App Reviews and Ratings

App ratings and reviews are public feedback from users in app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Ratings range from one to five stars, reflecting user satisfaction, while reviews provide detailed comments on their experiences with the app. A higher average rating, often visible in search results, significantly influences an app’s visibility and conversion rates, as both Apple and Google prioritize apps with better ratings.

While both platforms share similarities, they handle ratings and reviews differently. In the Apple App Store, the average rating includes all past ratings, but developers can reset it when releasing a new update, focusing only on the latest version’s ratings. Google Play, however, prioritizes recent ratings over lifetime ones to better reflect the current state of the app.

In terms of reviews, Apple highlights a selection of user reviews on the app listing page, while Google Play showcases both the most positive and most critical reviews. Additionally, Google indexes all descriptive words, including those in user reviews, for keyword ranking, unlike Apple, which does not index keywords from reviews. This makes app ratings and reviews crucial for both user perception and searchability in app stores.