We got the worst possible review for our game from a user in UK. He/she claims the game doesn't load at all (with lots of exclamation points). As an only review so far this could be a really powerful deterrent for British customers, who may be fooled to believe this is a common problem. When the fact is, we haven't had a single report of crashes or any other technical issues from anywhere else. I'm also sure Apple's QA would have caught such a major bug (the game was actually accepted within a week). My question is, what could/should we do with such a misleading and malign review? We're from Finland so we can't even "report a concern" via iTunes. Should we just accept the fact and hope the Brits are smart enough to see past the bs? Apple really should implement some way for developers to comment on the reviews...
I bought your game, and it doesn't load for me either. I have a device with the 2.2.1 OS. I had this problem with my own app ArchRobo which worked fine on 3.0 OS or later... but was crashing on 2.2.1. I fixed the problem and submitted an update. Apple doesn't catch bugs like this. I think they only test on the latest OS...
Well, that certainly takes some wind out of my rant... Anyways, I still wish there was a way to directly comment on a particular review. I don't want to respond in the general description and cause unnecessary worry on customers all over the world (at least until we're sure the issue affects all 2.2.1 users).
The best you can do is make it easy for users to contact you. Once you have a big enough base of users, others will quickly step up to correct misleading reviews. The system corrects itself, but it takes time. Given that the reported issue appears to be legitimate, your current situation is obviously different. If I were you, I'd try and reproduce the issue ASAP. I'd also seriously consider removing your app from the store until it is fixed and an update is approved. You could put out a disclaimer in your app description noting that "this game is only working on 3.0", but many users don't bother reading descriptions and won't see it. Most users also don't bother submitting reviews - just because only one person has noted the problem to date doesn't mean there aren't a lot more experiencing it. Anyway, I agree with your sentiment in general. There are few things more frustrating than seeing a user post a vague complaint in a review, and having no way to help them out. Your best bet would be to seek out someone in the UK, reimburse them with a free copy of your app, and get them to post a review noting that the game appears to work fine with 3.0 OS.
It seems your best hope is that once you've fixed the problem, issued the update, and edited the description to make mention of the bug being fixed, the user will apply the update and amend their review accordingly. You also get a clean slate of new ratings with each update (to a degree).
YOu can also change your text in the store now to say that there might be current problems in the 2.x versions - I agree that people are often not reading this but better than nothing -- I had one review killing my german sellings totally after claiming that he cannot make short videos with my clapboard (which is true - but you also cannot make coffee with an APp..... - a clapboard is for syncing cameras all described in detail even in german in my language)
Yeah, I already did that. Any ideas how many people are still using 2.x? They must all be iPod touch users. Hopefully now that the accounting rules have changed and Apple can offer free updates this kind of diversification ends.
I am in a similar situation. Except my app is listed as "compatible with OS 3.0 and above". Yet I still got a one-star review that just said "make compatible with 2.2.1!". I can't make it compatible with that version, however. I was under the impression that the App Store won't let you buy a game that isn't compatible with your OS. So I am not sure how that one got through.
the app store doesn't know what OS your device(s) has. it is possible that an account has multiple devices on different OS versions. they should really do what amazon does, allow comments on reviews.
Hmmm well from what I remember I couldn't buy any App in the AppStore that were targeted for OS 3.0 and up. My friend game when he first release it (Cubic Match) I couldn't get it, since each time on click on it in the AppStore I was getting the message that I needed OS 3.0.
That's right, two different ways of purchasing produce different results- if you try to buy on your iPhone or iPod directly, it checks the device and OS version you are running (and prevents the sale accordingly). If you buy something in iTunes on your Mac or PC it'll let you get *anything* and then you only find out later when it won't sync to your device that you should have read the fine print That's how an individual can purchase a 3.0 app and then leave a review requesting it be fixed to run on 2.2.1
Ahhhh thanks a lot for the clarification CommanderData Ill keep that in mind, but luckily for me I am still targetting 2.2.1 OS with my current GIP (Game In Progress) so I should be ok for now... But I can see why iTunes doesn't do that check, since your device isn't connected always connected when you browse and decide do download/buy an App from the AppStore. Also you could decide to sync it with a new or old device, who knows. And sadly that could definitely make some very grump customer if they paid for the apps without reading the fine print. Its like those game on PC that need x version of Windows, this amount of RAM, that funky graphics cards, etc...
