Apple iOS 18.4: AI-Powered App Review Summaries

Apple Introduces AI-Powered App Store Review Summaries

With the current public beta of iOS 18.4, Apple is implementing AI-driven summaries of App Store reviews. This new functionality utilizes Apple Intelligence, the company’s integrated AI technology, to provide a consolidated overview based on user feedback.

How the Review Summaries Work

These summaries are generated using large language models (LLMs). They distill key information from numerous reviews into a concise paragraph, as detailed on Apple’s official website.

For apps and games with a substantial number of reviews, these summaries will be updated on a weekly basis. The specific review volume required for summary generation has not been disclosed by Apple.

User and Developer Interaction

App Store users have the ability to report any issues with the AI summaries by tapping and holding on the review. App developers can also communicate potential problems to Apple through App Store Connect.

Initial Availability and Expansion

Initially, the AI summaries will be available in the U.S. and in English. Over the coming year, Apple plans to expand availability to additional markets and languages, encompassing apps with sufficient review data.

The feature is also being integrated into iPadOS 18.4.

Potential Concerns Regarding Manipulation

The introduction of this feature raises concerns about potential manipulation by developers. It is possible that some may attempt to artificially inflate ratings and reviews using bots or paid commenters.

This practice, unfortunately, is already prevalent within the app industry and across platforms hosting customer reviews. The addition of AI summaries could potentially exacerbate this issue.

Consumers might become overly reliant on the AI-generated summary, neglecting to thoroughly examine individual reviews – both positive and negative.

Testing AI's Ability to Identify Negative Feedback

This feature will also serve as a test of Apple’s AI’s capability to accurately identify and highlight negative comments or concerns expressed within the App Store reviews. Effective parsing of this feedback is crucial for providing a balanced summary.

AI Review Summaries Across the Tech Landscape

Apple is not alone in exploring AI for review analysis. Amazon introduced AI summaries for product reviews in 2023. Furthermore, Google’s Gemini AI can also be utilized for summarizing product reviews, as demonstrated in developer documentation.

Google Maps also received AI-powered review summaries last year.

Release Timeline and Additional Features

The AI summaries are currently accessible to beta testers running iOS 18.4 (beta 2) and iPadOS 18.4 (beta 2). The feature is scheduled for public release in April with the broader software update.

Other anticipated features include expanded language support for Apple Intelligence, access for EU users, Visual Intelligence on the iPhone 15 Pro, new Siri options in the Control Center, the ability to pause app downloads, and an AI-driven system for prioritizing notifications.