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I have this application: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn7_yNt1OaE

I made a mechanism that counts the number of times the app has launched, and measure the playtime duration as well.

I want to remind the user on she/he can support the development, can help others to find my app by dropping a rate in the App Store (I have instant App Store link format as well).

The only thing I want to discuss here: How often/rare should I remind the user?

The first should be about after 15 launch, and 3-6 hours of playtime... ...or not? And the second? Have you any experience on it?

Artjom B.
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Geri Borbás
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    I may be a cranky old bastard, but... Remind me as little as possible to avoid backlash. Especially if you're interrupting what I'm doing to remind me. :) – JimR Nov 29 '10 at 21:19
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    I voted to close, as this isn't a programming question. This is really a human interface/UI question, so consider reposting it at http://ui.stackexchange.com/. Nonetheless, my tuppence is "I don't mind, as long as it has a 'Never ask me again' option when you do it", so I will see it no more than I want to. – Adam Wright Nov 29 '10 at 21:20

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I know that I get annoyed as hell about this type of thing. Not pestering me with such a question will actually yield the highest probability that I care to vote.

Make quality content, then people will give you high ratings.

You might keep your first reminder in, but if I haven't voted after the 15th launch, I certainly won't vote after the 100th launch.

cadolphs
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  • Right. But Fragger - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fragger-free/id376620803?mt=8 - for example reminded me about after every pack I unlocked... I don't know. I have to decide it trough testing... – Geri Borbás Nov 29 '10 at 21:41
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According to The Business of iPhone and iPad Development, the best time to remind your users to rate your app is when they've accomplished some task, or otherwise have a positive feeling about your app. If you have a game, you may want to remind users to rate when they've beaten a boss or a level. Otherwise, once or twice a month is probably best. Users don't like to be pestered. There are thousands of other apps that say "Rate Me". If they wanted the " Remind Me to Rate" app, they would've downloaded another one.

Moshe
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It really depends on how often your users open your app. If they do it on a daily basis, it might be a good idea to remind them every two weeks or so.

If the use it once a month, I'd say every time they open it, or every seconds time.

The best idea would be to test - start with a low frequency and wait for ratings. Increase the frequency from time to time and try to measure the effect it has on ratings. While some users tend to be annoyed by this kind of feature, from what I hear the overall effect is more ratings and more sales. I think if you're app is useful enough, users won't mind. And if it's not - skipping this feature is not what's going to save you:)

P.S. there's a quick way to integrate this feature into your app, by using this: http://bnpr.es/iuZmsU

Adam Tal
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I'm of the opinion that you should never display an alert that the user is forced to dismiss. Rather, provide a link to the review page in a static, non-intrusive place.

For example, looking at your app you have an alert between puzzles; if you instead modified the finished puzzle view (where you briefly highlight the completed shape) to have both the "Next Puzzle" button as well as a small text link that said "Rate this app on iTunes", you'd effectively remind people all the time and yet never force them to respond to your request.

If you wanted to, every few puzzles you could highlight the text, or briefly highlight it and fade it back to normal, something like that, to help ensure they saw it once in a while. If they ever tap on it then never highlight it again.

I believe that this kind of system is much, much more likely to generate useful reviews, if for no other reason than it seems like nearly every app these days is using the Appirater-style alert and I've gotten to the point where I just always tap "never," even if I would have reviewed it later.

Matthew Frederick
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I contemplated this myself, and I thought that it should be based on playing time. If you base it level wise, most people will make it a forced-habit to hit the "No Thanks" button. If you base it off playing time that would be better and make it less of a habit for a user to hit "No Thanks"

Also, make sure that it never comes up again after the user does rate it. This way it won't keep annoying them.

ParkEd Apps
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