Well, this is kind of a kick in the teeth.
As of the latest iOS 9 beta, Apple is preventing beta users from submitting app reviews.
Testers running Apple’s fourth iOS 9 beta, currently for developers only, are able to access the iOS App Store as usual, but no longer have the ability to post reviews. Attempting to do so now results in an error pop-up that reads, “This feature isn’t available. You can’t write reviews while using a prerelease version of iOS.”
The change is thought to have come about given that many public beta users might not be familiar with how operating system betas can be incompatible with an app that might be run on them.
Even though a good number of iOS apps work well under the iOS 9 betas, there still might be stalls, crashes and other issues not present under iOS 8.4, the current version of iOS available to consumers. The two systems may be mutually exclusive, but the underpinning services are not. Posting negative reviews based on an experience within a beta environment has a very real impact on developers, as they can be viewed by and sway the opinion of average App Store customers.
This feedback can reduce an app’s rating and developers are unable to submit patches for problems discovered in iOS 9, only updates for iOS 8. This means most issues end users run into will remain unfixed until the next-generation operating system debuts this fall.
It is unknown if Apple intends to extend today’s moratorium on app reviews to prerelease versions of other operating systems like OS X 10.11 El Capitan.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider