Report: Review Restrictions Add To App Store Manipulation Crackdown

In what appears to be a continuing effort by Apple to restrict ranking and rating manipulation on its App Store, the company is no longer allowing users to rate an app if it was downloaded using a developer promo code, according to reports. An alleged letter from Apple customer support was posted by a Touch Arcade forums user (via MacStories), with the unnamed rep saying "It is no longer possible to rate or review an app if it was downloaded using a developer's promotional code." A popular strategy to help increase an app's rating has traditionally been to give an app away for free using a complimentary code, the assumption being that users would rate a complimentary app higher than they would have had they paid for it. It appears that Apple is cracking down on such manipulation. As Gamasutra recently reported, Apple has changed its ranking algorithm to make Top 25 manipulation more difficult. This additional ratings restriction -- which appears to have been activated at around the same time -- is believed to be a part of a larger crackdown that Apple has yet to officially acknowledge.