Prep Your Mobile App for iOS 11

Yesterday, Apple announced iOS 11 is rolling out on September 19th. We got our first peek at the new mobile operating system back in June, and have written about what app publishers can expect from the changes.

With what we now know about iOS 11, we want to ensure our community members are informed and your apps are prepared for the changes. To help set your strategy in place, we’re excited to launch a new guide iOS 11: How to Prepare Your Mobile App.

This guide covers how you can prepare your mobile app to ensure you aren’t wasting to your rating prompt opportunities, and that there isn’t a lag in your customer experience and customer satisfaction. But before diving into best practices, we go into detail around what’s actually changing in iOS 11, and how changes will impact app publishers as well as consumers.

Below is a peek of the content that’s covered in the guide.

Two key changes to be aware of with iOS 11

Before covering how to prepare your app for the iOS 11 changes, it’s important to
understand what’s actually changing:

First, third-party ratings prompts are not permitted in apps built on iOS 11. Apple wants publishers to use the provided API for requesting reviews and will reject apps built for iOS 11 that are using custom review prompts.

Second, you will have a choice to reset your ratings between app versions. Similar to the Google Play Store, an app’s rating won’t reset with each new version (unlike today). Instead, it will reflect the overall rating. You will have the ability to reset the app’s rating at your discretion.

These changes come in addition to the changes iOS 10.3 brought. App publishers can now only present Apple’s Rating Prompt three times per year. This emphasizes the importance of finding the right time and right place to engage with consumers. Now that you can only ask for an app rating three times per year, it’s imperative that you identify evangelists, determine when to activate them and measure all interactions with your customers.

Results of Apple’s SKStoreReviewController API (or, ratings prompt)

Apple launched their new in-app rating prompt with the release of iOS 10.3. We have a number of customers who have already adopted the method and are seeing positive results. The median number of app ratings have increased by 20% since moving to the Apple ratings prompt. The increase is likely due to the ease in which customers are able to leave reviews with the Apple ratings prompt since they don’t have to leave the app and sign into the app store to leave a rating.

The increase in the volume of ratings with the SKStoreReviewController API is a result of a 10-15x increase in efficacy. In other words, our customers are prompting less people and receiving more reviews. This improvement is ideal, because it allows our customers to diversify the way they’re talking to their customers by adding more interaction types without overloading consumers.

Ready to learn more?

The iOS 11 roll out is approaching quickly, and if any of the above findings interested you, the rest of the guide will be sure to help you strategize and update your mobile approach. Grab your free copy today and start prepping your app for the changes.

If you’d like to get in touch with a team member with questions around iOS 11, please reach out to us at sales@apptentive.com or leave your thoughts in the comments below.