Thursday, June 21, 2012

YouMail: Don't Trust Those Google Play Reviews

Irvine-based YouMail has a message for all of those browsers in the Google Play store, the place where Android users go to download apps: don't believe those reviews. In a blog post today, YouMail pointed out that there appears to be an issue with adequate policing of Google Play's reviews, showing a specific set of positive reviews for a competitor -- and a matched set of disparaging ones -- from the exact same users, in the same order, from what appears to be manufactured users created by a competitor. The company, which provides both apps and a linked enhanced voicemail service to help users get more out of their phones, complained that Google Play and other app stores need a better way to let developers respond to complaints, particularly fake ones, about their apps. YouMail admits there are valid complaints in its review stream, and that it discovered the issue because it actually tries to contact users who have left negative reviews to improve its product.

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