App Store Insider: Application User Ratings

For a developer, the decision to make an application available for free is a difficult one. Countless hours are spent writing code, creating images, and marketing a newly created application when the last thing you want to think about is what user rating it will receive, but it is a cause for concern. There are currently 6,957 free applications and 23,194 paid applications at the App Store, but the average rating for free applications is around 2.5 stars while paid is about 3.2 stars.  Also, if you look through the top 25 free applications at the App Store you may find only a few applications near or at a four star rating, even if the paid version of the free application has a much higher rating, so what gives?

Why Do Free Applications Score Low? One thing we all know by now is that customers love free applications. People have downloaded a ridiculously high number of throwaway applications because there is absolutely no risk involved. Even if the application has received poor reviews, who cares? What do you have to lose? So you go and download the top free applications, since they don't require any extra searching, heed no warnings, and find out that it is as bad as everyone says it is. Maybe that is half of the appeal? Just to download and witness for yourself how bad or worthless an application can be. That leads me to the next point, when an application is free there is nothing to stop you from deleting it the second you become bored with it. There is no reason to give the application another thought, no reason to go the extra mile to see what really makes an application special. So, delete it, rate it, and on to the next you go. The rate upon deletion method Apple employs could also be at fault here. It's hard to believe that many of you would give an application a five-star rating upon deleting it. The reason you are deleting it in the first place is probably because it doesn't work, or there is something out there that does the job even better. Lite versions of paid applications are usually rated poorly as well.  These ratings and reviews are usually based on what the lite version lacks which is absurd.  When downloading a free demo of an applications users must expect that it is going to be stripped down.  If people would simply rate and review the lite versions of paid applications for what they are, not for what they aren't, this wouldn't even be a problem. As For Paid Applications... So now that I have outlined a few reasons why free applications score poorly, why do the top 25 paid applications usually have a much higher rating?  Some of the reasons may be more than obvious. When you purchase an application, you don't just do it blindly.  Research is required, especially if you are a frugal application purchaser.  You don't want to waste your hard earned money on a poorly reviewed application. Paying for an application makes all the difference when reviewing it.  Some people find the need to justify a purchase by rating the application higher than it deserves, finding positives where none may exist.  Once you have plopped down that $2.99 for an application that doesn't do exactly what you want, you may be more reluctant to try out another application that does the exact same thing because you may waste even more money.  Because of this, it is unlikely that you will delete the application nearly as quickly as you would a free application, or even at all.  If you never delete the application, even if you don't use it, you probably won't take the time to write a review or rate the application. Some of you may also be concerned about losing your already paid for application.  When you delete applications from your iPhone, iPod touch, or even computer you can always download them again.  When downloading an already paid for the application, a window will pop-up telling you that you have previously paid for the application and you may download it for free.  So don't worry about losing your paid applications, they will always be there. Possible Solutions Apple has been working very slowly on improving the user ratings system.  They added the ability to review an application only if you have purchased it.  They also removed all of the reviews that were placed without purchases.  Apple recently added separate ratings and reviews for different application versions to reward developers for fixing whatever issues had plagued previous versions.  So, what else can Apple do to avoid these ratings issues? There are far too many user reviews that give glowing praise to an application and then have a single star rating.  If you attempt to submit a review through the iTunes application from your computer without a star rating, it won't allow it.  However, if you attempt the same from your iPhone or iPod touch, there is nothing to stop you.

Apple may also want to reconsider rating applications upon deletion.  Free applications seem to suffer quite a bit from this method.  If Apple would only allow users to rate applications after signing into their iTunes account, it would weed out the users who randomly hit buttons and stars upon deletion. These are just a couple simple ideas that may help the future of user reviews at the App Store.  If we continue in the direction we are headed, most people won't even consider taking a second look at user reviews, especially for free applications.  We can all do our part as well by honestly reviewing applications, because your voice is the most important. If all else fails, don't forget to check our site for great application reviews, because we have a fantastic team of writers.  Ok, that's not a solution, that is what you call a shameless plug. In all honesty, most of these developers have put a lot time into their applications, whether they are free or available for purchase, so they deserve your best praise and criticism.  Rate and review intelligently. After all, we all know how long it takes Apple to respond to criticism, so we don't want to leave it all in their hands. Submit your own App Store Insider ideas to: tyler[at]appleiphoneapps[dot]com

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