iOS The reason for so many poor App Ratings?

[cLk]

Hi everyone,

First post here. I've been following this forum as a guest for a while, and now I have a question for you all so I decided to register...

I'm wondering: How do I prompt users to leave a rating for my app while they are using it? Is there any sort of tutorial out there on this?

I came across an app (don't remember which one, unfortunately) that allows users to write a review or leave a rating from inside the app (while users are using it).

Why I'm asking: As you know, when a user deletes an app from their phone a prompt appears asking if they'd like to rate the app. Well, I don't think this is good practice, and it's why there are so often very low ratings for many good, free apps. Honestly, I don't think this is very fair to developers because Apple has decided to make it incredibly convenient for users who are deleting the app (and obviously don't like it) to leave ratings, while not providing a similar rating prompt to users who are using and enjoying the app.

How often do people who like an app go out of their way to open the App Store to write a review? Why doesn't Apple provide a prompt after someone opens an app a few times to leave a rating?

I was wondering how to do this because I just put out a Lite version of my app, which is pretty good, but unfortunately I'm getting hammered by bad ratings from the handful people who didn't like my app. About 1,500 people have downloaded it in the first two days of release, and 25 people have left a 1-star rating, while 5 have left a 5-star rating. There's nothing in between. My app therefore has a 1.5-star rating. That doesn't sound like an accurate representation of the thoughts of ALL users of my app.

So how can I create a prompt inside my app that allows users to write a review or leave a rating? Thanks for your time.

 

[Darkroom]

prompting a user with an alert for a rating inside your app is a bad idea, if it's even possible. any developer could falsify the rating to always record 5 stars when that may not have been the user's intention. additionally, a prompt for feedback could be viewed as a nuisance that could subsequently reduce the user's response to your work.

if you have an info section in your app, this would be an ideal place to have a ratings request label, perhaps with a button linking to your app on the AppStore.

- (IBAction)appStoreLink
{
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=[I][COLOR="Red"](yourAppID)[/COLOR][/I]"]];
}

[I][COLOR="Gray"]this only works on device.  there is no app store on the simulator[/COLOR][/I]

don't get too crazy over ratings, especially if you're offering your work for free. some users will give you a thoughtful review, while others will not.

 

[macster84]

Why I'm asking: As you know, when a user deletes an app from their phone a prompt appears asking if they'd like to rate the app. Well, I don't think this is good practice, and it's why there are so often very low ratings for many good, free apps. Honestly, I don't think this is very fair to developers because Apple has decided to make it incredibly convenient for users who are deleting the app (and obviously don't like it) to leave ratings, while not providing a similar rating prompt to users who are using and enjoying the app.

How often do people who like an app go out of their way to open the App Store to write a review? Why doesn't Apple provide a prompt after someone opens an app a few times to leave a rating?

You raise a good point and maybe Apple could do something about it in another way? For example, currently iTunes sends the downloader a sales receipt the next day or so which includes a direct link to "Write a Review" or "Report a Problem". However, one day latter is insufficient time for a user to spend adequate time with the app to write meaningful feedback. Maybe iTunes could send a reminder email 3 days later or 1 week later.