Google now allows all developers to reply to comments in Play Store

Google has finally decided to allow all developers to respond to comments in the Google Play Store. It must be noted that the so-called ‘top app developers’ already had this facility since June last year and now the feature is being extended to all developers. Droid-Life first noticed that all app developers were being able to respond to individual comments with app developer Dave Kover aka Kovdev discovering the feature. The feature has not been completely rolled out just as yet, but individual developers are now being able to comment back to users who’ve rated their app. “The feature originally rolled out to top developers, and we’re gradually expanding it to additional Google Play developers,” a Google spokesperson told The Next Web. Have developers answer your questions directly now This ease in communication has been a long time coming for Android. Starting now, developers will be able to easily respond to comments and queries asked of them in the Play Store. There have been innumerable occurrences where users have rated an app one star because they failed to understand how certain functions within the app work. Letting developers address individual issues in comments will help curb the practice and maybe have a fairer rating of apps overall. Users who generally have issues pertaining to the app too can merely leave a comment in the Play Store and have them answered by developers. Previously, users who were actually inclined to have their grievance noticed by developers would have to e-mail them or contact them via their own websites listed in the store. Of course, this does not mean it will be the end of one star rated reviews that have been written deliberately to pull the developers attentions. The chance of planted reviews have already gone down ever since Google made it mandatory for comments to be linked to Google+ profiles. Back in November, in an attempt to improve the quality of comments received on the Play Store, Google made it necessary for users to post app and game reviews from their Google+ account. This move was made in order to totally rid the store of anonymously posted reviews. Making users attach their real names and associated data with the content they post was aimed to increase responsible commenting and weeding out planted reviews, both negative and positive. Till November, reviews could be posted anonymously with merely a first name or nickname to identify the person posting them. This new requirement seems to be a step in the direction of total Google+ integration. All comments posted before Google integrated the Plus profiles are shown to be written by ‘A Google User’. Google has had to famously face issues where reviews were not just bogus, but some that were pure gibberish.  This is obviously an attempt in the path to creating a platform where there are reliable and authentic reviews for apps. These new changes are sure to help Google build a tighter ecosystem where developers and users are both at a win-win situation while interacting with each other.