Ratings and reviews are an important way for users to interact with many developers. Every day, millions of people leave reviews on Google Play, giving developers valuable insight into what users love and want to see improved. Users also rely on ratings and reviews to help them decide which apps and games are right for them.
Google Play has introduced a number of features over the past two years to make it simpler for users to leave reviews and for developers to interact with and respond to them. For example, users are now able to leave reviews from the Google Play homepage. We also launched the Reviews page under My Apps & Games, which gives users a centralized place to leave and manage reviews.
But one of the most requested features from developers has been to give users the ability to leave a review from within the app, without heading back to the App Details page. So today, we’re pleased to launch the new in-app review API to address that need.
Just when you need it, ask for a review. The API lets developers choose when to prompt users to write reviews within the app experience. We believe the best time to prompt your users is when they have used the app enough to be able to provide thorough and useful feedback. However, because the review flow will take over the action on the screen, you should avoid interrupting them in the middle of a task or when they need their attention. App image ratings from users Users can now give ratings and reviews within your app.
The in-app review API supports both public and private reviews for when your app is in beta.
The review API is part of the Play Core Library, which is distributed for Java/Kotlin, C++, and Unity. It provides a lightweight API that enables apps to initiate the review flow and request a review without users having to leave the app. The integration consists of four main steps:
Define the conditions and best place to ask for a review
Request the review flow to the API
Start the review at the right time. After the review is completed, carry on. The app must continue without disrupting the user’s flow regardless of whether they leave a review. The in-app review API is designed to be seamless for users.
You can see the in-app review API in action in our newly published sample, which showcases calling the API through the Play Core Kotlin extensions (KTX) library, alongside other Play Core APIs such as in-app updates and on-demand feature modules installation.
