Microsoft Store reviews: how to read, respond to and report them

Where to read your reviews

In Partner Center, open your app and go to Ratings and reviews. The page has four parts. Ratings breakdown shows your average rating and how many ratings each star count got. Ratings over time charts the average and the volume together. Reviews lists what people wrote. Geographical spread shows ratings and reviews by country or region.

Each review has the star rating, the title and text, the package version the person had installed, their country or region, their name as the Store shows it and the date. People can rate without writing anything, so you'll usually have fewer reviews than ratings.

You can narrow the list with filters. The ones worth knowing are these.

• Responses shows only the reviews you haven't answered yet, which makes a good to-do list.
• Package version and Updates show whether reviews changed after a release.
• Source separates reviews written in the Store from ones written through your in-app prompt.
• Review content defaults to ratings that have text. Pick All to include bare star ratings.

Turn on Translate reviews to read reviews in your own language. Microsoft notes the translations are automatic and may not be exact, and that search only looks at the original text. You can also download up to a year of reviews as a CSV, though the download leaves out your responses and may miss the most recent reviews.

Reviews sometimes disappear from the report. Microsoft removes reviews written on some pre-release and Insider builds of Windows, and reviews it finds to be spam, inappropriate or offensive.

How to respond to a review

On the Ratings and reviews page, click Reply next to the review. By default your reply is posted in the Store right under the review, and anyone looking at your listing can read it.

If you'd rather answer privately, uncheck Make this response public. Microsoft then emails your reply to the customer, along with their original review, and they can answer you directly. This only works when the customer gave an email address and didn't opt out of responses, and it needs a Support contact email, which defaults to your account contact address.

Microsoft's guidelines apply to every reply, public or private.

• A reply can't be longer than 1,000 characters.
• You can't offer anything, including in-app items, in exchange for changing a rating.
• No marketing, ads or promotion of your other apps or services.
• Each reply has to be about that review. Pasting the same canned answer under lots of reviews isn't allowed unless they really ask the same thing.
• Nothing profane, aggressive, personal or malicious.

You can't edit a reply once it's posted, so read it twice. If the customer later revises their review, your reply comes off the listing and you can answer the new version. Customers can also report your replies, and Microsoft can take away your ability to respond if many of them get reported.

What to write back

A good reply is short and specific. Thank them, say what you did or will do about their problem, and tell them how to reach you if you need more detail. When you ship a fix for something a review complained about, reply to say which version has it. People who read your listing later see that you fixed it, and the reviewer may update their rating on their own.

Thanks for flagging this. Exports were failing for files with non-English names, and version 2.4 fixes it. If you still see the error after updating, email support@example.com with the file name and we'll look at it.

Microsoft also suggests mentioning a fix in your app's description when many reviews asked for it. Your release notes are another good place.

How to report a review

You can't delete reviews yourself. If a review contains spam, advertising, profanity or offensive content, find it on your app's product page and report it through Microsoft's developer support. A review that's only negative or unfair doesn't break the rules. Reply to it calmly instead, because other customers see how you handle it.

How to get more ratings

The easiest way is to ask inside your app. Call StoreContext.RequestRateAndReviewAppAsync from the UI thread and Windows shows the Store's rating dialog without sending people out of your app. It needs Windows 10 version 1809 or later as your target. The result tells you whether they submitted, canceled or hit a network error, and whether they updated an existing rating.

var context = StoreContext.GetDefault();
StoreRateAndReviewResult result = await context.RequestRateAndReviewAppAsync();

if (result.Status == StoreRateAndReviewStatus.Succeeded ||
    result.Status == StoreRateAndReviewStatus.CanceledByUser)
{
    // Remember that you asked, so you don't ask again for a while.
}

You can also open your app's review page in the Store with the ms-windows-store://review/?ProductId= link and your Store ID, for example from a Rate this app item in a menu.

Microsoft's rules for asking are short, and they matter.

• Every rating prompt has to send people to the Store's rating, whatever star count they pick. You can't ask "do you like the app?" first and only send the happy ones to the Store.
• If you collect feedback yourself, it has to be clear that it goes to you and isn't a Store rating or review.
• Trying to manipulate ratings or reviews is against the Developer Code of Conduct, and rewarding people for changing a rating is against the response guidelines.

Beyond that, timing is up to you. Ask after someone has done the thing your app is for, like finishing an export or a level, and not on first launch or in the middle of a task. Microsoft's own sample checks that it hasn't asked in the last three months before asking again.

Reading reviews with code

The get app reviews method of the Store analytics API returns your reviews as JSON, with the rating, title, text, market, package version, any response you've posted and a review ID. It signs in with a Microsoft Entra application connected to Partner Center, the same as the rest of the analytics API.

The matching reviews API was meant for replying in bulk. Its page currently says it's "not in a working state" and sends you to Partner Center, so you can read reviews with code but not answer them.

Reviews in StoreFast

StoreFast reads the same analytics API every day with your Partner Center connection. Each app shows its average rating and number of reviews on the first page, and its reviews on the app's page, where you can filter them by star rating and country. Reviews in other languages are already translated into English, and one click shows the original. After a sync brings in new reviews, StoreFast emails you a summary, and you can turn that off for each app.

If you use an AI assistant with StoreFast's MCP server, its list_reviews tool returns the newest reviews in English and can filter by rating, market or date. That's handy for asking what people complained about since your last release.

StoreFast doesn't reply to reviews, because there's no working API to reply through. You read them in StoreFast and reply in Partner Center. The analytics guide has more on what the dashboard shows.

Where each task happens

Reviews are one part of your listing. The search terms guide covers the keywords, description and screenshots that help people find your app in the first place.

Questions

Can I respond to Microsoft Store reviews with an API?

Microsoft documents a reviews API for this, but its page says it's currently not in a working state and points you to Partner Center instead. For now you reply in Partner Center, one review at a time.

Who sees my response to a review?

By default your response is posted in the Store under the review, where anyone can read it. If you uncheck Make this response public, Microsoft emails it to the customer instead, as long as they gave an email address and haven't opted out.

Can I edit or delete a response?

No. You can't change a response once it's posted. If the customer revises their review, your response is removed from the listing and you can reply to the new version.

How do I get a fake or abusive review removed?

Find the review on your app's product page and report it through Microsoft's developer support. Microsoft also removes reviews it finds to be spam, offensive or written on pre-release Windows builds.

Can I reward people for leaving a review?

Don't. Microsoft's response guidelines forbid offering any compensation for changing a rating, and the Developer Code of Conduct forbids trying to manipulate ratings or reviews.

Does StoreFast reply to reviews?

No. StoreFast shows your reviews in English and emails you when new ones arrive, and you reply in Partner Center. There's no working API it could reply through.