(Some) Developers can now reply to users’ Google Play comments

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There’s some fantastic news breaking for developers this morning: the Google Play feature we’ve all been crying for since, well forever, is almost here! Soon, we’ll be able to reply to comments users’ leave on Google Play. The feature has rolled out those with the Top Developer badge during a test phase (though I can’t say I’ve seen a reply yet) and should roll out to everyone pretty soon (probably at or soon after I/O).

This is an extremely important step. And it’s not just about answering back to spammy reviews, it’s about actually helping users when they face issues. All these years we’ve seen users write their complaints over there, instead of E-Mailing, which is a serious issue because we can’t  reply back to them to help them out. Developers do want to be able to support their users, so that they can benefit from the hours of effort that has been put in to create it.

[via Talk Android]

Raveesh Bhalla

[Update: recording attached] Our Hangout with Any.DO’s Omer Perchik is underway!

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14 Comments

  1. That is great news!

  2. Great news

  3. Let the review beatdowns begin!

  4. Just hope this doesn’t turn into the Ebay syndrome, where developers slam legitimate complaints because they can now.

    1. would probably work against them. If they do do that, it’s good for users to see what kind of developers are they dealing with.

  5. I personally will reply to comments that are wrong or a question. I will also avoid replying in spite of a bad comment or review… as the general user base knows when those bad comments are just from an ignorant user in most cases.

  6. I’m curious how the dev of FB app will respond to the comments lol

  7. Good. Maybe now stupid Hulu can reply to my horrible review for it.

  8. Yes!! Now developers can finally shut up those ppL who “Oh I downloaded this Widget so it won’t open. Stupid app. Don’t download!!”

    This always angers me. Especially since instructions are ALWAYS in the description.

  9. Developers will love this post. :)

  10. Fantastic news! This can only be a good thing for several reasons, yes there are a lot of ludicrous remarks on the play store but lets face it there are also a lot of legitimate ones too (excessive & un-needed permissions springs to mind). Giving the developer the chance to answer peoples queries directly, especial when there are a lot of users who just seem to incompetent to email a developer with that query is great. This will not only aid that specific user but all who face the same or very similar problem. This will also allow the end user the ability to see what kind of developer they are dealing with, I have on several occasions emailed a developer with a problem only to get no response or worse an automated response stating they will be in touch then ignorance thereafter. Developers who do misuse this new feature will soon find the rating of there app becomes mute and plummet dramatically. I can totally understand a developer wanting to defend there software ( and quite rightly so) but doing so in a derogatory or unhelpful way will only do them no good in the long run. All will be able to see how they react to criticise as long as google don’t add a delete button for misuse by developers I seriously can see no down side to this for both the end user or the developer.

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