Why do people do this?
I have a specialized Camera application which i have been developing for quite sometime and i have spent countless night making this app. Now for free users i offer all the features for 5 with recording capped at 5 sec, there's also a free 7 day trail for user to test full app. But still people leave this kind of reviews. It feels pointless to invest this much time, money and energy and get this kind of review in the end.
I have already reported the review, hope it gets removed. But if it doesn't what to do then?
How do you guys handles such people.
Edit: lot of people misunderstanding that its only 5 sec one time recording but its not, user can record unlimited 5 sec clip, beside that there's also 7 day free trial on subscription ( user can cancel anytime without incurring any cost ), so there are ways to test the entire app before making a purchase decision.
Also some user suggested why not allow 10/15 or even X minutes of recording, i previously allowed 15s and even 30s before that but it was abused by most people so i had to reduce the limit. so i did give users a lot of opportunity to try and test the app before they make the decision to purchase, i'm not forcing them to purchase my app, they choose to uninstall it, if they don't like it.
Even if you put all this aside this kind of review is not a feedback but mostly insult directed towards individual. I'm open to listen to product criticism (and i will give this limit a second thought) and i have already improved it based on previous review . But it doesn't mean when if you dont get free stuff you lash out and invalidate the hard work of developers who put out many months and vear's of work. i absolutely understand that no app is perfect but this kind of review just demotivates you because people who find the app useful hardly ever rate it let alone review and provide feedback. but type of user don't want to try, support or ever intend to use the app, but still left this kind of review, which hurts the app reputation.
Also google rejected the appeal to remove this review, i read the policy and its clearly comes under offensive content. so there is no support from google as well.
I'm a solo developer, i don't have thousands of dollars of budget to spend on working on just one app, i'm just trying to make a living, nothing wrong with that, if you don't find the value in the product simply don't use it, there are alternatives. but atleast don't ruin someones hardwork just because you don't like it. there are lots of other user who have found it useful, have purchased it and using it on daily basis, so its not that product is not working.
little bit of background on myself, i have been developing for android since 2019, i was laid off about 2.5 years ago, after that i was doing freelancing but that ended as well ( client left without paying ), i have applied to so many jobs that i have lost count, have completed interviews and selected only to be ghosted at last minute (happened few times), did take home test and what not. day by day i'm just losing it. i really love what i do. but i can't keep up with this shit anymore.
Edit : this is the app if anybody wants to try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hsn.trueraw