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Apple No Longer Accepting App Store Reviews for Redeemed Promo Codes

Full of Win said:
So you don't see the obvious conflict of interest here? Getting a free app has a tendency to add rose colored glasses to many reviewers.
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What's wrong with that? They're enjoying your app - who cares why? It's nice to get a few decent reviews up first before all the 12 year olds start giving you 1 star and "I want my 99 cents back" after you've dumped hundreds of hours of blood and sweat and tears into a project.

There's really not much use for promo codes now. Who are they for - review sites? Even a review on a top-tier site barely affects sales numbers. Promo codes at least gave developers an option to win some hearts and minds in this cut throat business.
 
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SBlue1 said:
I don't think so. I would even say that if you get a free app you would care less for a bug or missing functionality, you didn't pay so why bother.
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Unfortunately this isn't true. If you really want to see your ratings plummet, just make your app free. You'll start getting orders of magnitude more downloads - from the entitlement crowd that never has anything nice to say. You'll go from a few "I want my 99 cents back" 1-star reviews to hundreds of "I want my wasted time back" 1-star reviews in no time.
 
akac said:
The thing is though a Dev can only give 50 codes per version of the app anyway. So its not like this was a spigot of biased reviews. Its only a tiny amount. Seems like it hurts some and helps some. No real benefit.
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No, it was a big problem. Remember for some apps in lower-selling categories, 50 reviews might take a year to achieve. If you can get that within hours of launch, and they're all 5*.. well, it leaves the competition looking bad. And it'll take a long, long time for the rating to get back into balance - which you could wipe out with a minor "fixed a typo" update and 50 new reviews.

Also, when launching an app, lots of good reviews on day one would REALLY help initial sales, which is critical to get into the charts for most apps.
 
Daveoc64 said:
This seems like a stupid idea to me.

I can understand not wanting to encourage "fake" reviews, but MacRumors has a forum where Developers can give away codes and I'm sure that the majority of the codes used result in honest reviews.
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Yea right, its so completely obvious when you look at App reviews and there a dozen who give it 5 stars and slobber over, and every single other review comes in at 1 - 3 stars with lots of complaints and gripes.

So many overrated Apps that are the direct result of promo codes. This is something that needed to be axed from the beginning.
 
Kind of ridiculous - I've had no problem giving middling or bad reviews to apps I've gotten promo codes for. If the app sucks, the fact that I got it for free doesn't change that.

And the fact that they are encouraging you to buy the app at full price if you want to leave a review means that ONLY the people who REALLY love the app will drop the money just so they can leave a review.

I do think it's dishonest if a developer is specifically asking for good reviews in return for promo codes, but I haven't run across one of those yet - though I'm sure they're out there. I'd much rather see a rule where individual devs are punished for doing that (by taking away all their promo codes, for example, and/or deleting any reviews that were left with codes) than a blanket rule that punishes the honest reviewers.
 
porcupine8 said:
Kind of ridiculous - I've had no problem giving middling or bad reviews to apps I've gotten promo codes for. If the app sucks, the fact that I got it for free doesn't change that.
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I think you're right. Most schlock reviews are friends and family, I think, not promo reviewers. Why would someone feel compelled to give a fake review just because they got a promo code? Maybe they'll give it 4 stars instead of 3, out of a feeling of good will, but not if they think it is worth 1 star.

It's not like the dev is going to go after you for a bad review. As far as I know you can't even figure out who is who.
 
Btw, I think the 'problem' apple just fixed is *NOT* devs giving codes out on sites like this and asking for reviews. It's devs using 50 codes directly, either with a network of paid reviewers or even with 50 accounts of their own, and getting 50 5* reviews on day one.

Of course having to buy 50 copies of the app won't be much of a deterrent at $1, but having to get 50 itunes accounts with a credit card might ;)
 
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Heck Yes!!!

Now that stupid "Night Vision" app with almost ALL 1-Star written reviews will lose it's inexplicable 4-star rating.

I'm not always happy with Apple's AppStore moves, but HECK YEAH! Go Apple on this one!!!!
 
SBlue1 said:
So you are saying people who actually pay for an app give a less honest review??? :eek:
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:confused:
I'm completely failing to see how you could get that out of what I said. What I meant was that it could behoove a developer to give out promo codes to people who they know will do a thorough and objective job of testing and reviewing their app.

I've generally think someone who pays for an app is more likely to leave a negative review if they feel that their hard-earned money was wasted whereas if they're happy with the app they'll be less likely to leave a review since they don't feel slighted- and may simply be enjoying using the app and not thinking about reviewing it. Honesty is going to be dependent on the person- someone who'd leave a dishonest review would be just as likely to do so whether they paid for an app or not.
 
One can dream but if Apple could now axe all rates and reviews already done with promo code, that would be fun.
 
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Add me to the list of approving people. Sounds like a great new policy to me.
 
TruckdriverSean said:
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Heck Yes!!!

Now that stupid "Night Vision" app with almost ALL 1-Star written reviews will lose it's inexplicable 4-star rating.

I'm not always happy with Apple's AppStore moves, but HECK YEAH! Go Apple on this one!!!!
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You think you're happy?! That **** **** **** was one of my main competitors! :D (My app at least does low light enhancement, that one is just a picture with a transparent green area over the camera!)
 
maverick808 said:
So why should devs give out promos now?
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Promo codes were designed for promotion. They are intended to give out to the press. If you want to give one to your mom, no one will complain.

qtx43 said:
I think it's a good move. But then, what's the purpose of promo codes at all? Apple could, instead, allow the developer to give away promo codes to the first x-number of people who request one from the app store. Oh wait, that can be abused too by telling your friends when the site goes up. Maybe randomly, every 100 visitors to the site, there's gotta be a way!
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Promo codes are not designed to give things away free, they were designed to get the press talking about iPhone/iPad apps.

akac said:
The thing is though a Dev can only give 50 codes per version of the app anyway. So its not like this was a spigot of biased reviews. Its only a tiny amount. Seems like it hurts some and helps some. No real benefit.
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Those 50 codes should go to those who will do the most good. They do not need to go to some random kid. If you don't have a following, you don't need a code.
 
I suppose this is progress.
The promo codes were meant for the press and app. promotion.

I wonder if a whole industry of sites that were created to review apps. will dry up now.

Many used the review they added to their sites in their app. store reviews and vice versa.

And one more point.

Reviews are subjective. They are an opinion. Can they really be wrong if they say that an app. is 5 stars as long as it is not crashing all over the place?
 
akac said:
The thing is though a Dev can only give 50 codes per version of the app anyway. So its not like this was a spigot of biased reviews. Its only a tiny amount. Seems like it hurts some and helps some. No real benefit.
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The vast majority of apps have fewer than 50 reviews, it does make a big difference if you secure a large number of fake 5* reviews. You only have to look outside the top 100 apps to see the difference in review numbers
 
ciTiger said:
As a developer I'm glad they did it! I was wondering what was taking them so long...
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Ditto! I dont like the idea that some developers are trying to effectively con people into buying apps based on false ratings...very unethical and the people who run promo dispenser should be ashamed.

MacRumors needs to be careful here as they are effectively supporting it by allowing promo dispenser to use touch arcade's forums...
 
roadbloc said:
I've just received a promo today, and put an honest view on the App Store. What is the point in promo codes if I cannot feed back to the dev?

Stupid.
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If you have contact enough with the developer to receive a promo code, I'm sure you can manage to use that contact to provide said developer with feedback. (And your feedback will probably be taken more seriously because 1)the developer apparently *wanted* your feedback enough to give you the promo code, and 2) the developer doesn't have to slog through the dross of 'anything more than 99 cents is too expensive!' to see it.
 
maverick808 said:
So why should devs give out promos now?
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Because they want people to try out their products and legitimate word of mouth is good for a good product.

Paid-for Reviews which is all most promo codes were being used for, not so good.
 
Ashyukun said:
On the other hand, from my own experience (I run an iOS applications podcast) many developers are quite willing to give out promo codes in return for honest reviews and feedback on their apps, and this seems like it would lessen the incentive for developers to give out promo codes to reputable people/organizations.
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Why does it lessen the incentive? Developers can still give out promo codes to reputable people/organizations and they can still recieve feedback from those people - via email, or reviews on their blogs/news outlets, etc. Those people are only limited in that they can no longer artificially inflate application ratings. If anything it will ensure that developers only give promo codes to those people that will actually give meaningful feedback rather than give them away willy nilly in exchange for 5-star reviews.

This is an excellent move by Apple to prevent gaming the system. The bottom line is that this benefits the App Store community & ecosystem as a whole even though it may annoy some developers and users that engaged in the practice of giving away promo codes for good reviews.
 
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Finally ! One competitor has half the review clearly from promo codes. Now how can they block competitors to buy your app and leave one star reviews (it happened, I was really angry).
 
vettori said:
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Finally ! One competitor has half the review clearly from promo codes. Now how can they block competitors to buy your app and leave one star reviews (it happened, I was really angry).
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Use the Report a Concern button.
 
Northgrove said:
I think an even worse issue here, that this is helping against, is devs giving promo codes to people on his/her side, in order to create fake reviews.

"Here's a code - just post something nice about it! I gave you a code so you don't even have to purchase it, in exchange for a good review! Deal?"

I basically see this stopping unscrupulous developers in their tracks.
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My point exactly.
I imagine quite a few have their ratings inflated with this!
 
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