Apple is trying to limit how often your iPhone apps can bug you to give them a rating

Apple is finally doing something to crack down on all those annoying reminders to go rate an iPhone program in the App Store.

With the next update to iOS 10, Apple is trying to limit how often developers can prompt customers to rate and review their app.

Currently, there are no hard limits on the prompts, which have reached epidemic levels of annoyance and frequency in recent months, as developers become increasingly dependent on ratings and reviews to get noticed within the ever more crowded App Store.

For some time now, Apple has been working on a more standard approach. With iOS 10.3, now in beta testing, the company is adding a mechanism that allows developers to seek reviews and ratings up to three times per year.

Apple is also adding the ability for iPhone owners to rate and review apps without having to leaving the program they are in.

By default, apps will be able to prompt for customer reviews, but Apple said there will also be an option within the iPhone’s settings to turn off all such requests.

The new Reviews API will eventually become the only approved way for developers to prompt customers for a rating, though that will take some time.

Developers, meanwhile, will gain the added ability to respond directly to user reviews and criticisms on the App Store.

The changes to the app rating process are among several coming with iOS 10.3, including the ability to search for missing AirPods and the ability to get cricket scores.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via