Google to localize Play Store ratings by country and device type

Google said on Monday that it will soon start customizing app reviews on the Play Store based on users’ location and device type‘’to make ratings more personalized and indicative of the experience each individual user can expect, and to make them easier to navigate and use for developers’’.

‘’We’ve heard from both Play Store users and developers that ratings and reviews could be more helpful,’’ wrote the tech giant in an article on Android Developers Blog. ‘’This is especially true when ratings from one area unfairly impact another — like when a bug that only impacted a single country negatively affects the app’s rating everywhere; or when positive improvements in a tablet experience are overlooked because of the number of users on phones.’’

Starting November, smartphone users will be shown app ratings specific to their own location. For example, if you’re in Japan, you’ll see ratings submitted by Japanese users. 

Starting early next year, users will be shown app ratings specific to various device types such as tablets, foldables, wearables, Chrome OS and Auto.

In addition, the tech giant also announced that it has added new Device Type dimensions, segmentation options and the ability to download average data and rating distributions in the CSV format to Google Play Console to help developers analyze and understand their app ratings and reviews in an easier way. 

The company also said that it will notify developers if it detects that the update will affect their app ratings significantly to give them time to make necessary changes. 

‘’We understand that as a developer you will want to make sure you understand and get ahead of any major shifts in your user-visible ratings,’’ said the company. ”So at least 10 weeks before any change in Play Store, we’ll automatically analyze the change your app can expect to see and reach out to any developer that will see a change of more that 0.2 stars on any device type in a key market (one with >5% of your store listing visitors). This will give you time to plan if you want to make key changes to your app.’’