Apple Lets Developers Respond To App Reviews iOS 10.3, Forbids Pricing In App Names: Reports

Apple has made changes, which will affect how you use iOS apps. In iOS 10.3, it has added a long-awaited feature, which has been there for Google apps for half a decade — the company will now allow iOS app developers to converse with users. Also, it reportedly enforced a new policy for apps Tuesday — new app store or Mac apps indicating price or using “free” in the title will be rejected by the company.

New app naming regulations

Venture Beat reported Tuesday that apps with “Free” in the title will be rejected with the following response from the company:

“Your app’s name, icons, screenshots, or previews to be displayed on the App Store include references to your app’s price, which is not considered a part of these metadata items.

Please remove any references to your app’s price from your app’s name, including any references to your app being free or discounted. If you would like to advertise changes to your app’s price, it would be appropriate to include this information in the app description. Changes to your app’s price can be made in the Pricing and Availability section of iTunes Connect.”

The report also added that the iTunes Connect service, which lets developers submit apps, has been rejecting apps, which include pricing information in the title since February.

The company has advised developers not to do so in the iTunes Connect developer guide and App Store product page overview in the past, but starting Tuesday, it has enforced this as a policy. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the changes to Venture Beat Tuesday but declined to comment further on the subject.

The report does not make clear what would happen to existing apps whose names violate the new policy.

Developer Review Responses

Post iOS 10.3, app developers will be able to converse with users, when they review their apps. TechCrunch reported the feature’s existence in January, but it was finally rolled out Tuesday.

Previously, developers had to go through hoops to respond to user reviews — they needed to reverse engineer the UserID to get email information and then mail the user asking about his/her experience with the app.

To review an app, you can simply leave a comment in the App Store. Once you submit a review, a developer can respond to it on the same comment. Once the developer responds, you will get an email offering you a chance to update your original review or get in touch with the developer directly.

The whole exercise could help create a feedback channel for developers, which might help them in pushing out app updates faster.