How to reply to App Store and Google Play reviews

Why a reply is worth it

Both stores tell the reviewer that you answered — and a reviewer who hears back can change their mind.

“When you respond, the reviewer is notified and has the option to update their review.”

— Apple, Ratings, Reviews, and Responses

On Google Play, the user gets a push notification and an email after you reply; the email shows the app name, the review date and rating, and your reply.

Replies are also public. Everyone who opens your product page later reads them, so a calm, specific answer to a one-star review works for the next visitor as much as for the reviewer.

Reply in App Store Connect

You need the Account Holder, Admin or Customer Support role.

1. In Apps, select your app.
2. In the sidebar, click Ratings and Reviews.
3. At the top right, choose the platform the review was written for.
4. Find the review and click Reply.
5. Write your response and click Submit.

Worth knowing:

• A response can take up to 24 hours to appear on the App Store; until then it shows as pending in App Store Connect.
• Only one response per review appears on your product page. You can edit it (Edit Response) or delete it at any time. Edited responses carry a note that they were edited, and a teammate can edit a response someone else wrote.
• You can respond to any review, however old. Only the latest version of your response is shown.

Reply in Google Play Console

1. Open Play Console and select your app.
2. Go to Ratings and reviews → Reviews.
3. Open the review and write your reply.

Worth knowing:

• You get one public reply per review and can edit it at any time.
• According to Google's API documentation, the user is notified only the first time you reply to a new or modified review — later edits don't notify them again. Get the first version right.
• The Google Play Developer API limits a reply to 350 characters of plain text. Keeping replies under that length means the same text works in the console, the API and any tool built on it.

What each store asks of your replies

Apple spells out what a good response looks like:

“The ideal response is concise and clearly addresses your customer's feedback. Keep your responses respectful and don't include personal information, marketing language, or spam. Strive for a friendly tone that's consistent with the voice of your brand. When possible, we recommend personalizing your responses rather than using generic responses for similar reviews.”

— Apple, Ratings, Reviews, and Responses

Google's Developer Comment Posting Policy in the Play Console Help comes down to four rules:

• Make it clear and relevant — respond to what the user actually said, truthfully.
• Be nice — nothing abusive, hateful or harassing.
• Don't solicit or promote — users find it unhelpful.
• Keep it clean — no explicit or profane content.

In practice: no personal data (yours or theirs), no promo codes or cross-promotion, no arguing in public, and no copy-pasted boilerplate.

Which reviews to answer first

Apple's own advice: if you can't answer everything, start with the lowest star ratings and the reviews that mention technical problems with the current version, and reply promptly to new and updated reviews right after a major release — that is when people are most interested in a conversation.

An order that follows from it:

1. Crashes, data loss, sign-in and payment problems — usually hiding in 1★ and 2★ reviews.
2. Reviews that changed after your latest release.
3. Specific questions and feature requests.
4. Thoughtful positive reviews — a short, personal thank-you.

How to write a reply people read

• Answer in the reviewer's language. It is the clearest sign that a person read the review.
• Name the specific problem, then say what happens next: fixed in version X, being investigated, or not planned — and why.
• Move private details to a private channel. Point to your support email; never ask for account or order details in public.
• Keep it short. Two to four sentences, and under 350 characters if you also reply on Google Play through the API.
• Never trade for ratings. Tell people when something is fixed, but don't offer anything in return for changing a review.
• Personalize. Apple explicitly recommends personal replies over generic ones — treat the templates below as a starting point, not a macro.

10 reply templates

Replace the [brackets] and adjust the tone to your app. Each one stays under 350 characters with typical fill-ins.

1. A crash or bug you can reproduce

   Sorry about the crash when you [action], [name] — and thanks for reporting it. We found the cause, and version [x.y] fixes it; it should reach you [this week]. If it still happens after updating, write to [support email] and we'll dig in together.

2. A bug you can't reproduce yet

   Thanks for the report, [name]. We haven't been able to reproduce [problem] on [device / OS] yet. Could you email [support email] with your device model and app version? That's usually enough for us to find it quickly.

3. A billing or subscription problem

   Sorry for the trouble with your purchase. Please try Settings → Restore Purchases first, signed in with the same [Apple ID / Google account]. If it still doesn't show up, email [support email] — no need to post order details here. We'll sort it out.

4. A feature request you plan to build

   Great idea, thank you! [Feature] isn't in [app] yet, but it's on our list for [an upcoming update]. We'll mention it in the release notes when it ships.

5. A request for something that already exists

   Good news: you can already do this. Open [screen] → [control]. We'll make it easier to find in the next update — thanks for pointing it out.

6. A positive review

   Thank you, [name]! We're glad [the thing they praised] helps with [their use]. If there's anything you'd like to see next, we read every message at [support email].

7. A complaint about the price

   Thanks for the honest feedback. [Free features] stay free; the subscription pays for [what it funds, e.g. servers and AI costs]. If something would make it worth it for you, tell us at [support email] — it shapes what we build next.

8. A follow-up after you shipped the fix

   Update: version [x.y] fixes the [problem] you ran into. Thanks for reporting it, and for your patience while we worked on it.

9. A how-to question

   Thanks for trying [app]! To [do X], open [screen] and choose [control]. If anything is still unclear, email [support email] and we'll walk you through it.

10. A frustrated or off-topic review

    Sorry you had a bad experience. We'd like to understand what went wrong — if you're up for it, tell us at [support email]. We read every message.

Replying through the APIs

• App Store Connect API. List reviews with the customer reviews endpoints, then create or update a reply with the Customer Review Responses resource. Each review can have at most one response.
• Google Play Developer API. Reply with replyText — at most 350 characters of plain text (well-formed HTML tags are stripped). The API returns only reviews that include comments, only for production versions of your app, and only reviews created or modified within the last week. Quotas are 200 GET requests per hour and 2,000 POST requests per day per app, and can be raised on request.

That one-week window is why tools that read Google Play reviews through the API have to sync regularly, or import Play Console's downloadable review reports for older history.