Shopify App and Theme Store review policies

When Shopify merchants use apps and themes from the Shopify ecosystem, they're entrusting developers with critical tasks to run their businesses. App and theme reviews allow merchants to evaluate if the apps or themes that they're considering are right for their business. Reviews also provide valuable feedback to our app developer community.

To help ensure that app and theme reviews remain an unbiased, useful, and trustworthy source of information, you need to adhere to the terms set out in the Partner Program Agreement. If you don’t follow the terms and conditions, then Shopify may take appropriate action depending on the severity and number of violations. Such action may include the removal of a review, but additional action may be taken in the event of repeated violations.

If you come across a fake, incentivized, or non-compliant review, then you can report a violation.

Shopify's policies for reviews

Reviews on the Shopify App Store and Shopify Theme Store are meant to be unbiased, useful, and trustworthy.

To protect the integrity of reviews, Shopify will block or remove reviews that are against our policies, such as the following:

• Reviews that are fake, inaccurate, irrelevant, or misleading.
• Reviews that are being used improperly for commercial gain.
• Reviews that are posted in exchange for a financial or other gain.
• Reviews that are posted multiple times from the same account or more than one account.
• Reviews that are misleading as to the reviewer's identity or their connection to the app being reviewed.
• Reviews that contain or link to prohibited or illegal content.

Learn more about prohibited actions involving app reviews.

Identifying non-compliant reviews

To detect non-compliant reviews, Shopify uses different methods and sources such as algorithms, manual searches, and community submissions of the Report a Partner violation form.

Why does Shopify delay the posting of reviews to the Shopify App Store?

There will be a brief delay between when a review is submitted and when it appears on the app listing page. This delay allows Shopify to detect and block any non-compliant reviews.

Review policy violations

If a Partner engages in any behavior that violates the review policies, then Shopify reserves the right to take certain necessary actions, including the right to do the following:

• Remove non-compliant reviews.
• Edit non-compliant reviews. Shopify will never edit a review if it changes the overall messaging. Shopify will only remove PII or anything that's against our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), or unpublish the review.
• Demote an app or theme's ranking in the store.
• Remove an app or theme from promotional surfaces.
• Unpublish an app or theme from the Shopify App Store or the Shopify Theme Store.

Whenever possible, Shopify gives developers an opportunity to fix the issue. However, in the case of more severe infractions where there is concrete evidence, a resolution might not be possible and Shopify's Partner Governance team might decide to terminate your Partner account. Learn more about the approach to enforcement of Shopify’s Partner Program policies.

As a developer, how will I know if a review has been removed?

When a review gets flagged, developers will receive a one-time notification. Future reviews that are identified as non-compliant might be removed without notice. Unfortunately, Shopify can’t share specific details on which reviews were removed, or the methods used to identify these reviews that don't comply with our policies, without compromising our detection algorithm. We appreciate the patience and cooperation of our partners while we work to maintain the appropriate balance between information sharing and the privacy and integrity of Shopify merchants and the Shopify App Store.

Shopify will reach out using the business email associated with the Partner organization, along with up to three owners, based on who logged in most recently. Make sure that the Partner organization business email and all owner emails are up to date.

What is the scope of reviews that Shopify will investigate?

Shopify checks all app and theme listing reviews for compliance, regardless of star rating or when the review was left.

What do I do if I think one of my reviews was removed incorrectly?

If you believe a review was removed by mistake, reply directly to the removal notification email. Please include a detailed description of why the review should be allowed to post, along with any supporting evidence or documentation you have available.

If Shopify determines that a mistake was made, then someone from our Partner Governance team will reply with next steps. Partner Governance will only reply to emails that provide evidence that proves a mistake was made. There's no set time frame for how long this process might take.

How can I report a suspicious review?

If you come across a fake, incentivized, or non-compliant review, then you can report a violation.