Start with the experience behind the star rating
Pick the task a new customer expects to complete. For a collection app, that might be saving an item and finding it again. For a learning app, it might be finishing a short lesson and understanding what comes next. Write down where the task begins, what success looks like and which obstacles could prevent it.
Ask a few testers to attempt that journey without a live explanation from you. Record the device, app version and confusing steps. If people repeatedly miss the same action, fix that issue before changing the wording of your rating request. A focused test gives you something concrete to improve; a star score by itself often leaves the reason unclear.
Choose a useful moment for the StoreKit request
Apple’s StoreKit guidance recommends asking after a completed sequence rather than interrupting an active task or prompting immediately at launch. The system controls whether the prompt appears and limits its display. Users can also disable review requests. Use RequestReviewAction for the native request, and follow Apple’s current implementation documentation.
For your own plan, describe the eligibility rule in ordinary language. For example: someone has finished a lesson, returned to the app and completed another lesson. This is an example to evaluate, not a universal threshold. Keep eligibility tied to actual use, and give the person room to continue when the system does not show anything.
Find the friction before your next release.
Collect a focused test report and an optional honest community rating on RateMyApp.
List your app for testingOffer a route for people who choose to review
A person who actively wants to review your app should be able to find that route in settings or help. Apple documents an App Store product link with action=write-review for this purpose. Use your own published app’s identifier, and test that the destination is correct on a supported device.
Keep support available alongside that link. Someone might want to explain a problem, ask a question or leave a rating. Make the choices understandable and let the person decide which one fits. Do not present a community score as an App Store rating or ask someone to copy a prepared review.
Use review themes to choose the next fix
Group the feedback you receive into specific observations: unclear navigation, installation problems, unexpected charges or missing features. Separate an issue you can reproduce from a preference you might consider later. Keep a small release log connecting the original finding, the change you made and the build where you checked it.
App Store Connect supports responses to reviews. Apple also explains that resetting a summary rating does not erase written reviews. Treat a reset as a product decision with tradeoffs, rather than a shortcut for removing criticism. When you reply, explain what you found and where the person can get help.
Keep community feedback and store results separate
RateMyApp helps you recruit a developer to try a brief and send device details, observations and optional screenshot evidence. After submitting that report, the tester may publish a community star rating. A critical score is allowed. Testing credits settle through the report workflow and do not depend on the score.
Use those findings to prepare the next release and revisit the review-request moment. Measure published App Store ratings in App Store Connect separately from RateMyApp feedback and prompt eligibility events. Record the release date and any other product changes so you can judge the next round without attributing every change to a single prompt.
Keep provider feedback separate from store rating growth
If you use a feedback service to investigate a journey, count the private reports separately from optional community stars and public store ratings. A service can help you learn what to improve without posting a store opinion on someone's behalf. Verify the rating destination and the funded deliverable before choosing a provider. The app-rating provider comparison and free-feedback collection are linked from our blog and guides library.
For a rating campaign, record your baseline period, eligible journeys, request attempts and the published store counts you can actually observe. Keep a release log and note acquisition changes during the same period. A successful request call is not a completed rating, and a higher average after a release does not prove which change caused it. Use a focused retest to verify the product fix and read store metrics as a separate signal.
Questions about app ratings
Will a StoreKit request always show a rating dialog?
No. Apple controls whether the system displays the request, and users can disable review requests. Treat a request call as an attempt, not proof that a dialog appeared or a rating was submitted.
Do RateMyApp community ratings count toward my App Store score?
No. They belong to the RateMyApp community. An App Store rating must be submitted through Apple by the user, independently of the testing credit reward.