While you’ve been able to delete and download Apple’s apps since iOS 10, Apple hasn’t allowed users to express how they feel about its own apps. With the launch of iOS 15, however, Apple has added the ability to rate and review its own apps just like all the others.
As spotted by 9to5Mac, all of the Apple apps available in the App Store can be rated now, and users have already expressed their feelings on them. The highest-rated is FaceTime with a 4.3-star rating, but many have a rating less than three stars.
Activity: 3.6 stars
Apple Books: 3.6 stars
Calculator: 3.5 stars
Calendar: 2.9 stars
Compass: 3.8 stars
Contacts: 3.2 stars
FaceTime: 4.3 stars
Files: 3.3 stars
Find My: 3.9 stars
Home: 3.5 stars
iTunes Store: 3.3 stars
Mail: 2.8 stars
Maps: 3 stars
Measure: 3.1 stars
Music: 3.6 stars
News: 2.3 stars
Notes: 3.6 stars
Podcasts: 2 stars
Reminders: 3.1 stars
Stocks: 3.8 stars
Tips: 4.1 stars
TV: 3.3 stars
Watch: 3.5 stars
Weather: 3.7 stars
Most apps have less than 100 ratings, but the early reviews aren’t great. While there are plenty of five-star positive reviews, numerous negative reviews are peppered with comments like “C’mon Apple you’re better than this,” “Awful update,” and “Terrible release,” as users express their discontent.
It’s unclear why Apple decided to open up the stock iOS apps to ratings in the App Store, but it could be related to the recent changes to the developer terms in the App Store. Over the past several weeks, Apple has relaxed the rules of the App Store and a ruling in the Epic trial and could be forced to allow apps to allow apps to directly link to external payment sources.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.