Are you sick and tired of serving as a guinea pig for Apple’s flawed software engineering (we’re looking at you, Podcasts)? If so, then you’ll be surprised to learn that App Store now finally permits people to rate and review preinstalled Apple apps for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- App Store now lets you rate and review Apple’s own apps
- For years, App Store wouldn’t allow users to review the built-in apps
- Any first-party apps can be rated and reviewed: Mail, Maps and more
- Prediction: A flurry of negative reviews for the universally-hated Podcasts app
Rate and review Apple’s stock apps on App Store
As of iOS 10, Apple lets folks remove non-crucial apps that come preinstalled on iPhones and iPads. Getting rid of the company’s first-party apps you don’t actually use is a great way to make a statement (and tidy up your home screen in the process). However, Apple used to stubbornly refuse to permit user-submitted ratings and reviews for its own apps.
But not anymore.
9to5Mac reports that you can now go to App Store and use the search feature to find any Apple app you’d like to review or comment on. This includes the usual suspects: Mail, Safari, Maps, FaceTime, Music, TV, Books, News and more. You can leave a rating for any of the above apps — and others — ranging from zero to five stars. Or leave a quick review if you feel an app is so badly designed Apple’s development teams could use a little constructive criticism.
Apple Watch apps from Apple can now also be publicly evaluated on App Store.
Before the change, customers were allowed to post ratings and reviews for non-preinstalled software, like the company’s iWork productivity suite. Apple apps that had been independent titles before Apple acquired their developers, such as Shazam, carry over reviews gained pre-acquisition. Read: How to remove preinstalled Apple apps on iPhone and iPad
We’re not sure whether Apple took into account a possible flurry of negative reviews for some of its most-flawed apps that have continued to irk customers for many years. In that light, may we direct your attention to the bemoaned Podcasts app? Even its latest incarnation in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 is riddled with bugs, syncing issues and user interface inconsistencies.
Go on, slam Apple Podcasts on App Store
Well, now everyone has a chance to vent their frustration not just with the flawed Podcasts app but other problematic Apple software as well. We applaud the company for having the courage to change its unfair stance on consumer feedback when it comes to its own apps.
That said, we’re curious whether Apple is actually aware of the sheer amount of negative ratings and damning reviews that some of its well-known apps are going to receive on App Store as negative customer feedback continues to flood in.
We sincerely hope that Apple’s executives will respond to any public shaming on App Store and climb down from their ivory towers to actually hear from us peasants just how painfully frustrating daily usage of some of the company’s software can be.