App ratings are what help an app gain visibility in the App Store. It might surprise you to learn but a lot of apps in the App Store have never been downloaded once. Sometimes the apps are low quality but often they just struggle with being found among the other more popular apps. To work around this, app developers ask that you rate an app, which you should if you like it. The only problem is that each version of an app can be rated separately. Some apps persistently ask for ratings each time they release a new version and it can get annoying. Here’s how you can stop app rating requests on iOS.
Disable Ratings & Reviews
As of iOS 10+, the App Store has an option that lets you disable app rating requests. All you have to do is enable it. Open the Settings app and go to iTunes & App Store. Scroll down and turn the ‘In-App Ratings & Reviews’ switch off. This will, in most cases stop app rating requests on iOS.
There will be exceptions because apps have to support this feature too. It’s not something iOS can force apps to follow which means you might still get the occasional request for a review or rating. If there’s an app that is particularly bothersome about getting a review, use the solution below.
Rate & Run
When an app pushes a request for a rating, you have the option to rate it, ask it to remind you again, or cancel. If you cancel the rating request it will inevitably pop up again. When it does, tap the ‘Rate now’ option and when you switch over to the App Store app, tap/press the Home button.
The app that asked for a rating and/or review has no way of knowing if you actually gave it a rating or not. This goes for most in-app actions. For example, if an app asks that you subscribe to a YouTube channel, you can simply agree to subscribe to it and get whatever the app is offering in exchange. The only exception to this rule is if you’ve connected your Facebook account, or something similar to the app and it can track your specific like.
As stated above, ratings are what help an app gain visibility. It’s not a crime to not rate an app but if you genuinely like an app you should help it gain traction. It’s only a problem when apps become too persistent or when they ask for ratings for every single version. Imagine if the Facebook app, which updates every two weeks, starts asking for a rating or review for each new version. You’d uninstall it faster than you can say one star.
