"Rate my app" - like or hate?

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roguemat

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Nokia pushes their "rate my app" code example pretty heavily to developers: http://developer.nokia.com/resources/library/Lumia/code-examples/rate-my-app.html
It is basically one of those popups after you've used the app X number of times and asks you to rate the app.

I wanted to find out if you guys like those or hate those?
Personally I find them really annoying, but then again, I published an app recently that has 70k downloads, but only 200 reviews. That is only ~3% review rate which is terrible, but understandable considering how the OS option to review an app is pretty hidden.
I prefer a button in the appbar or about page.
 
I hate popups in general, especially those light boxes that appear after you've already started reading the page.



Regardless, I suppose mobile app devs feel a "need" to have their apps rated. But users hate leaving the app. So...



...how about a popup that allows me to give you your special little feel good 5 star rating straight from the app I'm using?
 
Hamster said:
...how about a popup that allows me to give you your special little feel good 5 star rating straight from the app I'm using?
Click to expand...
You have to leave the app to give a "real" store review. So this would be pretty pointless.
 
roguemat said:
You have to leave the app to give a "real" store review. So this would be pretty pointless.
Click to expand...


I'm already annoyed with the popup. You really reckon I'm gonna write a review? Better chance I'll uninstall your app because I'm annoyed.
 
Agree, if the review can all be done 'in app' then I would gladly spend a minute or two to rate it. If I however have to leave the app (as it works now) then its just way easier to hit 'Later' or 'No' should that popup appear.
 
DA-LION-619 said:
If you paid for an app are you more inclined to rate it?
Click to expand...

Probably not. Never wrote a review for any of the Tapatalks I bought. In fact I've never given a review for any app unless it was very buggy maybe. And the only times I've really rated apps was to stop them nagging me to do so (a nice average 3/5). App stores should make it simple: a thumbsup or thumbsdown button straight from the app.
 
I've rated a couple of apps but what I don't like is when my reviews are displayed to my contacts to try and lure them to download the app as well. Due to that I've stopped rating
 
I hate the Rate My App popup. I've reviewed a few apps where they deserve a good review, bad apps just get uninstalled. But I will not rate an app if they have the pop-up. Too much in my face.

I never knew reviews were displayed to my contacts? How does that work? If that is true, I will not review another app again.

On another note, I don't mind ads if they make an app free, but I've deleted apps because the ads were too intrusive and spoilt the 'look' of the app.
 
I completely understand why they do it though, most people want to check reviews on relatively unknown apps or ones that are "equivalent" to some other well known app.
I do some reviews because Im sure the next person will want to know.
 
p51mustang said:
I hate the Rate My App popup. I've reviewed a few apps where they deserve a good review, bad apps just get uninstalled. But I will not rate an app if they have the pop-up. Too much in my face.

I never knew reviews were displayed to my contacts? How does that work? If that is true, I will not review another app again.

On another note, I don't mind ads if they make an app free, but I've deleted apps because the ads were too intrusive and spoilt the 'look' of the app.
Click to expand...

The Android Play Store shows your reviews to your contacts
 
I must admit, once or twice I have thought of rating an app when the pop-up, well, popped up.

However, because it said "Rate 5 stars" and I did not think it was worth 5 stars, I ignored it. The wording sounds like you must rate it 5 stars or nothing. Wasn't sure if you can rate fewer stars or not via the pop-up, and wasn't bothered to find out. ;-)
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!
I guess I'll keep to what I've been doing and just provide a button out of the way somewhere that opens up the review page.

With regards to the guys that only review apps when they are buggy, please consider taking the time to review good apps too. The only way good apps rise in the store rankings is with good reviews.
 
While on the topic of feedback, I have contacted two developers of apps I enjoy.

The one (a voice recorder) welcomed my feedback and said he would impliment my suggestions, but a year later still nothing. A followup email was not replied to.

Another dev (gps tracking app) was very positive with my suggestions and almost rewrote the code to impliment what I suggested. Three betas and two weeks later, the updated app was available in the Store. :-)

I have just downloaded another voice recorder which shows promise, but there is no contact details in the app to provide feedback to the dev, apart from finding the app in the Store and submitting a review.
 
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roguemat said:
Thanks for the feedback guys!
I guess I'll keep to what I've been doing and just provide a button out of the way somewhere that opens up the review page.

With regards to the guys that only review apps when they are buggy, please consider taking the time to review good apps too. The only way good apps rise in the store rankings is with good reviews.
Click to expand...
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/02/24/shipley-app-ratings
John Gruber went on a proper tangent about this matter. He even had an episode of The Talk Show where that was the main topic. Everyone hates the behaviour but the problem is, it's an arms race for app store attention. So devs engage in more intrusive and shady practices to get you to rate their apps.
 
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I'll rate an app if I really like.

If it has a popup asking me to rate it 5 stars it automatically gets a 1 star rating from me.
 
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