How to Ask for In-App Reviews
App reviews play an important role in the success of your apps. They provide essential feedback and significantly impact the app’s performance in the store:
- Positive reviews boost the app’s ranking and drive more downloads.
- Negative reviews can deter potential users from downloading.
For example, here are the reviews from my Flutter Tips app:
Glowing reviews don’t just fall from the sky: you have to earn them by creating a great app and making it as easy as possible for users to leave a review.
The best way to achieve this is by showing an in-app rating prompt at the right moment—when users are most engaged and satisfied. This could be after completing a task, leveling up in a game, or using a feature successfully.
Timing the prompt correctly increases the chances of receiving positive reviews, boosting your app’s rating and visibility in the app store.
And by using the in_app_review package and a bit of extra code, you can do exactly that.
When should you show the in-app prompt?
Timing is key:
- Show it too early, and you will annoy your users (so many apps get this wrong!)
- Show it too late, and hardly any users will see it at all
As we will see, by using analytics and a data-driven approach, we can show the prompt at the right time, for the most engaged users, thus maximizing our chances of getting positive reviews.
The in_app_review package
The in_app_review package allows you to ask for reviews in two ways:
- Call-to-action: by redirecting the user to the store with the
openStoreListingAPI - Programmatically: by triggering the in-app review prompt with the
requestReviewAPI
The second method is most effective, as it can be triggered when the user is most satisfied with the app. For example, I’ve programmed my Flutter Tips app to show the prompt after users like 5 tips in the app:
What we will cover
In this module, we’ll cover both ways of asking for reviews, using the Flutter Ship app as a reference:
- Call-to-action: by redirecting the user to the store with the
openStoreListingAPI - Programmatically: by triggering the in-app review prompt with the
requestReviewAPI
We’ll start with the programmatic approach, as it is most effective and can be triggered when the user is most satisfied with the app:
We’ll also cover the call-to-action approach by adding a button to leave a review on the settings page, just like I’ve done on my Flutter Tips app:
Along the way, we’ll also discuss:
- How to avoid showing the prompt too early (by following the quotas on the app stores)
- How to use analytics to ensure the prompt shows at the right time
- Testing and platform-specific considerations
As usual, we’ll wrap up with a checklist so you can quickly add the in-app review functionality to your apps.
Ready? Let’s go! 🚀