Store Optimization guide.
App Store ratings by country and region
Your app does not have one rating. Apple's ratings and reviews overview says the product page shows a single overview rating for each country or region, and that a rating belongs to the place where the customer first got the app. Someone who downloaded Trailhead in France and later moved to Canada still counts toward the French number.
- A new market starts from nothing. When you launch in Japan, the Japanese storefront shows no rating until people there rate the app, however good the number is in the United States. The system prompt takes care of this without extra work, because it asks users wherever they are.
- Check your largest storefronts one by one. In App Store Connect, the country menu at the top left of Ratings and Reviews switches between them. A low rating in a single country often points to a translation, a payment method or a local bug.
- Quote the right number. When a post or a web page shows your rating, use the one for the storefront that audience sees.
Resetting your rating on a new version
You can wipe the stars and start again, but only at the moment you release a new version. Apple's help page on resetting the rating sets out the terms: an Admin or App Manager ticks the reset option on the version page before submitting, the reset applies in every country and region at once, it covers only the platform you chose, and it cannot be undone once the version is live. Written reviews stay on the page.
Apple advises using it sparingly, because a reset also throws away your rating count, and a small count can put people off. Reset when the low rating describes an app that no longer exists: you rebuilt the feature people hated, fixed the crash that drew the 1 star wave, or changed the pricing they objected to. Otherwise keep the history and let new ratings pull the average up.
- In App Store Connect, open the app and click the version you are about to submit in the sidebar.
- In the Reset Overview Rating section, select the option to reset the rating when this version is released.
- Click Save, then submit the version as usual. The rating resets on the day the version goes live.
Afterward the product page carries a message that the rating was recently reset, and a new number appears once enough people have rated the new version. Apple does not publish how many that is. App Store Connect records the reset date under Ratings and Reviews.
How to get reviews on the Google Play Store
Android has an equivalent. Google Play's In App Review API shows a rating card inside your app, and Google's rules for it are more explicit than Apple's. You must not ask any question before or while the card is shown, whether about opinion (do they like the app) or prediction (would they give it 5 stars). You must not alter or cover the card. You should not put the request behind a button, because the quota may already be used up and nothing will appear.
Google does not publish that quota. Its documentation says only that calling the flow more than once in a short period, giving less than a month as the example, might not show the dialog. Google Play's ratings and reviews policy bans rewards for ratings, fake reviews and deceptive prompts, and tells developers not to ask for a higher rating when replying to a review.
Managing reviews in Play Console
Google documents more of its machinery than Apple does. These points come from Play Console Help's page on ratings and reviews.
- The rating people see leans on recent ratings. Google calculates it from your most recent ratings instead of the lifetime average, so an app that has been fixed recovers faster than a plain average would allow.
- New reviews wait about a day. They are generally held for around 24 hours before they go public, and you can already read and answer them during that time.
- Each user can rate an app once and update it later. The total number of ratings is shown only once an app has five or more.
- Replies need the Reply to reviews permission. You get one public reply per review, you can edit it, and the user receives a push notification and an email that contains your reply.
- Play Console shows whether replies work. Its Updated Ratings section splits the people who changed a rating into those who got a reply and those who did not, with the average change for each group.
- Suggested replies are offered for recent reviews in English when you use Play Console in English. Edit them before publishing so they answer the review in front of you.
Reporting a review on Google Play
Play Console Help's page on reporting inappropriate reviews gives the route: open Monitor and improve, then Ratings and reviews, then Reviews, click the flag on the review and choose Report. A specialist looks at the report within a few business days. If it is rejected you cannot report the same review again, so report only clear cases. The yardstick is Google Play's ratings and reviews policy for users, which bars spam and fake reviews, reviews that are off topic, advertising, abuse, personal information and conflicts of interest.
The App Store and Google Play side by side
| Topic | App Store | Google Play |
|---|---|---|
| How often it can show | At most three times per person in 365 days | A quota Google does not publish. Asking again within a month may show nothing |
| A question before the prompt | Filtered feedback is named as manipulation in the guidelines | Forbidden in so many words |
| Replying | One public response per review, editable, up to 24 hours to appear. The reviewer is notified | One public reply per review, editable. The reviewer gets a push notification and an email |
| Getting a review removed | Report a Concern in App Store Connect | Flag, then Report, in Play Console. A rejected report cannot be sent again |
| Rating shown to shoppers | One overview rating per country or region | Weighted toward recent ratings |
| Testing the prompt | Always shows in development builds, has no effect in TestFlight | Works for testers on the internal test track, where the quota is not enforced. Reviews cannot be submitted from a build installed through internal app sharing |
How to use ratings and reviews in marketing within Apple's rules
Good ratings are worth showing, and Apple permits it with two conditions set out in its ratings and reviews guidance: your rating may appear in marketing only if it accurately reflects the app's current rating, and a customer review may be used only if the reviewer gave permission.
- Rating posts are simple. Show the number that is on the App Store today, for the storefront your audience uses, and update or retire the graphic when it changes.
- Review quotes need a yes. App Store Connect gives you a public reply box and Apple wants marketing kept out of it, so the practical route is the users you can reach directly: people who praise the app by email, in support chats or on social media. Ask if you may quote them, and keep the reply.
- Milestones are safe and effective. "1,000 ratings, thank you" is a fact about your listing and says nothing a reviewer did not agree to.
- Follow the badge and naming rules when the post mentions the store. They are in the App Store marketing guidelines reference.
Asking can be one line: "We loved your note about the offline maps. May we quote it, with your first name, in a post about Trailhead?" Keep the answer. In the United States, the FTC's questions and answers on its reviews rule explain that a consumer review you feature in your own marketing becomes a testimonial, and that the rule's exemption for simply hosting reviews no longer covers it. Quote the words as written, and never trim a sentence until it says something the reviewer did not mean.
For layout, a testimonial graphic generator turns a permitted quote into a post, and reviews belong in a wider plan alongside your listing, press and email, which is laid out in how to market an app and how to promote an app for free.
A monthly routine for ratings and reviews
None of this works as a one time project. The routine below takes a small app a little over an hour a month.
| When | What to do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Every week | Read the new reviews for each platform and your three largest countries. Reply to every 1, 2 and 3 star review about the current version. | 10 minutes |
| With every release | Name the fixes that came from reviews in the release notes. Reply to the older reviews that reported those bugs, and watch for edited reviews over the following week. | 15 minutes |
| Once a month | Note the rating and the number of ratings per country. Sort the month's reviews into bugs, pricing, missing features and praise, and pass the top item in each group to the roadmap. | 20 minutes |
| Once a month | Check every place your rating appears in marketing (website, social graphics, press kit) against today's number, and replace what is out of date. | 5 minutes |
| Once a month | Report spam and abusive reviews. Ask permission for the best new quotes. | 10 minutes |
| Every quarter | Review the prompt rule: how many users reach the success event, and whether the count or the delay should change. | 15 minutes |
If the rating has not moved after two or three months of this, the prompt is rarely the problem. Read the 1 and 2 star reviews as a list of work, and ship the fix that appears most often.
Where Spreadcast fits
Spreadcast handles the marketing step for iOS apps. It checks your public App Store listing every day, and when a new 5 star review arrives or you pass a rating milestone such as 1,000 ratings or a 4.8 average, it designs a post from your icon, screenshots and colors. A post that shows only the rating can go out by itself. A post that quotes the reviewer's words waits for your approval, because of the permission rule above. It does not ask users for reviews and has no part inside your app. You can try it by pasting your App Store link at the start page.