Apps rating in the Play Store will now depend on the country and the device

Google developers are planning to change the methodology for calculating ratings in the Play Store. Estimates will now depend on the region and the form factor of the devices used.

Now the ratings of applications in the Play Store are the same all over the world. The company believes that the current model may display an irrelevant rating for some countries, where some of the features may not be missing. Instead, the user will be shown information depending on the region in which the account is registered. Whether the information will change depending on the region of stay is not specified.

“We’ve heard from both Play Store users and developers that ratings and reviews could be more helpful. 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”.

So a user in Japan will see app ratings generated from those submitted by other Japanese users

Apps rating in the Play Store will now depend on the country and the device

In addition, app ratings will be split for different types of devices. Tablets, foldable smartphones, Chrome OS, Wear OS or Auto. This will take place due to the fact that services do not always work the same on all devices. How exactly this will be implemented has not yet been reported. All changes will be coordinated with the developers of large applications.

“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. 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”.

Country-specific rating adjustments will take effect from November 2021. A change in assessment depending on the type of device will take place in 2022.

• From November 2021, users on phones will start to see ratings specific to their registered country
• Early in 2022 users on other form-factors such as tablets, Chromebooks, and wearables will start to see ratings specific to the device that they’re on