Google is now making some changes to the Google Play Store app ratings. The changes would include how the app calculates and shows ratings to its users.
Google Play Store App Ratings
According to AndroidHeadlines, the company notes that the upcoming changes will actually make ratings more personalized and indicative of the whole experience that users will be able to expect from the app. As of the moment, Google Play Store still gets ratings for an app coming from users around the world.
As of the moment, it calculates the average of those ratings which is what users can see alongside the app on Google Play Store. It reportedly gives quite a fair enough idea of just how good or how bad the app or game is.
Google New Approach to Ratings
Google, however, believes that the system is flawed as noted in a blog post. This is due to it aggregating ratings from users coming from across the world. Sometimes, a certain country-specific bug can also affect the experience for users in that specific country.
Perhaps, some of the apps are specifically designed for users coming from certain regions or offer certain features that still aren't available to users coming from other regions. This means that users might not understand it or even receive it quite well. A previous Google Play Store breach leaked over 100 million Android user data.
Localizing Google Play Store Rating System
An example for this is WhatsApp since the app actually offers a payments feature in Brazil and India. If the app fails to work properly, users could leave a negative review or rating for the app in the Google Play Store. Those negative ratings, however, would impact the overall average rating for the app for users coming from other regions as well, despite WhatsApp functioning just as intended for that region.
This essentially means that the Google Play Store's current system of rating apps won't always indicate the experience that a user can ultimately expect from an app. Google is planning to localize ratings for every single country. This November 2021, users will be able to see app ratings that are specific for their region.
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Device-Specific Google Play Store App Rating
The Google Play store app rating system will also have other major changes in the upcoming months. Starting early 2022, it will also show some ratings that are specific to a device type like regular smartphones, tablets, foldables, Chromebooks, Auto, or wearables.
The idea behind the recent change is that some of the apps are optimized in order to function best in a particular form factor. Google also notes that both tablet and Chromebook usage is now growing rapidly. Google is now working on fixing its Google Play Store by deleting apps and games with misleading names and graphics.
These particular devices have a different form factor compared to a normal smartphone. This means that the app experience could also vary. The company, as of the moment, doesn't want ratings coming from users of a certain device type to affect the ratings for users that are using other devices.
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Written by Urian B.
