Quick answer
No. Google Play's policy forbids manipulating ratings and reviews, including paid, incentivised or fake ones. Bought reviews are often filtered out, and repeated manipulation can lead to your app being removed or your developer account being suspended. A better rating comes from fixing what users complain about and asking happy users at the right moment.
Why developers consider it
A new app with no ratings looks risky next to competitors showing 4.5 stars and thousands of reviews. Store listings with better ratings usually convert more visitors into installs, so it is tempting to "seed" a few dozen five-star reviews to get started. Review sellers target new developers heavily, especially around launch time.
What Google Play policy says
Google Play's developer policies prohibit attempts to manipulate the placement of apps, including through ratings and reviews. That covers:
- Paying people, or using a service, to post ratings or reviews.
- Offering rewards, in-app currency or discounts in exchange for a rating.
- Asking users to leave only positive reviews, or filtering unhappy users away from the rating prompt.
- Fake installs or reviews from device farms or multiple accounts.
- Asking your own testers to post public ratings as part of a test.
Google removes ratings and reviews it identifies as fake. Serious or repeated manipulation can lead to app removal and developer account termination, which is far more expensive than a slow start.
The real cost of a bought rating
| Bought reviews | Genuine reviews | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Fast, at first | Slower, steady |
| Lifespan | Often filtered or deleted | Stay unless they break policy |
| Useful to you | No — they say nothing about your app | Yes — they show what to fix |
| Risk | App removal, account suspension | None |
| Effect on users | Mismatch between rating and experience leads to uninstalls and angry reviews | Expectations match reality |
There is also a quieter cost. If your rating says 4.8 but the app crashes on budget Android phones, real users arrive with high expectations and leave one-star reviews. Your rating ends up lower than if you had fixed the crash first.
Testing is not a review service
Some sellers bundle "12 testers for closed testing" with "plus 5-star reviews after launch". Keep those two things apart. Closed testing is a legitimate, private pre-release process: testers opt in, use your app and send you feedback privately. It should never be tied to public ratings.
At TestLancer, tester feedback is private feedback for the business. Businesses must not ask testers to post reviews or ratings as part of a task, and we do not sell reviews, ratings or installs. See our Trust & Safety principles.
How to raise your rating honestly
- Find out why people are unhappy. Read every one- and two-star review and group them by theme: crashes, login, ads, missing features.
- Test on real devices before release. Many low ratings come from issues that only show up on certain phones or Android versions. Real-user app testing catches these before your users do.
- Use Google Play's In-App Review API after a positive moment, such as completing a task, instead of at first launch.
- Reply to reviews and tell users when you have fixed their problem. Many users update their rating.
- Ship fixes quickly and mention them in release notes.
For more detail, read how to get genuine app reviews without breaking policy.
Frequently asked questions
Are reviews from friends and family allowed?
Asking friends to post reviews to boost your rating is a form of manipulation. People who genuinely use your app can review it like anyone else, but you shouldn't organise it or tell them what to write.
Can closed testers leave reviews?
Closed testing feedback goes privately to the developer. Don't ask testers to post public ratings as part of a test.
Will Google delete reviews I didn't buy?
Sometimes Google's filters remove genuine reviews too, for example from new accounts. You can't control this, which is another reason to build a steady flow of real reviews over time.