AppFollow collects reviews and ratings for your sources from the App Store and Google Play, but how much history you get and how fast new data arrives depends on the platform and how your source is connected. Collection for other platforms, such as review sites and social media, may work differently.
In this article, you'll learn how reviews and ratings are collected for each platform and how to make sure you have the most complete data.
App Store
Reviews:
AppFollow collects reviews retrospectively. This means that once you add a source to AppFollow, its historical reviews will be available.
Developer replies that were published outside of AppFollow are collected only during the initial review collection or upon request to the Support team.
New reviews are collected 4 times a day by default, and every hour once you have an active App Store Connect connection.
Ratings:
Total Ratings: Only available from the date the source is added to AppFollow.
Incremental Ratings: Similar to total ratings, incremental ratings are collected only from the date the app is added.
Google Play
Reviews:
Like the App Store, AppFollow collects Google Play reviews retrospectively, ensuring you have access to historical feedback.
Developer replies that were published outside of AppFollow are collected only during the initial review collection or upon request to the Support team.
The speed at which reviews are collected from Google Play depends on the type of connection you’ve set up in AppFollow. Some connection types allow for faster and more stable review updates than others. See the table below for a comparison.
| Connection Type | Average Collection Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Public (No connection) | Up to 24 hours | This is the default connection. Reviews are updated daily. |
| Invite User | 5–10 minutes or up to 24 hours | 5–10 minutes if both Reply to reviews and Receive reviews faster + Country data are enabled. Up to 24 hours if only Reply to reviews is enabled. |
| Service Account | 5–10 minutes | Connects through Google's official Play Developer API. |
💡 For a full comparison of what each connection type offers, see Google Play Console Data Connections.
Ratings:
Total Ratings: Collected only from the date the source is added to AppFollow.
Incremental Ratings: Can be collected retrospectively if your Google Play Console is connected with the Invite User method.
How to Ensure Complete Data Collection
Follow these steps to get the most complete review and rating history for your sources:
- Add your sources early. Total ratings are only tracked from the day a source is added, so the sooner you add your sources, the more rating history you'll have.
- Connect your developer accounts. An App Store Connect connection gets you hourly review updates, and a Google Play Invite User connection lets you collect incremental ratings retrospectively.
- Let us know if something's missing. If you notice missing reviews or developer replies, contact Support and we'll look into it.