Apple Now Lets Customers Rate and Review Pre-Installed Apps on the App Store

Apple now lets users rate and review pre-installed iPhone apps on the App Store, such as Maps, Podcasts, Mail, and others, bringing the company's apps to parity with how users criticize and/or laud third-party apps on the platform.

apple podcasts rating
Spotted first by 9to5Mac, Apple now lets users leave a zero to five-star rating for a number of its pre-installed apps, further enabling users to write their reviews. At the time of writing, the Podcasts app, which has faced a flurry of criticism, has a 2 out of 5-star rating out of 156 reviews, with other Apple apps varying.

Presently, no Apple app has a perfect five-star rating, with even the company's built-in Stocks app struggling to reach a 4 out of 5 grade. Notes has earned just 3.6 out of 5, while even Maps, which has received more attention from Apple over the years, has only a 3 out of 5 ratings.

By opening up its apps to ratings and reviews, Apple and its teams are now better able to receive more direct feedback for individual apps on ‌‌iPhone‌‌ and iPad. In light of recent ‌App Store‌ litigation, this move also nixes a potential criticism from Apple's detractors, who could have previously argued that by withholding ratings and reviews for pre-installed apps, Apple was being anti-competitive.

Apple's pre-installed apps, such as Mail, Podcasts, and Maps, don't receive regular ‌App Store‌ feature updates as other apps do; instead, their major updates are bundled with significant iOS releases.

Apple refines and tweaks all of its apps with each minor update for iOS and iPadOS, but significant changes, such as the ones that are likely to be requested through ratings and reviews, are not expected to come sporadically throughout the year, but instead, users will have to wait for the next major iOS release to see if their wishes have come true.

Top Rated Comments

iLoveDeveloping Avatar
20 months ago
Lovely! That’s my morning sorted. Let’s write some reviews! ?
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shirasaki Avatar
20 months ago
Finally something users can pour their frustration and anger towards apple to, and it would be public.

Hope this will tear Apple’s “WE ARE THE BEST” tinfoil hat a little bit and face the reality.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrPresident Avatar
20 months ago
Haha, love the inclusion of the podcast app reviews!
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
20 months ago
Those 1-star reviews on the Podcasts app seem a little unfair to me.

Yes, the UI could use some improvement. I particularly don't like how deeply it buries some commonly used (by me) features, like "recently played".

But, compared to the BBC's awful "BBC Sounds" app, which seems to go out of its way to make it hard for you to find content you're looking for (or even any good new relevant content), the Apple Podcasts app is a discovery dream!
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
20 months ago
Good idea, it will be interesting to see how ratings fare over time.

I’ve just rated Maps 5 stars out of 5. It’s leaps and bounds better than Google in my area and I prefer its user interface.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fakeycakemaker Avatar
20 months ago
Ere Apple, can we rate and review iOS updates too please?…..
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 15 Pro Buttons CAD Leak

iPhone 15 Pro Low-Energy Chip to Allow Solid-State Buttons to Work When Device is Off or Out of Battery

Wednesday March 29, 2023 1:54 am PDT by
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor allowing certain features like the new capacitive solid-state buttons to remain functional even when the handset is powered off or the battery has run out, according to a source that shared details on the MacRumors forums. CAD-based render of new solid-state buttons on iPhone 15 Pro models The source of this rumor is ...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2023 Event Taking Place June 5 to 9

Wednesday March 29, 2023 9:58 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 34th annual Worldwide Developers Conference will take place from Monday, June 5 to Friday, June 9. Like WWDC 2020, 2021, and 2022, WWDC 2023 will be an online event for the most part, and it will be open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple will provide online sessions and labs, which will allow...
iPhone 15 Pro Multi Purpose button Mute Switch Feature Green 2

iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to Feature Multi-Use Action Button Instead of Mute Switch

Wednesday March 29, 2023 7:28 am PDT by
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are rumored to feature a customizable Action button like the Apple Watch Ultra, according to a MacRumors forum member who leaked accurate details about the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro models last year. The source claimed the Action button will replace the Ring/Silent switch that has been included on every iPhone model since 2007. They did not...
iOS 16

Apple Releases iOS 16.4 With New Emoji, Safari Web Push Notifications, Beta Changes, Voice Isolation for Calls and More

Monday March 27, 2023 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 16.4, the fourth major update to the iOS 16 operating system that initially came out last September. iOS 16.4 comes two months after the launch of iOS 16.3, an update that added Security Keys for Apple ID. iOS 16‌.4 and iPadOS 16.4 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It can take a few minutes...
Apple Music Classical

Apple Explains Why It Launched an iPhone App Dedicated to Classical Music

Monday March 27, 2023 8:54 pm PDT by
Apple today published a support document explaining why it decided to release a standalone Apple Music Classical app for classical music. In short, Apple says the app was designed to support classical music's complex metadata:Classical music is different. It has longer and more detailed titles, multiple artists for each work, and hundreds of recordings of well-known pieces. The Apple Music...
iOS 16

Apple Seeds First Betas of iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5

Tuesday March 28, 2023 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 16.5 and iPadOS 16.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a day after the launch of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4. Registered developers can opt in to the betas by opening up the Settings app, going to Software Update, tapping on the "Beta Updates" option and toggling on the iOS 16 Developer Beta. Note that an...
home upgrade available feature

PSA: Apple Has Made Its New Home Architecture Update Available Again

Tuesday March 28, 2023 1:50 am PDT by
Apple has made the option to upgrade to new Home architecture available again with the release of iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, and macOS Ventura 13.3, after it temporarily pulled the update in December. After updating Apple devices to the latest software, users can once again opt to upgrade any homes set up in the Home app to the new Home architecture, which Apple says brings faster, more reliable ...