Alright, folks, let’s talk about something I messed around with recently – getting star ratings to show up in my app using fastlane. It wasn’t as smooth as I thought it would be, but I got there in the end. Here’s how it went down.
My Starting Point
So, I had this app, right? And I wanted those shiny star ratings to appear on the App Store. I’d heard fastlane could handle this, so I figured, “Why not?” I already use fastlane for other stuff like screenshots and deployments, so it seemed like the logical choice.
First things first, I had to make sure my fastlane setup was all good. I’m not gonna lie, this part always trips me up a little. I ran fastlane init inside my project folder. This is needed at first.
It asked me a bunch of questions, I just chose the default, I felt like that was easiest for me.
Diving into the Code (Sort Of)
Then came the “fun” part – digging into the Fastfile. Now, I’m no coding wizard, so I mostly copy-pasted stuff from the fastlane docs and Stack Overflow. I found this thing called “supply”, which is apparently what fastlane uses for metadata, including star ratings. It helps us to upload screenshots and metadata.
I added a new lane (basically a set of instructions) to my Fastfile. It looked something like this:
lane :update_ratings do
supply(
# My app's info here
end
The supply part was supposed to magically handle the ratings. I’m still not 100% sure how it all works under the hood, but hey, if it works, it works, right?
Running into Walls
Of course, it didn’t work right away. I ran fastlane update_ratings and…nothing. No errors, but no star ratings either. I spent a good chunk of time scratching my head, checking my app’s version number, and making sure everything was set up correctly in App Store Connect.
Then, after some more Googling, I realized I needed to actually have some ratings before fastlane could fetch them. Facepalm moment, I know. It’s like trying to get milk from an empty carton.
The “Aha!” Moment
Once I had a few genuine ratings on the App Store (thanks, friends and family!), I ran fastlane update_ratings again. And…boom! There they were, those glorious stars, finally showing up. It wasn’t instant – it took a little while for everything to propagate – but it worked!
What I Learned (The Hard Way)
fastlane can indeed handle star ratings, but it’s not magic. You need actual ratings first.
The supply tool is your friend for metadata stuff.
Patience is key. Things don’t always happen instantly in the App Store world.
Reading documentation is important. who am i kidding, i just use stack overflow.
So, that’s my little adventure with fastlane and star ratings. It wasn’t the smoothest ride, but I got there in the end. Hopefully, my fumbling around can help you avoid some of the same headaches!
