On the App Store, the rating shown is the average of ratings in that country or region since the last time the developer reset the summary rating, which is optional with each new version. On Google Play, the rating is weighted toward recent ratings rather than a lifetime average, and it is shown separately by country and device type. So a burst of recent ratings moves a Google Play score faster, while an iOS score moves slowly unless you reset it.
How Apple calculates the App Store rating
Apple displays a summary rating for each country or region storefront, calculated from ratings in that storefront. Ratings from the US do not affect the score shown in Germany. When you release a new version, you can choose to reset the summary rating. If you do, the displayed rating starts again from the new ratings, while written reviews remain visible on the product page.
Without a reset, the average includes every rating in that storefront since the last reset, so an app with years of history moves slowly. A few hundred new five-star ratings barely change a score built from hundreds of thousands. Our guide to the iOS ratings reset explains when a reset makes sense and when it backfires.
How Google Play calculates the rating
Since 2019, Google Play has shown a rating that gives more weight to recent ratings, so the score reflects the current version of the app rather than its whole history. Google has also shown ratings specific to the user's country and device type, such as phone, tablet, Chromebook, or Wear OS, so a tablet user may see a different score from a phone user in the same country.
This means improvements show up faster on Google Play, but so do problems. A buggy release can drag the visible rating down within weeks. In Play Console, compare the current rating with the lifetime average and break ratings down by device, Android version, app version, and country to see where a drop is coming from, as described in our guide to Google Play Console store performance.
Why the rating matters for ASO
The star rating appears next to your icon in search results, charts, and product pages, so it influences whether people tap and install. Higher conversion feeds the engagement signals both stores consider, and Apple lists ratings and reviews among the factors in App Store search. Google also uses quality signals such as stability. In practice, a rating drop often shows up first as lower conversion, then as lower visibility.
Users also read recent reviews before deciding, especially in categories where trust matters, such as finance or health. That is why ratings management is part of ASO, not separate from it. See our guides to improving app ratings and responding to negative reviews.
What actually moves the number
The biggest lever is who you ask and when. Prompting satisfied users right after a success moment, using Apple's rating API or Google's in-app review API, increases the share of ratings from happy users. Our guides to rating prompt timing, iOS rating prompts, and the Google Play in-app review API cover implementation.
The second lever is product quality. Crashes, battery drain, billing confusion, and broken features generate one-star ratings faster than any prompt can offset. Fix the top complaint themes, reply to reviews when you ship a fix, and protect releases with staged rollouts. Stability matters enough that crash rate is an ASO metric.
What does not work, and what is against the rules
Buying reviews, offering incentives for ratings, gating prompts so only happy users can reach the store, and asking friends to post fake reviews all violate store policies. Both stores detect and remove suspicious ratings, and enforcement can include removing the app. Even when undetected, fake ratings hide the problems that real users will keep reporting.
Developers also cannot delete genuine negative reviews. You can report reviews that violate policy, such as spam or offensive content, and you can reply publicly. Our guide on whether you can delete or report app reviews explains the options on each store.
A worked example: recovering from a bad release
A fitness app ships an update that breaks syncing with a popular watch. Within ten days, its Google Play rating falls from 4.5 to 4.2 because recent ratings carry more weight, while its iOS rating barely moves. The team pauses the staged rollout, ships a fix, and replies to affected reviewers explaining the fix.
Over the next month, the Google Play rating recovers as new ratings outweigh the bad week. On iOS, the team considers a reset but declines because the long-run average of 4.6 is strong. The lesson is that the same incident behaves differently on each store, which is why ratings monitoring should be split by platform, country, and app version.
How to do it, step by step
- Monitor ratings by platform and storefrontTrack the displayed rating per country on iOS, and per country and device type on Google Play, rather than a single global number.
- Break down drops by version and deviceUse Play Console and App Store Connect filters to find whether a dip comes from one release, device, or market.
- Fix the top complaint themesTag reviews by issue, prioritize the themes driving one-star ratings, and ship fixes before asking for more ratings.
- Prompt at success momentsUse the official rating APIs after users complete something valuable, not at launch or after errors.
- Decide on iOS resets deliberatelyReset the iOS summary rating only when a major release fixes problems that dominate the old average.
Before and after examples
Illustrative examples written for a generic app in this category, not client results. Swap in your own product, audience, and data.
Ask for a rating on the third app launch.
Ask after a user completes their fifth workout and views a progress summary.
Why it works: Success moments produce more positive, authentic ratings.
Our rating fell, so marketing should ask for more reviews.
The drop is concentrated in version 6.1 on Android 15 tablets; fix the layout bug first.
Why it works: Segmenting the data points to a fixable cause.
Reset on every release to keep the number fresh.
Reset once, after the 7.0 rewrite fixed the crashes behind most low ratings.
Why it works: Frequent resets throw away good history and leave the page with few ratings.
Action plan
- Track ratings by storefront and device
- Segment rating drops by version
- Fix top complaint themes before prompting
- Use official rating APIs at success moments
- Reply to reviews when fixes ship
- Never buy, incentivize, or gate ratings
Metrics to monitor
- Displayed rating by country and platform
- Recent rating versus lifetime average
- Share of one-star ratings by app version
- Ratings volume per thousand active users
- Product page conversion rate
Record the baseline, release date, audience, markets, and external changes before interpreting movement. Rankings and conversion are useful signals, but a decision is stronger when activation, retention, and business value confirm that the page attracted the right users.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Google Play rating an average of all ratings?
No. Google Play's displayed rating gives more weight to recent ratings, and it is shown by country and device type.
Does the App Store rating include ratings from all countries?
No. Each storefront shows a rating calculated from ratings in that country or region.
Does resetting my iOS rating delete reviews?
No. Resetting the summary rating starts the displayed average again, but written reviews stay on the product page.
How long does it take to improve an app rating?
On Google Play, improvements can show within weeks because recent ratings are weighted. On iOS without a reset, a large rating history changes slowly.
Keep reading
Go deeper on this topic
More in Ratings and Reviews
Browse all 20 Ratings and Reviews guides
Work with ASOWin
Primary sources
Platform capabilities and limits can change. Verify current requirements in these official resources:
