Question

Is there a best practice approach to prompt Android users to rate your application? Considering they could acquire it from Amazon.com or Google Marketplace what is the best route to handle this in a way that allows users to vote?

Answer 1

For Google Marketplace, take a look at this neat code snippet. I’m sure you can modify it to launch the Amazon Appstore instead or in addition to.

EDIT: Looks like the site changed their URL structure so I’ve updated the link above so it works now. Here is an old copy at the Wayback Machine in case their site goes down again. I will paste the main contents of the post below as an additional backup but you still might want to visit the link to read the comments and get any updates.

This code prompts engaged users to rate your app in the Android market (inspired by iOS Appirater). It requires a certain number of launches of the app and days since the installation before the rating dialog appears.

Adjust APP_TITLE and APP_PNAME to your needs. You should also tweak DAYS_UNTIL_PROMPT and LAUNCHES_UNTIL_PROMPT.

To test it and to tweak the dialog appearance, you can call AppRater.showRateDialog(this, null) from your Activity. Normal use is to invoke AppRater.app_launched(this) each time your activity is invoked (eg. from within the onCreate method). If all conditions are met, the dialog appears.

public class AppRater {
private final static String APP_TITLE = "YOUR-APP-NAME";
private final static String APP_PNAME = "YOUR-PACKAGE-NAME";

private final static int DAYS_UNTIL_PROMPT = 3;
private final static int LAUNCHES_UNTIL_PROMPT = 7;

public static void app_launched(Context mContext) {
    SharedPreferences prefs = mContext.getSharedPreferences("apprater", 0);
    if (prefs.getBoolean("dontshowagain", false)) { return ; }

    SharedPreferences.Editor editor = prefs.edit();

    // Increment launch counter
    long launch_count = prefs.getLong("launch_count", 0) + 1;
    editor.putLong("launch_count", launch_count);

    // Get date of first launch
    Long date_firstLaunch = prefs.getLong("date_firstlaunch", 0);
    if (date_firstLaunch == 0) {
        date_firstLaunch = System.currentTimeMillis();
        editor.putLong("date_firstlaunch", date_firstLaunch);
    }

    // Wait at least n days before opening dialog
    if (launch_count >= LAUNCHES_UNTIL_PROMPT) {
        if (System.currentTimeMillis() >= date_firstLaunch + 
                (DAYS_UNTIL_PROMPT * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)) {
            showRateDialog(mContext, editor);
        }
    }

    editor.commit();
}   

public static void showRateDialog(final Context mContext, final SharedPreferences.Editor editor) {
    final Dialog dialog = new Dialog(mContext);
    dialog.setTitle("Rate " + APP_TITLE);

    LinearLayout ll = new LinearLayout(mContext);
    ll.setOrientation(LinearLayout.VERTICAL);

    TextView tv = new TextView(mContext);
    tv.setText("If you enjoy using " + APP_TITLE + ", please take a moment to rate it. Thanks for your support!");
    tv.setWidth(240);
    tv.setPadding(4, 0, 4, 10);
    ll.addView(tv);

    Button b1 = new Button(mContext);
    b1.setText("Rate " + APP_TITLE);
    b1.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            mContext.startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("market://details?id=" + APP_PNAME)));
            dialog.dismiss();
        }
    });        
    ll.addView(b1);

    Button b2 = new Button(mContext);
    b2.setText("Remind me later");
    b2.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            dialog.dismiss();
        }
    });
    ll.addView(b2);

    Button b3 = new Button(mContext);
    b3.setText("No, thanks");
    b3.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            if (editor != null) {
                editor.putBoolean("dontshowagain", true);
                editor.commit();
            }
            dialog.dismiss();
        }
    });
    ll.addView(b3);

    dialog.setContentView(ll);        
    dialog.show();        
    }
}