Apple Intelligence might address my frustrations with the App Store, but I have my doubts.

      It's well-known that Apple’s App Store has its challenges, but it typically functions quite effectively. However, one aspect that seems utterly pointless is the reviews section. Apple features a few reviews on each app’s page, but frustratingly, they are often from years ago. It's not rare to come across reviews that address problems that have already been resolved, yet they still get highlighted. When your initial perception is formed based on outdated information, it renders the review section nearly useless and unhelpful for assessing an app.

      When you explore an app’s review section, you get access to a comprehensive array of user feedback. Usually, Apple organizes the reviews by what it deems as “most helpful.” But how can a review be classified as “most helpful” if it’s from several years ago and no longer applicable?

      In short, the App Store’s reviews section is in dire need of an overhaul. While browsing apps on my Mac, I frequently encounter unhelpful reviews being promoted as the most suitable assessment of an app or game. More often than not, it's clear that this is far from accurate.

      A potential breakthrough

      Digital Trends

      However, it seems a solution is forthcoming: artificial intelligence (AI) summaries. Recently, Macworld reported that Apple is trialing this update in the iOS 18.4 beta 2, which is available for download if you have a developer account (it’s unclear if this is also available on macOS). These AI summaries were hinted at in late 2024 and are currently visible to users in the US on select app and game pages.

      They utilize Apple Intelligence to compile previous reviews into a summary displayed beneath the app’s review score. In Macworld’s example, the AI summary for ChatGPT stated: “Users find the app helpful and convenient. They value its capability to answer inquiries and its quick response times. They also commend its advanced voice mode.”

      This feature could significantly change the game. It may eliminate the need to sift through outdated and irrelevant reviews to get a sense of what users think about an app or game. Instead, all essential information would be readily available on the app’s main page, allowing you to avoid diving into the reviews altogether.

      If successful, it could address my primary issue with the App Store. By presenting a summary of reviews instead of a single excerpt, your first impression of an app won’t be clouded by whatever outdated and uninformative review Apple’s unclear algorithm chooses to show first. This could enhance the usability of App Store pages considerably.

      Not without flaws

      Brett Jordan / Pexels

      That said, I don't expect this to be a flawless solution. This new feature depends on the summarization capabilities of Apple Intelligence. As we have seen with its failure to accurately summarize articles from BBC News, these summaries can be prone to inaccuracies and errors.

      We also need more clarification on how these summaries will operate. How much emphasis will they place on older reviews? Will they even include reviews that are above a certain age? My worry is that these summaries might incorporate complaints that were resolved years ago, thereby reintroducing misleading information to readers.

      Additionally, it’s essential to recognize that there are other significant issues in the App Store that this AI feature won’t address. Search results often yield completely unrelated apps and games, or they prioritize ads over actual search results, complicating matters further. The review process itself has shown to be inconsistent and overly strict, a problem that AI summaries won’t rectify.

      Nonetheless, this initiative by Apple may represent progress. The App Store reviews urgently require improvement, and it’s encouraging that Apple is paying attention to them. Only time will determine if Apple Intelligence is the correct approach to resolve this issue.