How to Let Users Rate an Android App from inside the App (without redirecting to the Play Store)

Question

In my app, I am experimenting with creating a popup that lets the user directly rate my app (eg. 5 stars) without having to redirect to the Play Store. I have read many questions (here and here) and answers on this site claiming it cannot be done BUT Tinder has managed it!

After inputting a rating, the rating then appears (without further comments) on the Play Store. It seems to me that allowing this much control over ratings could lead to a number of 'questionable' practices, such as filtering low scores, or tracking users' ratings and granting or withholding special privileges based on how they rated you... so how are they doing it? Could anyone shed some light on this?

Answer 1

There is no way you can handle the rating inside the app. You can only prompt the user to your app page on Google Play and ask him to rate your app for more support.

Answer 2

I think this is not technically possible unless you parse the HTML in the play store page which might be against the store policies (this is what tools like Andlytics do to allow you to track scores in your app). In any case, even if you are able to actually POST via HTTP the score you wouldn't be able to check if the user has already scored because scores without review are not shown in the market page. Also this would require you to change your code everytime Google changes the HTML being displayed.