18 November 2010
App Store Feedback
For those of you who are following me on Twitter, you've no doubt heard me bitching and moaning about the App Store's "broken" reviews system.
[UPDATE: Radar numbers are listed next to the problem names below]
To sum up my Twitter rantings, I have two main gripes with how user-feedback is implemented on the store:
1. Report a Problem [Problem #8696532]
The Report a Problem button (pictured below) doesn't actually report to the developer, from what I can tell. It's sent to Apple.
The reasoning behind this, I'm guessing, is that Apple wants to be the first point of contact for problematic apps. This allows them to pull an app in the case of a large number of complaints from users.
The problem is, and I'm only basing this on my own experience, Apple doesn't forward on any of these problem reports to the developer. The customer thinks that they have contacted the developer for support, and naturally get's somewhat irked when they don't receive a reply. Not exactly good mojo for your business.
There's a simple solution to this: on the feedback form (pictured above), when the user selects "This application has a bug", they should also be prompted to enter their email address and a copy of the feedback is sent to the app's support email address. This email address is already supplied as part of the app submission process, so why not put it to good use?
The developer will then be made aware of the issue and can fix it. In the case of user-error, the developer can advise the customer best on how to resolve the problem.
2. The Dreaded Reviews System [Problem #8696565]
The review section of the App Store is a system which was inherited from the iTunes Music Store. It's intended for reviewing the app (obviously), but it's also become a place where users air their frustrations regarding issues that they have with the app (pictured below).
Feedback is a good thing, but 99% of the time there is not enough information in these reviews for developers to diagnose the problem. Furthermore, it's not possible for devs to reply to these reviews (e.g. to let the user know that the issue will be fixed, or to ask them for more information on their problem).
It's unlikely that Apple are going to overhaul the reviews system anytime soon, so I would like to propose an alternative stop-gap solution in the meantime: add a Report a Problem button to the Reviews screen, next to the Write a Review button (pictured below).
Tapping this new button would open the email composer (pictured below) with the developer's support email already filled out. This would work in exactly the same way as point #1.
I think that if Apple were to implement changes similar to this, that it could potentially improve the reviewing system, as well as provide a better means for users to get in touch with developers when they run into problems with their apps.
