Microsoft Will Soon Let Developers Respond to Your Windows Phone App Review

Perhaps you’re a mobile application developer, frustrated at a particularly annoying review stuck on your precious app’s product page that just spews out vicious misinformation, turning potential customers off for no good reason. Or maybe you’re just an end user who has a really, really important question for a developer, but you just can’t find their contact information. Either way, given you’re a Windows Phone 8 user, Microsoft’s got your back. Starting soon, Microsoft will give developers the ability to respond to individual Windows Phone 8 application reviews.

Microsoft says the new feature will allow “app developers to address common questions, troubleshoot issues, understand user requests for new app capabilities and overall help ensure that users get the best app experience.” This seems like a particularly great idea on Windows Phone 8 especially, where I’ve noticed no lack of – erm – questionable application reviews that developers should be given the opportunity to respond to. But be warned – abuse this, and Microsoft has no qualms with revoking individual developers’ responding privilege. For example, using the feature to “question or debate your personal opinions” will likely result in a ban.

The new feature should begin appearing in select developers’ Windows Phone Dev Center portals in the coming days, however the company says that this will be a fairly slow roll out, with the functionality taking “several months” to hit every developer.