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New Apple Podcasts Rating Prompt Artificially Boosts App Store Score

applefanboysince93 said:
I’ve tried over and over to switch to Apple's podcast app but I keep crawling back to PocketCasts because it just works so much better and Apple's app is frustrating and confusing... so yeah, I have to keep paying $10/year for an app because Apple’s is horrible… clearly Apple's Podcasts team don’t actually use their own app… it’s pretty yet completely unusable half the time :(
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femike said:
I do not like using the Podcasts app at all. I would listen to more but the interface is terrible. Apple deliberately designed it this way because if one designed it like this it would of been fixed by now. But then again, this is Tim Cook's Apple and marketing and subscriptions are more important. To be expected I guess.
I haven't got around to finding another podcast client yet.
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I’m actually appalled that no one has stated the blatantly obvious yet. Apple’s app is crap because they WANT you to use the other developer’s apps as they make money on those subscriptions! /s
 
Ebarella said:
Not sketchy or wrong, but as The Verge pointed out, reviewers of third-party podcast apps don't seem to make the same mistake of believing they are rating a podcast
While it might be indication of something sketchy with the prompt, it could also mean users of third-party apps are way more tech-savy
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I’d say it’s an indication that for the folks using the app, the interface falls away enough for them to just enjoy their podcast. I’ve no doubt that if they hated the interface they’d be saying it. What we’re seeing is “this app is fine OH AND CHECK OUT THIS PODCAST!”
 
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boss.king said:
Is it the first actual listing or is it an ad? I see an audible ad, but the Apple Podcasts app is the first actual listing.
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Yeah, takes up over half the page on my iPhone, too. Just seems odd to say “Podcasts app is the number one app that comes up when you search for ‘podcasts’” knowing that the ads are always first, but I guess it reads more dramatically that way.
 
I just searched for Podcast Player in the app store and after a few minutes scrolling through all the players I still hadn’t found the apple podcast app. Just searching for Podcast showed it as the second on the list, with audible being first. Odd.
 
Their app is called podcasts. Of course it’s bloody first if you search ‘podcasts’.
Same reason why they called themselves Apple - first alphabetically.
Just good sales technique.
boss.king said:
Is it the first actual listing or is it an ad? I see an audible ad, but the Apple Podcasts app is the first actual listing.
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siddavis said:
Feature, not a bug. I'm shocked it works this way... shocked I tell you! ;)
Ditched Podcasts app for Overcast earlier this year and couldn't be happier. Should've done it waaaaay sooner.
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What is wrong with Apple podcast app? Why do you think Overcast is better? Asking to see what I maybe missing out on.
 
This is very clever of Apple. Wait until the user is listening to the subscription they listen to most often, and then display the prompt. Other App developers could learn a thing or two.
 
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davidako said:
If you think 4.6 stars is more representative of the Podcasts app than 1.8 you’ve clearly never used it.
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I do use it and there are no fake reviews so this is really a non-story. All that’s happened is Apple is asking a wider userbase to review. Clearly the average user likes this app regardless to whether us tech folk like it.
 
cupcakes2000 said:
Their app is called podcasts. Of course it’s bloody first if you search ‘podcasts’.
Same reason why they called themselves Apple - first alphabetically.
Just good sales technique.
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Settle down. I wasn’t complaining that they were the listing, I was only asking if it was the ad or the actual listing.
 
Krizoitz said:
The fact that neither MacRumors nor The Verge (whom they linked to) went through the very basic step of finding the prompt in question to see what it looks like demonstrates a big journalistic failure on the part of both. The quality on this site has been going down hill for awhile now…
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The average blogger is considered a journalist so I guess the MacRumors “bloggers” are too. When all MR does is type up a summary of an article another journalist wrote then mistakes will be made.
 
camsoft said:
I do use it and there are no fake reviews so this is really a non-story. All that’s happened is Apple is asking a wider userbase to review. Clearly the average user likes this app regardless to whether us tech folk like it.
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Why is the text in all those positive reviews not talking about how good the app is but about how good a particular podcast is?
 
This thread is a perfect example at fake or manufactured outrage, because, ‘Apple’ or ‘Tim Cook’.

Ridiculous.
 
trusso said:
No.

I'd suggest a CEO that values consumer freedom and the original promise of the personal computer revolution, instead of shareholder profits and shady business practices.
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I think you should look at the very ethos of Apple, started by Steve Jobs at its inception, before you judge the Apple of today, least of all blame its current ceo. The lockdown of the hardware and the software and the so called walled garden is the promise - from the start - of where they’ve always wanted to be.
 
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It’s not the greatest app, but after spending some time I’ve gotten used to it.
 
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Unregistered 4U said:
I’d say it’s an indication that for the folks using the app, the interface falls away enough for them to just enjoy their podcast. I’ve no doubt that if they hated the interface they’d be saying it. What we’re seeing is “this app is fine OH AND CHECK OUT THIS PODCAST!”
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I listen to podcasts every so often using Apple's Podcast app, and I have no complaints. Granted, I only ever listen to podcasts on my phone, and have never tried to sync my listening history with another device, which is where most of the complaints seem to be.

I haven't noticed the prompt asking to rate the app, but I do recall seeing prompts before that asked me to rate the podcasts. Perhaps the two prompts are so similar people assume they are being promoted to rate the podcasts, as they have seen before. As other posters have said, I too would like to see the prompt asking to rate the app, so I can judge whether it's confusing or not.
 
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smoking monkey said:
The Podcast app is diabolical. Sure it didn't work amazing before, but at least it worked to a basic level. Now... now I feel like they've changed it to make you use more data to make you sign up for iCloud. In saying that, I did sign up for iCloud because hide my email (and PR) is awesome. Well worth the buck a month.

Don't it sync across phone and watch? and is it just like a skin and uses the Podcast app and aggregates your pods in a much better way?
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Honestly not sure if it syncs with watch as I don’t play directly from it. Does sync with web instantly though. No issues yet. Even CarPlay seems to work better.
 
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Black Magic said:
What is wrong with Apple podcast app? Why do you think Overcast is better? Asking to see what I maybe missing out on.
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Podcasts would just forget all the episodes I had already listened to and just redownload everything. Would happen all the time. Super annoying when I’m midway through any podcasts. I’ve found the increased playback speed to be much better and have more granular settings. Also, listening to Overcast on a web browser works perfectly.
 
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It annoys me when any app asks me to rate it. Been using the podcast app with zero issues for years, I still wouldn’t put a rating on it Or any other app.
 
While I can believe that it’s happening, I don’t get it fully: if I’m using Twitter/Facebook/etc (a total times of never) or the Music app or lets throw there Reddit app and a ratings prompt pops, I don’t see myself nor anyone around me that I know thinking that the rating prompt is for a tweet post, Facebook post or message, music song or random Reddit post…
 
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As far as conspiracy theories go the one being put forward in here is so boring.
Needs some aliens or something.
Not everything has sinister undertones sometimes things just work out different to how people expect them to.
 
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