The App Store is the place to download new apps, but many users use the App Store to praise or disparage apps via reviews. You can leave a review or give a rating with a number of stars in the App Store. But that wasn't possible for all apps, because Apple's own built-in apps were excluded from rating and reviews. Since iOS 15, that's no longer the case, and users are already using it.
Now App Store reviews of Apple's default apps too
Dutch iPhone owners leave their opinion about Apple's own standard apps in the App Store. The reviews and ratings are not always positive. While the star rating isn't very high yet, users of the Home app are reporting problems connecting to devices. The Apple Maps app scores slightly better, although we also see some remarkable reviews.
One of the top scoring apps is Apple's very own Translation app. This one only gets 1.3 stars. Especially the lack of support for the Dutch language can count on a lot of (justified) criticism. In the Dutch App Store, the Wallet app and the FaceTime app are one of the highest rated apps. There are many more reviews posted in the US App Store. There, users are also complaining about the lack of iPad versions of the Weather and Calculator app.
The ability to leave a review only works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. Users with iOS 14 or older don't have that option. Also, iOS 14 users will not see any star ratings or reviews from iOS 15 users. It's not entirely clear why Apple has now thrown open the assessment for its own default apps. This may be due to growing criticism of Apple's abuse of power with the App Store and unequal rules for Apple's own and third-party apps. By making the reviews now possible, it will also become clearer directly in the App Store about the quality of Apple's own apps (although it can sometimes give a distorted picture). Whether Apple will also listen to the reviews in the App Store remains to be seen.