In this guide
Review gating means asking users how they like the app first, then sending only the happy ones to the store rating and the unhappy ones somewhere private. The store sees only the filtered result.
Example: a custom screen asks "Do you like the app?" Tapping "Yes" opens the store rating dialog. Tapping "No" opens a feedback form and never reaches the store.
Why it is risky
Gating makes your public rating say something other than what your users think. That is the part stores care about.
- Apple. The App Review Guidelines say that if Apple finds you "attempted to manipulate reviews, inflate your chart rankings with paid, incentivized, filtered, or fake feedback", it may take steps "which may include expelling you from the Apple Developer Program." "Filtered" is on that list. Source: App Review Guidelines, section 3, retrieved 2026-10-17.
- Google Play. The policy page says "We prohibit any manipulation of ratings, reviews, or install counts" and "Prompt users to leave a rating in a clear, non-deceptive way." It does not name gating directly. Whether a given flow counts as deceptive is Google's call, not yours. Source: Play Console Help, retrieved 2026-10-17.
Neither page states whether or how a specific gating flow is enforced. Check the current policy text before you ship any filter.
It also costs you honesty with yourself: if only happy people rate, your rating stops being a signal.
The safer alternative: private feedback for everyone
Do not decide who may rate. Offer the same choices to every user.
- Ask at a good moment, after a success (see when to ask for app reviews).
- Offer both options to everyone: "Send feedback to the developer" (private) and "Rate in the store" (public). No branching by mood, no hiding one option.
- Never reward either choice.
- Read the private feedback and fix what it shows. Reply to it personally.
- Where the store provides its own rating dialog, use it as the stores describe it, without wrapping it in a mood question.
How to check your own flow
- Does the store option appear for every user, whatever they answered? If not, it is a filter.
- Does the wording push toward a high score ("Love it? Rate us 5 stars!")? Remove it.
- Is anything given in return? Remove it.
Private feedback is only useful if you ask for it for its own sake, not as a gate. AppReviewX is built for that: private, structured feedback, one feedback for one credit, and store reviews stay voluntary and unpaid.
Back to the ratings and reviews guide. Related: how to report a fake or abusive review, sudden wave of negative reviews.
Start free and collect private feedback from every tester.
General information, not legal advice. Policies change; check the linked pages.