Apple Disables App Store Reviews From Devices Running iOS 9

[AlliFlowers]

jtrenda33 is correct. Typically an app will work fine on the first beta, but then it won't work on subsequent betas. Or it won't work at all on the first two betas and then it will work normally on the 3rd beta.

We have our own beta teams for apps. This is why until recently the os beta has been available exclusively to developers. Non-devs who are participating in the public beta need to understand that the only thing they are testing is the os, itself.

It's Apple fault for not having a real practical way to give feedback on the beta, which I thought was the point of a beta?

Or maybe is the beta an excuse for Apple to monitor, gather and sell all of the user's information?

Also what's next? Censorship of final OS releases on the Appstore (have you seen Yosemite's reviews?)

The point of the public beta is for the public to provide feedback to Apple using the iOS 9 Beta Feedback app, which comes pre-installed on the iOS 9 Beta. It is not for the public to submit feedback to third-party developers.

 

[afsnyder]

It's Apple fault for not having a real practical way to give feedback on the beta, which I thought was the point of a beta?

Or maybe is the beta an excuse for Apple to monitor, gather and sell all of the user's information?

Also what's next? Censorship of final OS releases on the Appstore (have you seen Yosemite's reviews?)

Seriously? All Apple did as turn of reviews from the beta because the software is not fully finished and some of the bugs are not a fault of the developer.

You can still give feedback to apple using the feedback app and developer bug reporting portal.

 

[garylapointe]

They really need a way to overhaul the review system. Reviews from years ago, on products (iDevices) that they don't make any more, on iOS versions that don't run any more and the app has been updated dozens of times since then really don't deserve having 5 year old reviews impacting the product.

Gary

 

[commodorepet]

APIs change. Devs get a peak at the new APIs at WWDC, then suddenly the whole world and their cat is running the beta OS. The period between WWDC and public release is supposed to be the time for the Devs to test and fix, not scramble all-hands-on-deck because of Apple's desire to use the public as free testers.
Is there a way for a developer to mark in their app "works on iOS 8.x only!" so that someone who upgraded to the beta OS would be unable to use the app until the dev rolls out their fully tested compatible version?
That would clear the weeds, making sure that people who rely on an app don't get ahead of the dev, which is the source of all disappointment.

You get the users who complain "I just bought the $5000 Mac pro quad core with 32GB of memory that was released last week and your 99c app doesn't work anymore".
How can anybody manage those expectations?

 

[kybldmstr]

Should have to take an IQ test to download betas

 

[garylapointe]

Also, I'm tired of seeing one-star reviews of people complaining that a product doesn't do something when it's clear from the description that it doesn't do that! I've seen app descriptions like "THIS APP DOES NOT DO ______" (in CAPS) and people down vote it for that same reason, it's not always that the app is missing that feature, it's that it's not relevant to what the app is supposed to do.

FlipBoard still has thousands of 1-star reviews from when they launched FIVE years ago and couldn't handle the capacity. Some of those people are probably loyal users now and haven't ever updated their review.

Maybe some kind of alert from Apple after a year, "your review of ___App Name Here___ is about to expire, if you'd like it to stay please click here to update it". This would help impede fake reviews too, they'd need to be updated too.

I'm a little OCD about reviews, the 20 apps I use the most I probably update my reviews once or twice a year, maybe more often from the apps from the more independent apps. I updated them based on whet they've done with the app.

Gary

 

[C DM]

Seriously? All Apple did as turn of reviews from the beta because the software is not fully finished and some of the bugs are not a fault of the developer.

You can still give feedback to apple using the feedback app and developer bug reporting portal.

And yet somehow they apparently left the ability to rate the apps. Go figure.

 

[C DM]

They really need a way to overhaul the review system. Reviews from years ago, on products (iDevices) that they don't make any more, on iOS versions that don't run any more and the app has been updated dozens of times since then really don't deserve having 5 year old reviews impacting the product.

Gary

Even providing a way to sort reviews by at least date would be quite helpful as that doesn't seem to be available in iOS (at least on iPhones).

 

[kemlin]

This is overdue and makes perfect sense. I'm glad they stepped up and did the right thing for developers and customers alike.

 

[ConnYoungy]

I realise they don't do it for my benefit. They are complaining because they are too stupid to see that a book sold for $22 is actually cheaper than two parts at $14 each. And they are complaining in a "Review" because they are too stupid that a review is there for reviewing an item, which should benefit every potential customer, and not for complaining which doesn't benefit anyone.

You're wrong there pal, the review goes to the seller, so its perfectly understandable that people would query price there, just like there's no easy way to feedback about prices in the app store

 

[sss4r]

Typical that half-way intelligent people have to suffer because of the idiots. Reviews should have been disabled for public betas only, not dev betas. If I happen to be running a dev preview, I might want to leave a positive review. Or I might want to leave a negative review that has nothing to do with a bug or a bug related to iOS 9. It's stupid to leave a negative review solely because of an iOS 9-related issue, I agree, but in typical fashion all of society has to suffer due to the stupidity of a few.

 

[flat five]

many people would rather complain and throw tantrums than figure basic things out.

hey wait. that's what you just did
; )

many people are so jaded and/or incompetent they probably wouldn't care or even realize why the link brought them there. their frustration lies with an app that 'is awful and a bunch of doodie' as far as they're concerned. i think apple is right in making sure they don't do anything at all, as useless feedback is still just useless. the sheer number of idiots who now have powerful devices in their pockets and absolutely zero appreciation or understanding regarding them is mind-boggling.

a good number of people at my job think i'm a total computer geek cause i can set up their 'find my iPhone,' or know that background app refreshes drains battery, so "turn most of those off." take two or three common words that anyone understands, put them together in context with technology and its like the words are now in japanese. "background app refresh? what the heck is that mumbo jumbo??"

clearly, there's more going on than not being able to follow simple 1-2-3 steps. it's some weird mental block having to do with tech culture.

 

[flat five]

Or maybe is the beta an excuse for Apple to monitor, gather and sell all of the user's information?

the public beta makes release go more smoothly.. or- you don't hear much of this anymore -- "wait until .2 or .3 to update osx.. if you do an immediate update, you should spend the first 15minutes checking all your applications and chances are, a couple of them won't work.. etc"

the 'early adopters' are now beta testers (just like they were before), and the people who used to wait a few months now only wait a few weeks or even days..

nothing really changed.

----
and hey.. @abouthalfofyou ..if an app doesn't work on beta versions, the developers should be notified.. people are talking as if any type of 'the app doesn't work' comments are negative and a stab at the developer.. the comments aren't idiotic:



that's not entirely helpful as written but at the very least, s[a]m describes what steps need to occur in order to repeatably reproduce the crash (every time i do this ___ , it crashes).. that's a good way to report problems other than "your app doesn't work.. etc"..

he's said he had previous experience with the app and it worked fine but it's not able to launch on iOS9.

the developer may be like "i know, it crashes for everybody".. or "hmm.. it works fine for me.. can you send me info regarding ___ so i can see why it's acting up for you?" ... so the user sends the diagnostics or info and he's one of 5% of users with such-and-such setup.. the developer can account for their situation and eliminates much more "your app is broken-- 1star!!" comments when the final is released..

further.. 100,000 people can use the beta.. that's around .025% of users.. of which i'm guessing very few are leaving 1stars on app reviews.. very few (as in most aren't leaving any reviews or any start because very very few users leave stars and reviews to begin with)..

it's a non-issue.. a handful of developers are being a little bit dramatic.. apple isn't being dramatic about it at all.. they just non-eventfully turned off comments.. the forum is being over-dramatic and it's turned into some idiot calling some idiot an idiot fest.

idk.. chill out or smthng

 

[techmanmac]

I think this is good because most people are too stupid to understand how betas work. What people do not realize is that when they give bad reviews due to their unintelligence they are messing with the developer's income that feeds their families. It is just not cool since it is the user's fault.

 

[teslo]

1. hey wait. that's what you just did
; )

2. "hmm.. it works fine for me.. can you send me info regarding ___ so i can see why it's acting up for you?"

3. a handful of developers are being a little bit dramatic..idk.. chill out or smthng

1. observations and anecdotes aren't complaints or tantrums.

2. you found the one isolated instance in which developers might not be annoyed getting low ratings for issues they haven't fixed yet. that's some rosy colored glasses stuff right there.. if someone's rating my app for something that idiots (yes, idiots) start yakking about as if they're owed everything in life immediately and without a hint of respect for the technology they're using, that's just not cool at all. there's a chance they have helpful reviews sometimes, there's also a bigger chance they whine constantly about things they don't understand. hence, apple made the right choice here, without a doubt. siskel and ebert never went to movie productions mid-filming and release a public review telling people it sucked. developers can find plenty of Q&A resources, they don't need random tweens on a 6+ their mom bought them, mucking up their rating.

some dev teams just released their first app, say, a month ago, and people like the guy you quoted as 'not entirely helpful' could be their first review, turning away many potential users. app store is a jungle, man.

3. apple only does things based on feedback when it's a big issue. it's not the numbers of early aadopters that matter, it's the quality of first adopters. i've seen airhead yoga chicks and little street brats with their brand new 6+ split-screen multitasking on the train. these are potential reviewers too. not just tech geeks. and for the company with so many secrets and a nearly unprecedented death grip on pre-released property, not responding to an outcry from developers being rated on pre-updated software would be practically criminal negligence.

 

[flat five]

1. observations and anecdotes aren't complaints or tantrums.

maybe from your chair.. not how it looks from other perspectives.

2. you found the one isolated instance in which developers might not be annoyed getting low ratings for issues they haven't fixed yet. that's some rosy colored glasses stuff right there..

i didn't find anything.. it's in the original post with links out to the other news story using the same review, to twitter, etc.. the twitter post is from 10 days ago and it has 40 favorites.. i get a lot more likes than that posting a picture of a misspelled word on a spelling test.. this is hardly big news.

further, on dude's twitter, someone said the app works fine for them and they're on ios9.. so there's a problem with the app that's only affecting some people but not all.. this is definitely something the developer needs to pinpoint and it's helpful feedback.

oh woe is him.. 1 freaking person gave the app one star.. i get it if 10,20,hundreds of people were doing that but we're talking about incredibly isolated cases here.. maybe 1 in 10000 apps will receive 1- one star because of something to do with ios9 beta.

perspective.

if someone's rating my app for something that idiots (yes, idiots) start yakking about as if they're owed everything in life immediately and without a hint of respect for the technology they're using, that's just not cool at all.

maybe.. but you're completely making this scenario up.. do you have an example of someone submitting that type of review re the topic?

there's a chance they have helpful reviews sometimes, there's also a bigger chance they whine constantly about things they don't understand. hence, apple made the right choice here, without a doubt. siskel and ebert never went to movie productions mid-filming and release a public review telling people it sucked. developers can find plenty of Q&A resources, they don't need random tweens on a 6+ their mom bought them, mucking up their rating.

so you don't think it's possible you're entirely blowing things out of proportion ?

some dev teams just released their first app, say, a month ago, and people like the guy you quoted as 'not entirely helpful' could be their first review, turning away many potential users. app store is a jungle, man.

3. apple only does things based on feedback when it's a big issue.

source or elaboration or example?

it's not the numbers of early aadopters that matter, it's the quality of first adopters. i've seen airhead yoga chicks and little street brats with their brand new 6+ split-screen multitasking on the train. these are potential reviewers too. not just tech geeks. and for the company with so many secrets and a nearly unprecedented death grip on pre-released property, not responding to an outcry from developers being rated on pre-updated software would be practically criminal negligence.

heh, everybody sucks.. there's random tweens, idiots, airhead yoga chicks, little street brats.. you sound awesome though.