How to Deal with Fake Reviews on the App Store

Flavien Eyer by 
Product Manager at AppTweak

8 min read

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Gain the skills to optimize app ratings, reviews, and build a loyal user base by following these App Store Reviews basics step by step.

  1. The Impact of App Store Ratings and Reviews on App Visibility
  2. Why & How to Reply to App Store Reviews
  3. How to Increase App Reviews: Proven Strategies for Success
  4. 6 Tips to Manage Your App Store Reviews
  5. Understanding Sentiment Analysis in App Reviews
  6. How to Deal with Fake Reviews on the App Store

On the app stores, fake reviews can seriously harm your app’s reputation, mislead potential users, and distort valuable feedback.

Whether they’re 1-star reviews attacking your app’s credibility or irrelevant comments unrelated to your app’s functionality, dealing with fake reviews effectively is critical to maintaining a strong brand reputation and driving conversions.

In this blog, we’ll explore how you can identify fake reviews, understand their impact, and apply strategies to handle them.


What are fake app reviews?

Fake app reviews are misleading feedback left on app store listings, either to artificially boost an app’s reputation or harm a specific app or competitor.

These dishonest reviews can harm app rankings, influence user decisions, and create an unfair competitive landscape—making it essential to monitor and address them proactively.

Recognizing these fake reviews is the first step in protecting your app’s reputation. Here are some common characteristics and methods for spotting them:

1. Repetitive text

When posting fake reviews, spammers often include identical or slightly modified text (often posted from different accounts). This copy-paste approach makes these reviews relatively easy to identify. Document recurring phrases or sentences to streamline future detection.

Example of a fake app review left with repetitive text
Example of a fake review with only repetitive text

Next, look out for reviews using extreme or misleading terms like “scam” or “fake app.” These reviews may also include suspicious links or redirect users to harmful websites.

Example of a spam app review promoting another app
Example of a spam review promoting another app

3. Excessive special characters

Overuse of punctuation, like exclamation points or unusual symbols, is another hallmark of fake reviews. Filtering for these repetitive special characters can uncover fake reviews left for your app.

Example of a fake app review containing excessive punctuation marks
This reviewer left a fake review containing excessive punctuation marks

4. Suspicious user accounts

Accounts that repeatedly post similar reviews are likely spammers. Monitoring these patterns can help you flag fake feedback. In the example below, the spammer posted the same reply for this app multiple times from different accounts.

Identify fake app reviews left by one user from multiple accounts
Identify fake reviews left by one user from multiple accounts

5. Offensive and off-topic reviews

Fake reviews aren’t the only problem. Some reviews may be offensive or entirely unrelated to your app:

  • Offensive reviews: Despite app store filters, some inappropriate language may slip through. Watch for offensive slurs or inappropriate comments. You can also create a list of problematic keywords to help identify and address these reviews proactively.
  • Off-topic reviews: These are complaints unrelated to your app; for example, an airline app receiving negative feedback about flight delays or the Airbnb app getting poor reviews about property owners. Such feedback should be reported to keep your reviews relevant and focused on the app.
Negative app reviews left for an app, that are not about the app itself
Negative reviews left for the Airbnb app, that are not about the app itself

The impact of fake reviews on your app

Fake reviews don’t just hurt your app’s rating; they can have broader consequences:

1. Reputation damage

Future users often rely on app reviews to decide whether to hit that “download” button. Misleading negative reviews can create a false impression of your app’s quality and damage your brand’s strong reputation.

2. Declining conversion rates

When fake reviews dominate, it becomes harder for genuine feedback to shine through. Even with a solid strategy for replying to reviews, too many fake reviews can be overwhelming (and, not to mention, difficult to manage). This can decrease your downloads and conversion rates, as potential users are turned away by negative comments.

Learn more about the impact of reviews and ratings on performance

3. App store penalties

Both Apple and Google try to make sure the app stores are not filled with fake apps, as their mission is to guarantee a good user experience. If the app stores detect frequent mentions of words like “scam” or “fraud,” your app could face scrutiny. Proving the legitimacy of your app may require time-consuming discussions with support teams.

Some apps even try to promote ads proving their app is not fake, to ensure audiences don’t believe it’s a scam. In the example below, the actor Antony Starr (The Boys) promotes the game Last War:Survival Game to make it clear the game exists.

Example of apps that hire celebrities or influencers to prove their app is real
Some apps hire celebrities or influencers to prove their app is real

4. Reduced visibility

Fake reviews can also hurt your app’s ranking in the app stores. A sudden influx of fake 1-star reviews can lower your app’s average rating, pushing it down in search results and negatively impacting visibility and traffic.

5. Distorted feedback

On top of this, fake reviews can be difficult to control. They can obscure real user concerns, making it harder for developers to address real issues. This wastes time and resources and may leave genuine concerns unaddressed.

6. Investment challenges

Lastly, potential investors or partners may view poor ratings as a red flag, even if they’re the result of fake feedback. Poor ratings due to fake reviews might make them question the quality of your app, limiting your app’s growth opportunities.

To avoid these risks, it’s essential to regularly monitor your app reviews, respond effectively, and take action against fake reviews. Doing so will help protect your app’s reputation, boost user trust, and improve conversion rates.

Review Management with GPT-4

Centralize all your app store reviews & increase efficiency with GPT-4 reply suggestions, templates, Zendesk integrations, and more.

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Strategies to handle fake reviews on the app stores

Now that you are aware of the dangers of fake reviews, get familiar with strategies to manage them and alleviate the risks:

1. Try a direct and professional reply

First, try replying to your fake reviews to explain why the review is fake, irrelevant, or inaccurate for future users who may read it.

When addressing fake reviews, be sure to keep your responses professional and factual. For example:

  • Correct misinformation: If a review claims your app forces in-app payments, clarify the availability of free features or explain how in-app purchases work. This signals to users you value transparency.
  • Request review removal: Politely ask the reviewer to delete their feedback if it was submitted in error. Example: “We believe this review may have been posted by mistake. Could you kindly remove it?”

2. Report any fake app store reviews

If direct responses don’t work, you can report the reviews to app stores. The stores will then review your report and decide if the review should be removed. In the following section, we’ll walk you through different ways you can report your app store reviews.

How to report a review on the app store

First, a more manual way to report your reviews is via the consoles. Here is how you can report reviews one by one.

For iOS App Store:

  • Go to App Store Connect > Trust & Safety > Ratings & Reviews.
  • Locate the review, click “Report a Concern,” and provide more details.
  • Apple will then review your request.
Reporting an app review on App Store Connect
Reporting an app review on App Store Connect

For Google Play Store:

  • Go to the Google Play Developer Console > Ratings and Reviews.
  • Find the review, click the flag icon, and confirm your report.
  • Google will then review your request.

How to report fake app reviews in bulk with AppTweak

To streamline your review management and report many reviews in just a few clicks, you’ll need a dedicated platform like AppTweak:

  • Reporting an app review: Once you have identified the reviews you would like to report, you can click the flag icon next to each review to take action.
How to report fake app reviews in AppTweak
Reporting an app review with AppTweak
  • Report app reviews in bulk: If you have many fake reviews, you can save valuable time by reporting them in bulk. Use our filters or manually select all the reviews you want to report.
How to report multiple app reviews in one click with AppTweak
Reporting multiple app reviews in bulk

When reporting a fake review to the App Store, Apple will request additional information about your concern. Once you have provided this information and confirmed your request, we will send the report to Apple who will treat it as usual.

Reporting an app review to the App Store with AppTweak
Reporting a review to the App Store with AppTweak

When reporting a fake review to the Google Play Store, Google will only you ask to confirm your request before sending the report for approval.

Reporting an app review to the Google Play Store with AppTweak
Reporting a review to the Google Play Store with AppTweak
  • Automated tagging: If you have too many fake reviews to handle, the most efficient strategy is using our automated tagging system.

First, identify your fake reviews using pre-defined criteria (e.g., a specific star rating, keyword used, or country). Then, set up an automation rule to automatically tag and segment these reviews so you can take quicker action.

If you’d prefer to automatically reply to fake reviews, you can also set up a reply automation rule based on the same criteria.

Set up a custom automation rule to automatically tag or reply to all your fake app reviews
Set up a custom automation rule to automatically tag or reply to all your fake reviews

Conclusion

Fake reviews can harm your app’s reputation, skew genuine feedback, and impact conversion rates.

By learning how to identify fake reviews, address them professionally, and leverage review management tools like AppTweak, you’ll be better equipped to protect your app’s standing in the marketplace. Stay proactive, monitor reviews regularly, and take action to ensure your app’s success remains on track.

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Flavien Eyer
by , Product Manager at AppTweak
Flavien is a Product Manager at AppTweak. He works daily to make sure AppTweak stays the best ASO tool. He is also passionate about theater and hates coriander.