Anand just got his Android phone. He now wants an app that will let him edit his images and make them look good.
On an Android Phone, the Google Play Store is where people usually go to get an app. Here, one can get both free and paid apps.
How does an app make it to the Google Play store?
After developing the app, the developer has to register with Google and provide some details about the app. Usually, the app is accepted based on the self-declaration by the developer.
A developer can be an individual or a company.
So, Anand also opens the App store and searches for “Image Editing Apps”
But there are literally hundreds and thousands of them! How does one choose?
This is where App ratings come into play. Instead of telling people whether an app is good or bad, Google allows all users to rate apps. A rating means – “How much do you, as the user, like the app?”
Obviously, if more people like the app, the rating of the app will be higher.
The other thing that matters is the number of downloads. If an app is good, more people will download it.
Based on these 2 pieces of information, Google decides which apps to show you first when you look for an app. For example, if you type “Vocabulary”, it will show you apps in the order of their rating and number of downloads.
People are more likely to install one of the first few apps that they see. And that is one of the problems with this system.
Problems with this system
- Obviously, the first problem with any system that is based on a crowd’s opinion, is that it can be manipulated. I can pay people to download the app or give it a good rating.
- It is not an expert view. This is why so many apps with bad security make it to the top of the Google App store.
- The program is such that apps which are doing well will do even better, because they will continue to appear in the first 10-20 results. Even if an app is good, it will appear so far down in the search results that people will not be able to see it!