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Why Does Your App Only Get a 3-Star Rating?

Michael Gopshtein

As part of our work on the AppPulse Mobile project, we have been digging into hundreds of user comments for many mobile apps, trying to understand what makes an application get a 3-star average user rating.

Interestingly, we could identify two main categories of applications: “Consistent 3” and “Accidental 3”.

“Consistent 3” ratings are all about functionality – users complain about missing features or inconvenient flows in the app. For such applications the majority of user ratings range around three stars, so the application average rating is consistent with most of individual comments.

The “Accidental 3” category of applications is more interesting in a sense. Ratings from most of the users are separated to two distinct groups. Half of the users really like the application; they are excited with the value it brings them, and are happy to give it a 5-star rating. Other users complain about stability and performance issues – application crashes and slow loading times – and rate the app as 1-star or 2-star in the store.

These “Accidental 3” ratings can be easily understood – it is practically impossible to test your application on a whole matrix of device types, OS versions and network connectivity flaws. As a result, some users experience severe quality issues, are unable to benefit from the full value of the application, and express their frustration in low ratings in the app store.

If you want to be on top of how users rate your app, many tools monitor your application ratings on the app store. However, this is not enough. If you really want to understand why users rate your app this way, you need a tool that can track your app’s real user experience and show you where you should improve. This may be exactly the tool you need to gain the missing 2 stars!

Michael Gopshtein is Team Manager in AppPulse Mobile R&D, HP Software.

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Why Does Your App Only Get a 3-Star Rating?

Michael Gopshtein

As part of our work on the AppPulse Mobile project, we have been digging into hundreds of user comments for many mobile apps, trying to understand what makes an application get a 3-star average user rating.

Interestingly, we could identify two main categories of applications: “Consistent 3” and “Accidental 3”.

“Consistent 3” ratings are all about functionality – users complain about missing features or inconvenient flows in the app. For such applications the majority of user ratings range around three stars, so the application average rating is consistent with most of individual comments.

The “Accidental 3” category of applications is more interesting in a sense. Ratings from most of the users are separated to two distinct groups. Half of the users really like the application; they are excited with the value it brings them, and are happy to give it a 5-star rating. Other users complain about stability and performance issues – application crashes and slow loading times – and rate the app as 1-star or 2-star in the store.

These “Accidental 3” ratings can be easily understood – it is practically impossible to test your application on a whole matrix of device types, OS versions and network connectivity flaws. As a result, some users experience severe quality issues, are unable to benefit from the full value of the application, and express their frustration in low ratings in the app store.

If you want to be on top of how users rate your app, many tools monitor your application ratings on the app store. However, this is not enough. If you really want to understand why users rate your app this way, you need a tool that can track your app’s real user experience and show you where you should improve. This may be exactly the tool you need to gain the missing 2 stars!

Michael Gopshtein is Team Manager in AppPulse Mobile R&D, HP Software.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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