Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, App Store
App Store quietly changes review policy
Since its inception in July, a more fair user-review process has been one of the most constant complaints/requests for the App Store. The old process, which was the same as the existing policy for podcasts, movies, TV shows and music, allowed anyone to review an applcation, regardless if that person had purchased the app or not. The frequent result is as you might expect: 100 reviews kvetching about price by people who never even purchased the application. That isn't fair to developers, and it isn't fair to potential buyers.
Fortunately, Apple has decided to change the review process. Starting today (well, I noticed it for the first time today, and so did Matt Gemmell), you have to actually own the application in order to review it. Go ahead and try to enter a review for an app you haven't downloaded or purchased, you'll get the dialog box at the top of this post.
This is a GREAT step to making the App Store more equitable for both users and developers. Certainly, it doesn't make up for all of the other valid complaints about the NDA and Apple's non-transparent app review process, but it does address the issue that arguably can have the most impact on application sales.
Although free apps will surely still be littered with reviews that solely exist to complain or try to promote another product or continue Internet wars like we're all 12 years old, I don't expect BS reviews to continue to appear on paid apps. After all, is someone really going to pay to trash a competitor's app? This means that the reviews, both postive and negative, can become more reliable, and that would-be customers have a better chance of actually parsing their opinions before making a purchase.
Fortunately, Apple has decided to change the review process. Starting today (well, I noticed it for the first time today, and so did Matt Gemmell), you have to actually own the application in order to review it. Go ahead and try to enter a review for an app you haven't downloaded or purchased, you'll get the dialog box at the top of this post.
This is a GREAT step to making the App Store more equitable for both users and developers. Certainly, it doesn't make up for all of the other valid complaints about the NDA and Apple's non-transparent app review process, but it does address the issue that arguably can have the most impact on application sales.
Although free apps will surely still be littered with reviews that solely exist to complain or try to promote another product or continue Internet wars like we're all 12 years old, I don't expect BS reviews to continue to appear on paid apps. After all, is someone really going to pay to trash a competitor's app? This means that the reviews, both postive and negative, can become more reliable, and that would-be customers have a better chance of actually parsing their opinions before making a purchase.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
fishbert said 3:39PM on 9-27-2008
Well then how are we supposed to know if 'I am Rich' is a good purchase?
Seriously, people who have not purchased an app still may have valuable things to say.
Reply
blinkcowz182 said 3:54PM on 9-27-2008
Like the numerous app reviews my app gets such as "this is a ripoff" or "this app blows"? I've got hundreds of positives but those negative 1 star reviews are rediculous. This is the best thing to hit the app store since it's inception. Bravo for finally listening Apple!
Christina Warren said 4:01PM on 9-27-2008
I understand where you are coming from, but you've got to draw the line. The way the store is now, you can barely find a review that makes any sense at all, so many are just complaints or "rip-off" or promotions for other apps. The potential good is far outweighed by the very visible bad.
totoro said 5:31PM on 9-27-2008
"Well then how are we supposed to know if 'I am Rich' is a good purchase?"
I don't understand...you need someone who HASN'T bought an application to help tell you if the application is worth buying? That makes zero sense.
People who haven't bought or tried an application are not CUSTOMERS, and don't have anything valuable to add to a REVIEW of a product, which is what the App Store CUSTOMER REVIEWS are all about.
What you want is some totally open forum that people can chat about stuff they know nothing about, and judge products based on a screenshot, and express their opinion that something isn't worth 99 cents, without having tried it first.
I'm sure there are many places you can find that on the internet :P Or hey, start one yourself!
LuminousNerd said 5:44PM on 9-27-2008
"If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all..."
But I just can't help myself! Fishbert, you're an idiot, a complete imbecile, what the hell are you thinking? YOU MAKE NO ****ING SENSE YOU COMPLETE MORON.
fishbert said 6:42PM on 9-27-2008
Good parody of an app store review, Luminous.
I think a better way to weed out the worthless reviews is to weight the app ratings based on how useful others mark the comment. That's the issue, isn't it -- the worthless reviews skewing the app ratings?
fishbert said 6:51PM on 9-27-2008
Responding to totoro...
I find it quite valuable when someone comments on an app saying "oh, this app over here is also a to-do app, and it costs half as much." or "the lite version of this app does everything that I need."
Yes, getting rid of the stupid "this app should be free! 1-star!" is a good thing... but the simplistic technique of just weeding out of non-purchasers also eliminates potentially useful comments like the others above. Purchasers are not the only ones who may have something valuable to say about an app.
Kleinias said 7:09PM on 9-27-2008
We will see how this all plays out, but I think the potential good (no more "this app should be free" comments etc) will out weigh the potential bad. I think fishbert has a valid point about non-purchasers having something to say about applications, but the reviews system really needed to be augmented.
I hope the next step will be stopping developers from being able their "free app" numbers from allowing them to increase their standings on the "paid apps" list.
puhsitch said 11:20AM on 9-28-2008
People can still game a weighting system. All you need is well-written bogus reviews or an army of friends to vote things up or down.
autoy said 3:41PM on 9-27-2008
*Appleause*
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Galley said 5:22PM on 9-27-2008
I see what you did there.
bill said 8:10PM on 9-27-2008
I could go for some apple sause right about now...
fishbert said 3:46PM on 9-27-2008
Oh, and what about something like the lightsaber app? Something that was good and fun... then they axe it, bringing it back as an annoying advertisement vehicle, but then keep all the reviews and ratings from the first one?
Or take some other app that is buggy as hell, then gets fixed in a later update -- their rating for the new version is screwed over by the earlier, buggy version.
If they want to truly be more fair and accurate with the reviews, they should segregate them by version as well.
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Christina Warren said 4:03PM on 9-27-2008
I agree this would be a great step, but that doesn't discount this improvement. If this shows anything, it is that Apple is listening -- even if they aren't actively communicating.
pangelav said 3:52PM on 9-27-2008
It's about time! I'm sick of wading through all the garbage reviews.
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Buckingham said 4:06PM on 9-27-2008
Yes. Apple should also have gone further and remove non-owner reviews that exist now.
oshawapilot said 3:57PM on 9-27-2008
Finally, it's about time. I only wish they'd go back through and delete all offending comments posted by people who never bought the app.
A few niche apps that I've been keeping an eye on for a while have had their star ratings decimated by a few clueless children who have posted 1-star reviews because they simply don't comprehend what the app is all about to begin with. The people that actually understand the app, actually purchased it, and actually used it have all posted 4 and 5 star reviews, but when an app only has 15 or 20 reviews and you get a few 1-stars, it drags down the bell curve in a big hurry.
I'd also like to know why the review process states that inappropriate reviews might not be published, yet every 12 year old Appstore user who posts "this app is teh dumz" seems to have no problem getting the review posted.
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Hawkman said 4:20PM on 9-27-2008
Absolutely. What's almost as bad is that the complaints procedure for reviews is useless.
There is, for instance, a Bible app on the UK store for which the first *featured* review is simply some 'funny' comments about Christianity. I care about as much what he thinks about my faith as he'd care what I think about his haircut - I'd just like to know what useful people think about the application, please, and he's wasting my time. Naturally a complaint has resulted in... nothing, and I feel sorry for the author of the application having to put up with it.
Hopefully this new policy will cut down on such inane reviews; or at least force these jokers to waste their own time (and money) as well as mine.
LuminousNerd said 5:47PM on 9-27-2008
AOL Weblogs has the stupidest comment system ever. At first I liked the new one but then realized that they had changed nothing, just the look.... How do I even change my password???!!!
Anyway, I just wanted to say that saying these are from "clueless children" is retarded. These aren't all children putting worthless reviews up, it's all kinds of people. Not that many children even have iPhones.
oshawapilot said 6:44PM on 9-27-2008
If some of the more questionably clueless reviews on the Appstore are *not* posted by children (given the maturity level of the comments, the grammar, and the overall tone) then I'd have to suggest that there's some very maturity challenged adult iPhone owners out there.
More likely there *are* more kids that own iPhones then you might think, and even more kids who have access to mommy and daddy's iPhones (and iTunes/Appstore) at home.
There's lots of very mature adults who also own iPhones, but I'd suspect lots of them aren't bothering to write quality reviews of their Appstore purchases, whereas the maturity-challenged crowd posts plenty of "this app is a ripoff should be free!!!11!" type comments which offer zero to the community.
Restricting reviews to purchased items only is a great start. Deleting all offending reviews from people who never bought an app, as well as providing some sort of method to prevent/delete functionally useless reviews should be the next step.
It'd be pretty easy using the currently in place "x number of users found this review usefull" - if a review gets a >75% negative "helpfull" response (for example) then the system should flag it for review or deletion by someone at Apple.