Google Play guide
How to reply to Google Play reviews
On Google Play you can post one public reply under each review and edit it whenever you like. It's worth it: Google says that answering a negative review can raise that rating by 0.7 stars on average. Here's how replying works in Play Console, the rules your replies have to follow, and what changes when you use the API.
Sources
Sources checked on 21 October 2026.
Who can reply
Anyone with the Reply to reviews permission in Play Console. The same permission lets a service account reply through the API.
Reply in Play Console
- Open your app in Play Console.
- Go to Ratings and reviews > Reviews.
- Find the review. You can filter by date, language, reply state, star rating, app version, device and more, or search for a word.
- Type your answer in Your reply and select Publish Reply.
On your phone, open the app in the Play Console app, go to Reviews, tap the review, tap Reply, write your answer and tap Send.
What the reviewer sees
They get a push notification and an email with their review, your reply and a link to email you at the contact address on your store listing. Each review has one public reply, and you can edit it at any time.
Google's rules for replies
- Keep replies clear and relevant to what the user wrote.
- Be nice: nothing abusive, hateful or dismissive, and no threats or harassment.
- Don't argue with inappropriate reviews. Report them instead.
- Don't solicit or promote anything.
- No sexually explicit content or profanity.
Google can suspend an app or a developer account for replies that break these rules.
Suggested replies and translation
Play Console suggests replies only for recent reviews written in English, and only when Play Console itself is set to English. It translates reviews into the language you use Play Console in, and Show original review brings back the reviewer's own words.
Replying through the API
- The API returns only reviews written or changed in the last 7 days, only for your production app, and only reviews with text.
- A reply can be at most 350 characters of plain text.
- Each app gets 200 read requests an hour and 2,000 replies a day. Google can raise these on request.
POST …/reviews/{reviewId}:replypublishes a reply; listing and reading reviews areGETrequests on the same path.
Keeping up with many reviews
Because the API only shares a week of reviews, a tool has to check often. Merci AI checks for new reviews every 6 hours, drafts each reply in the reviewer's language and within 350 characters, and publishes it to Google Play only when you click Publish. In Play Console you invite it with the Reply to reviews permission, for the apps you pick.