Apple to Let Developers Respond to App Store Feedback The move aligns it more closely with the Google Play store.
By Tom Brant
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Leaving a review on Apple's App Store is a bit like shouting into a black hole. You hope people -- including the app developers -- are reading your comments, but no one can respond to you. That all changes with the upcoming release of iOS 10.3, though, which will allow developers to respond to their customers's reviews on the App Store.
Apple seeded the first iOS 10.3 beta to developers on Tuesday. While the company publicly announced some changes, including adding AirPods to the Find My iPhone service, it hid the App Store update in a note to developers. In addition to responding to comments, the update will also allow developers to solicit feedback from users without sending them to an app's page in the store, TechCrunch reported.
App makers will be able to use a new API to "ask users to rate or review your app while they're using it, without sending them to the App Store," according to the note, which programmer Marco Arment shared on Twitter.
Together, the changes amount to a major overhaul of the App Store feedback system, addressing what has been a point of frustration for consumers and developers by aligning it more closely with the competing Google Play app store, which has long allowed responses to user comments.
Other additions in iOS 10.3 that should please developers include expanded Siri capabilities, such as enhanced support for mobile payment APIs.
After developers have had a chance to kick iOS 10.3's tires, Apple will make it available to members of its public beta program before releasing it as an update for all iOS devices.
