Reference
App Store vs Google Play
Where the two stores behave differently, and what that means for replies and review history
ReviewDesk presents both stores in one inbox, but the stores themselves are not equivalent. These are the differences that actually affect your workflow.
At a glance
| Apple App Store | Google Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Reply length limit | 5,970 characters | 350 characters |
| Reply moderation | Apple reviews before publishing | Published immediately |
| Review history available | Full history from connect | Rolling 7-day window |
| Bulk app discovery | Yes — one key finds every app | No — one app at a time |
| Credential | .p8 key + Key ID + Issuer ID | Service account JSON |
| Review language reported | Often absent | Usually present |
Reply length
The 350-character cap on Google Play is the constraint you will feel most. It is roughly two sentences once a support line is appended. ReviewDesk sizes AI drafts to fit and reserves the footer’s space before generating, but a hand-written reply can still exceed it — watch the counter.
Moderation
An App Store reply is accepted by Apple and then moderated, usually within 24 hours, showing as Pending Apple in the meantime. ReviewDesk polls apps with pending replies more often so the status flips to Live promptly. Editing a published App Store reply sends it back through moderation. Google Play replies go live immediately and edits take effect at once.
The Google Play 7-day window
This is a limitation of the Google Play Developer API and applies to every tool built on it, not just ReviewDesk. The App Store API has no such restriction.
Reply failures
A failed send is retried a few times with a short backoff before being marked Failed. The most common non-transient causes are a Play service account missing the Reply to reviews permission, and a revoked or expired credential on either store.