Stupid! – Garbage – Hate it!!!!!!! …
…. these are some of the few comments when publishing apps in the Android Market for free. This can be really frustrating for developers. Here are some of the worst example I have encountered in my life as an Android developer:
The “it does not work -> 1 star” fraction
Examples:
- “poor! doesnt work on my G1 keeps force closing! Uninstalled!”
- “Keeps forcing close fix it and it is horrible. Hate it!!!!!!!!! One star and I am uninstalling this stupid thing”
Guys, I can understand your anger, but please, just send the developer a mail, describe the error and the circumstances where it occurred in as much detail as possible, and give the developer a chance to learn about it and fix it!
The “my obscure feature is not present -> 1 star” fraction
Examples
- “No “dk” map [Ingen dk kort]”
- “Not in Russian [?? ?? ??????]”
Yes, you may want to have the app in Russian, Urdu, and Aramaic, but as a hobby developer one has limited resources. Please respect that many apps are developed on a very tight or even non-existent budget. Why not just be glad to have that many apps for free?
The “I hate your app -> 1 star” fraction
Examples
- “Stupid!”
- “Garbage”
- “Slow and no instructions”
These guys would probably even rate the app with 0 stars if that was possible. The comment “no instructions” was even wrong at the time of writing, since there was a manual accessible from the main menu.
*update*
The “Weird -> 1 star” fraction (proposed by Niels).
Example
- “Has swear word on end button if you don’t do well. Not something I want my kid playing.”
- “My mom is crying. Uninstalled”
- “Stupid and offincive to my pet rabbit bayleigh”.
Conclusions
If you download, rate, and comment apps, please be nice with your developers. Many of us are guys like you and me, only spending their free time to work on their apps. Please accept that you cannot get perfect solutions in no-time. Rather help us to improve our apps and appreciate that we deliver them for free!
4 replies on “Android User Hate Parade”
I guess it just depends on the quality of your app. The amazing Hit It! for example gets very positive comments. Some random examples are:
I absulutly love it!
Love this game
Addictive, makes work not seem as dry haha
Its cool and very entertaining!
😛
But seriously I wonder why some users are so harsh and others are overwhelming positive. However, I propose an additional category: The “I’m weird -> 1 star” fraction. Example are “Has swear word on end button if you don’t do well. Not something I want my kid playing.”, “My mom is crying. Uninstalled” and “Stupid and offincive to my pet rabbit bayleigh”. Anyway I think that it is easier for games to get positive comments. I also believe that it is more important that users like you (the dev) than that they like the app. I got a few comments like “Very fun and helps a student with his or her research project.” but I don’t understand why some thinks the game is fun, anyway.
“My mom is crying. Uninstalled” :ROFL: … and what kind of swear word do you have on your buttons?
Shall I add your “I’m weird” category to the hate parade?
The button says “Damn”.
I wonder if there is a way to learn more about peoples motivation for giving good or bad comments. Maybe there is research about product ratings and comments for other types of products!?
Here is why apps get “abusive” comments:
1/ Users are sick of no reply or auto reply “dev email” addresses which then ask then to write their detailed email again to a “correct” address.
2/ Sometimes there is no “dev email address”.
3/ The overall quality of Android apps is appalling. Why anyone would buy an app is a mystery. I’ve never used a platform that encourages so much distrust in the ability of any given software to work on the hardware that it’s meant to.
4/ The frustration of using the undercooked and unfinished Android OS itself builds up and some fault in an app is the last straw after also hacking our way through the awful marketplace. The amount of hate in the feedback could be a reflection if the Android userbase towards the OS itself.
5/ Android isn’t a smartphone os. It’s the new mass-market dumbphone. It wouldn’t surprise me if a completely closed android phone came out soon which sells for free or one dollar. As such, the “NASCAR Consumer” base will act as they do at walmart, ikea and anywhere else that “quantity not quality” products like android are sold.