Google changes Play Store app ratings, allowing users to see reviews only from their region

Starting November 2021, app ratings on Google Play Store will be tied to specific regions. It means that users from the US won’t be able to see reviews from Japanese citizens and vice versa.

Google announced the changes in its Android Developers Blog on August 23. The company wants ratings and reviews to be more helpful both for developers and users.

“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,” the statement reads.

Phone users will start seeing ratings specific for their registered country/region from November 2021. Starting early 2022, users of other Android devices (Chromebooks, tablets, etc.) will also start seeing reviews specific for their form-factors. It should help people understand how a specific app will run on their device.

Google will also reach out to all developers, whose apps are expected to see a change of more than 0.2 stars due to the upcoming changes. It will give them time to make necessary changes.

More information about Google’s new rating system can be found here.