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Google's Message To Developers: Fix Your App's Performance Issues Else See Them Demoted On Play Store (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the gentle-reminder dept.

Google today announced it's rolling out a change to its Play Store so that better-performing apps -- meaning those that experience fewer crashes and those that don't drain your smartphone battery -- will be ranked higher than apps with bugs and other performance issues. From a report: The goal with this new ranking algorithm is to ensure that the best apps are being promoted, which in turn leads to increased app usage and engagement, the company says. The impetus for this change came after Google realized that around half of the 1-star reviews on the Google Play Store were about app stability problems. Apps that don't work well frustrate users, who often turn to the reviews to leave a complaint. Over time, a number of bad reviews and low star ratings can impact the app's place in the charts and search results. But if an app is popular enough, a large number of installs can still, to some extent, override its negative reviews and push the app back up into a higher position than it rightly deserves.

10 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Developers message to google: by Mandrake · · Score: 4, Insightful

    stop "other search engines" nonsense automatically adding every website search form I use to your collection of things you try to do on my behalf. Til you stop doing stupid shit in your apps, you have no business telling anyone else what to do.

    --
    Geoff "Mandrake" Harrison
    Some Random UI Hacker
  2. Manipulation by sexconker · · Score: 2

    Why not let the review system speak for itself?
    Let people rate the app on a scale of 1-5 or whatever, and just let that rating do its job.
    Why fucking manipulate search ranking up or down beyond those ratings?

    1. Re:Manipulation by freeze128 · · Score: 2

      Because shills for the app developers can skew the results. Now what?

    2. Re:Manipulation by sexconker · · Score: 2

      That's no different than shills for the competition bombing with with 1* ratings. Or dumb users hitting it with 1* without even trying it, because they don't like the company's policy on who can use what bathroom, etc.

      If Google's stance is that the rankings have to be manipulated because the reviews can't be trusted, then the whole system is worthless to start with. It's like trying to patch a leak in the roof when the house is on fire.

    3. Re:Manipulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why not let the review system speak for itself?
      Let people rate the app on a scale of 1-5 or whatever, and just let that rating do its job.

      Did you ever see a rating system that actually works? The 5-star system is fail. When it was invented, the idea was that 3-star would be average/good, and 5 star excellent. In practice we see that anything not 5-star is seen as a complaint, both by reviewers and developers. Removing any headroom for stuff that actually exceeds expectations.

      Also, a single person `trolling` a one-star might take a rating on a less-popular app down severely. But several people complaining with 2-3 stars will not effect a zillion shills.

      What does work (imho) is text-based reviews: people sincerely telling what they think. But that takes time and effort from those reviewers.

      While at it, google-and others- should please forbid those in-app begging for reviews. That nagging alone is enough to unleash the 1-star troll in me, though usually i suppress that and just uninstall.

    4. Re:Manipulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because reviews are mostly worthless.
      5* - actually satisfied customer, but for every 1 who reviews another 100 don't.
      5* - paid or unpaid shill
      4* - "the app works fine I guess, but it doesn't have this one random feature that I - and only I - want"
      3* - someone who thinks they are nuanced because they can think of 3 good things and 3 bad things to say about any topic
      2* - "This app sucks, but the alternative actually made me sterile"
      1* - "I wanted an app to solve all my problems and make me a millionaire. This one merely did what it said!"
      1* - "This app doesn't work on the phone that I've had since 2009 and keep telling people I don't need to upgrade because everything still works"
      1* - "i not no wat do app? pls halp"

      Using quantitative data is always better than using fuzzy, corruptible user-submitted data. You want to know the temperature you watch the weather or buy a thermometer; you don't ask 100 people what they think the temperature is like today.

    5. Re:Manipulation by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 2

      It would be trivial to add a continuous integration step to the PlayStore data.

      Forget app size in MB, I want to know how long it takes to launch. How much RAM it uses after launch. How much RAM it uses after 1 hour open.

    6. Re:Manipulation by farble1670 · · Score: 2

      You ought to make up your mind. Should be rely on user ratings, or throw our user ratings? Is it

      Why not let the review system speak for itself?

      or

      the whole system is worthless to start with. It's like trying to patch a leak in the roof when the house is on fire.

      And obviously, there can be nothing in between those two. Either every user review is worthless, or they are all perfect.

  3. Obligatory XKCD comics by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    https://xkcd.com/937/
    https://xkcd.com/1098/

    --
    If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  4. Google+ will replace Facebook by jfdavis668 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Facebook app is an overbloated piece of crap. Will Google+ finally take over?