For developers, ratings and reviews are a very integral part of the development processes, and it provides them with both quantitative and qualitative feedback from users about their user experiences. Back in 2022, Google had segmented its feedback insights based on countries and form factors, and now, the in-app ratings and reviews API have been extended and brought to TVs, enabling developers to prompt user feedback directly on the Google TV.
Here’s more about the update.
Google TV – In-App Ratings and Reviews API
With the ratings and reviews functionalities, Google TV users are able to view rating averages, browse user reviews, and even drop their ratings and reviews on an app’s store listing. For this, users can simply select ratings with the help of the remote control D-pad. Optional reviews can be given making use of Gboard’s on-screen voice input. Users can also type it in from their mobile phones too, by sending the mobile notification to initiate and complete the process via the mobile phone. Also, ratings and reviews for other form factors can be submitted directly from the mobile as well by selecting the device chip.
As mentioned, now developers can prompt users to submit ratings and reviews, and they can request it by identifying the optimal moments and preventing any interruptions while contents are ongoing. Developers can integrate this functionality by invoking requestReviewFlow() and obtain a ReviewInfo object to launch the review flow process. An addOnCompleteListener() should also be included. Just like what was pointed out earlier, developers must also be able to identify the right time to launch the prompt for users to submit their ratings and reviews.
Just to add, developers can identify the successful journeys of users such as completing a series or finishing a movie to add the prompt. Poor experiences such as playback errors and buffering should also be identified. By following the testing guide, developers will also be able to test the integration and on the Play Console, ratings by device type can be monitored.
