You open a weather app to check whether the sky is about to personally betray you. Instead, the app pops up with: “Enjoying us? Rate us!” You open a budgeting app to see where your money went. Surprise: another rating request. You launch a game for thirty seconds of peace, and boom, a tiny digital clipboard appears asking for stars like it is auditioning for Hollywood.
If you are tired of apps begging for reviews on your iPhone or iPad, good news: iOS includes a built-in setting that can stop most in-app rating requests. You do not need to delete apps, install a blocker, perform phone wizardry, or throw your iPhone into a decorative lake. You just need to turn off one App Store setting.
This guide explains exactly how to stop app rating requests on iOS, why the setting works, what it does not block, and what to do if certain apps keep pestering you anyway.
The Fastest Way To Stop App Rating Requests On iOS
To disable app rating pop-ups on a newer iPhone or iPad, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap Apps.
- Tap App Store.
- Find In-App Ratings & Reviews.
- Turn the switch off.
That is the main fix. Once this toggle is off, apps that use Apple’s standard in-app review system should no longer be able to show the familiar App Store rating prompt inside the app.
On some older iOS versions, the path may look slightly different:
- Settings > App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews
- Or, on much older devices: Settings > iTunes & App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews
If you cannot find the setting immediately, open Settings and use the search bar at the top. Type In-App Ratings or App Store. Your iPhone may lead you directly to the toggle, like a tiny butler who finally understands the assignment.
What Are In-App Rating Requests?
In-app rating requests are those pop-ups that ask you to rate or review an app without leaving the app. They usually appear after you complete an action, win a game level, finish a purchase, book a ride, edit a photo, or simply exist near the app for more than eight seconds.
Developers use these requests because App Store ratings matter. A strong average rating can help an app look trustworthy, rank better in search results, and persuade new users to download it. From a developer’s perspective, asking happy users for feedback is reasonable. From a user’s perspective, being interrupted mid-task can feel like a waiter asking for a Yelp review before bringing the fries.
Apple created a system-level review prompt so developers can ask for feedback in a more controlled way. Instead of sending you to the App Store manually, the app can show a small rating card directly inside the app. The idea is to make reviews easier while keeping interruptions limited.
Why Turning Off “In-App Ratings & Reviews” Works
The In-App Ratings & Reviews setting controls Apple’s official review request system. When the toggle is on, apps are allowed to ask for App Store ratings using Apple’s built-in tools. When the toggle is off, those standard requests should stop appearing across apps installed on your device.
Apple also limits how often these standard prompts can appear. A single app cannot show the system review prompt endlessly. The system is designed to limit the number of times a user sees these prompts within a year. That is helpful, but “limited annoyance” is still annoyance. Turning the setting off gives you more control.
Think of it like putting a “No Soliciting” sign on your front door. A polite app using Apple’s official review system sees the sign and backs away. A less polite app may still try a different approach, which brings us to the important catch.
What This Setting Does Not Stop
Turning off In-App Ratings & Reviews is powerful, but it is not a universal force field against every possible app nag. It mainly blocks Apple’s standard App Store review prompt. Some apps may still show their own messages, banners, feedback forms, or custom pop-ups that are not technically the system rating request.
1. Custom “Do You Like This App?” Screens
An app might show a custom screen that says something like, “Are you enjoying the app?” If you tap yes, it may then guide you toward rating it. If you tap no, it may send you to customer support. This is not always the same as Apple’s built-in rating prompt, so the iOS toggle may not block every version of it.
2. Feedback Forms Inside Apps
Some apps ask for feedback without asking for an App Store rating. For example, a banking app may ask you to rate your support experience after a chat session. A delivery app may ask how your order went. A ride-sharing app may ask you to rate a driver. These are service ratings, not necessarily App Store ratings.
3. Push Notifications
If an app sends a notification asking for feedback, the App Store rating toggle may not stop that. In that case, you need to adjust notifications for that specific app.
4. Email Requests
If a company emails you asking for a review, that is outside iOS. Your iPhone is powerful, but it cannot stop a marketing department with a spreadsheet and too much confidence. You can unsubscribe, filter the email, or mark it as spam if appropriate.
How To Stop Apps That Still Ask For Ratings
If you turned off In-App Ratings & Reviews but one app keeps begging for stars, try these fixes.
Check The App’s Own Settings
Open the app and look for a settings menu. Search for options like:
- Feedback
- Notifications
- Promotions
- App experience
- Survey requests
- Rate this app
Some apps include their own controls for feedback prompts. The setting may be buried like treasure, except the treasure is silence.
Turn Off Notifications For That App
If the rating request appears as a notification, go to:
Settings > Notifications > [App Name]
Then turn off Allow Notifications, or customize alerts so the app cannot bother you on the Lock Screen, Notification Center, or as banners.
Be careful with essential apps. Turning off notifications for a game or wallpaper app is usually harmless. Turning them off for your bank, delivery service, calendar, or security app may cause you to miss important alerts.
Update iOS And The App
If the setting does not seem to work, update your iPhone and the app. Developers may improve how they handle review prompts, and iOS updates often refine system behavior. Go to:
Settings > General > Software Update
Then update your apps from the App Store. It is not glamorous, but neither is being interrupted by a review prompt while trying to scan a receipt.
Restart Your iPhone
Sometimes the oldest tech advice is still the correct one: turn it off and back on again. Restarting your iPhone can clear temporary glitches and help settings apply properly.
Contact The Developer
If an app is especially aggressive, open its App Store page and look for App Support. A polite message can help, especially if the app is using disruptive custom prompts. Developers often care about user experience, and many would rather fix an annoying flow than collect one-star reviews from irritated customers.
How To Stop App Rating Requests On iPad
The process on iPad is almost identical to iPhone. Open Settings, go to Apps, tap App Store, and switch off In-App Ratings & Reviews. On older iPadOS versions, you may find the option directly under Settings > App Store.
Because many iPad apps are productivity tools, creative apps, streaming apps, or games, rating prompts can feel especially disruptive. Nobody wants a review request appearing while drawing, editing a spreadsheet, reading sheet music, or pretending the iPad is “for work” while playing a puzzle game. Turning the toggle off keeps the experience cleaner.
How To Stop App Rating Requests On Mac
If you also use Mac apps from the App Store, you can reduce rating prompts there too. Open the App Store app on your Mac, click App Store in the menu bar, choose Settings, and look for In-App Ratings & Reviews. Uncheck it if you do not want Mac apps asking for feedback.
This is useful if you use the same apps across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. A quiet iPhone is nice. A quiet ecosystem is better. That is how you achieve digital peace without moving to a cabin and communicating only with squirrels.
Should You Leave App Reviews Anyway?
Turning off rating requests does not mean you should never review apps. It only means you decide when to do it. Reviews can help good developers, warn users about broken apps, and push companies to fix problems. The difference is consent and timing.
If an app genuinely improves your life, saves time, protects your data, helps you work, or entertains you without draining your soul through microtransactions, consider leaving a review voluntarily. Open the App Store, search for the app, scroll to the ratings section, and choose a star rating or write a short review.
A useful review does not need to be dramatic. Something simple like, “Reliable app, clean design, works well after the latest update” is helpful. If you had a bad experience, be specific. “Crashes when exporting PDFs on iPhone 15” is far more useful than “trash app,” even if “trash app” is emotionally satisfying.
Why Apps Ask For Ratings So Often
Apps ask for ratings because the App Store is crowded. Ratings influence trust. Reviews influence downloads. Downloads influence revenue. Revenue influences whether the app gets maintained or quietly abandoned like a gym membership in February.
Developers are encouraged to ask at moments when users are likely satisfied. For example, after completing a workout, finishing a booking, organizing a project, or winning a level. In theory, this is better than interrupting you at launch. In practice, even well-timed prompts can feel annoying if you use many apps every day.
That is why iOS gives users a global opt-out. It lets developers ask politely, but it also lets users say, “No thanks, I am emotionally unavailable for star ratings.”
Common Problems And Quick Fixes
The Setting Is Missing
If you do not see In-App Ratings & Reviews, your iOS version may organize settings differently. Use the Settings search bar. Search for App Store, ratings, or reviews. Also check whether your device is managed by a school, employer, or parent through Screen Time or mobile device management.
The Toggle Is Off, But I Still See Prompts
The app may be using a custom feedback screen, not Apple’s official prompt. Check the app’s settings, disable nonessential notifications, and update the app. If it continues, contact support or consider replacing the app with a less needy alternative.
I Accidentally Rated An App
No disaster. You can usually go to the App Store, find the app, and update your rating or review. If your opinion changed after an update, adjust the review. Apps change, and so can your stars. Personal growth, but for software.
Will This Hurt App Developers?
It may reduce automatic review opportunities, but users are not obligated to provide ratings on demand. Good apps can still earn reviews through quality, support, and respectful timing. Developers benefit more from happy users than from annoyed users hammering one star out of revenge.
Extra Privacy Settings Worth Checking
If rating requests bother you, there is a good chance other iPhone interruptions bother you too. While you are already in Settings, consider reviewing a few related controls.
App Tracking Requests
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. You can turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track if you do not want apps asking permission to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites.
Personalized Ads
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising. You can turn off personalized ads if you prefer less targeted advertising from Apple’s ad platform.
Notification Cleanup
Go to Settings > Notifications and review apps one by one. Keep alerts for tools that matter. Silence apps that only shout about sales, streaks, “limited-time offers,” or mysterious updates that are never actually urgent.
These steps are not required to stop app rating requests, but they help create a calmer iPhone experience overall.
Best Practices For A Quieter iPhone
Stopping app rating requests is one piece of a larger digital sanity plan. A quieter iPhone is not about using your phone less by force. It is about making your phone interrupt you less.
- Turn off In-App Ratings & Reviews.
- Disable notifications from nonessential apps.
- Use Focus modes during work, sleep, and family time.
- Delete apps you no longer trust or enjoy.
- Review privacy settings after installing new apps.
- Leave reviews manually when an app truly deserves feedback.
Small changes add up. Your iPhone should feel like a helpful tool, not a tiny rectangle full of needy salespeople.
Real-Life Experiences With Stopping App Rating Requests On iOS
The first time many people discover the In-App Ratings & Reviews toggle, the reaction is usually the same: “This existed the whole time?” It feels like finding a secret mute button for one of the most persistent little annoyances in modern app life.
For example, imagine someone who uses several productivity apps every day: a calendar app, a notes app, a scanner app, a task manager, and a budgeting app. Each one may be perfectly useful on its own. But when every app asks for a rating after a successful action, the day starts to feel like a parade of tiny performance reviews. You scan a document, and the scanner wants five stars. You check off a task, and the task app wants applause. You categorize lunch as “food,” and the budgeting app suddenly needs emotional validation. Turning off rating requests removes that layer of friction.
Gamers notice the difference too. Mobile games often ask for ratings after a level, win streak, unlock, or reward. In fairness, that is smart timing because the player is happy. But if you only opened the game to relax, the pop-up can break the mood. It is like someone pausing a movie during the best scene to ask how many stars you would give the couch. Once the iOS setting is off, gameplay feels smoother, especially in casual games that rely on frequent sessions.
Parents also benefit. If a child uses an iPad for learning apps, drawing apps, or games, rating prompts can be confusing. A kid may tap random stars just to make the pop-up disappear. That does not help parents, developers, or other App Store users. Disabling in-app rating requests creates a cleaner experience and reduces accidental interactions.
Another common experience involves work apps. People using apps for banking, travel, delivery, project management, or authentication often open them with a specific goal. They want to transfer money, check a flight, confirm an order, upload a file, or approve a login. A rating request at that moment feels poorly timed, even if the app is excellent. After turning off the toggle, these interactions become more direct. Open app, complete task, leave. Beautiful. Efficient. Almost suspiciously peaceful.
Some users are surprised that the setting does not block every feedback request. This is usually because certain apps use custom prompts or internal survey tools. That can be frustrating, but it also helps users understand the difference between App Store review requests and ordinary feedback forms. Once you know the difference, troubleshooting becomes easier. If it looks like the official Apple star rating prompt, the iOS setting should help. If it looks like a branded survey screen designed by the app itself, you may need to check that app’s own settings or notification controls.
The best part of disabling app rating requests is that it does not remove your ability to support apps you like. You can still leave a review manually whenever you choose. That makes reviews more intentional. Instead of tapping stars just to escape a pop-up, you can review apps when you have something useful to say. In other words, you are not anti-review. You are anti-interruption. A noble position, frankly, and one that deserves five stars.
Conclusion
Learning how to stop app rating requests on iOS takes less than a minute, but it can make your iPhone or iPad feel noticeably calmer. Open Settings, go to Apps, choose App Store, and turn off In-App Ratings & Reviews. On older devices, look under Settings > App Store or Settings > iTunes & App Store.
This setting blocks Apple’s standard in-app review prompts across apps. It may not stop every custom feedback form, push notification, or survey, but it removes the most common App Store rating pop-up. For stubborn apps, check app-specific settings, disable unnecessary notifications, update iOS, or contact the developer.
The goal is not to punish developers. It is to make your device respect your attention. You can still review great apps manually when you want. You simply no longer have to be ambushed by a star-rating pop-up while trying to check the weather, scan a receipt, or enjoy three peaceful minutes of mobile gaming.
Note: This article is based on current iOS behavior, official Apple App Store settings guidance, Apple developer review prompt rules, and reputable U.S. technology guidance. Source links are intentionally not included per publishing requirements.
