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April 26, 2025
With iOS 18.4, Apple introduced a new feature in the App Store: AI-generated summaries of user reviews. These are intended to give users a quicker overview of the opinions of other app users. But how exactly does this technology work? Apple has now provided insights into the complex development process of these summaries in a blog post.
User reviews are an important source of information for potential app users. They offer insights into the strengths and weaknesses of an app from the perspective of those who already use it. However, the sheer volume of reviews, which often contain irrelevant, outdated, or even misleading information, can make decision-making difficult. For example, in the reviews of a delivery app, you might find criticism of the food from a restaurant or outdated complaints about bugs that have long been fixed.
To overcome these challenges, Apple relies on a multi-stage system based on various Large Language Models (LLMs). The goal is to generate concise and meaningful summaries with a length of 100 to 300 characters.
The process begins with a filter that removes spam, insults, and fraudulent content from the reviews. Then, a specially trained LLM extracts the core statements of each individual review. Another model then groups these statements by topic. In the next step, the most relevant topics are identified. Finally, another AI model generates the final summary in the desired style and scope.
Before the AI summaries are published in the App Store, they undergo rigorous testing by human testers. These testers check the summaries for various aspects, including accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, and comprehensibility. The grammatical correctness and the usefulness for the user's decision-making are also checked.
Apple sees its approach as a potential model for other areas where large amounts of user feedback need to be processed. The AI summaries in the App Store are not yet available in all countries and are being introduced gradually. Currently, they can only be found in selected apps in the US App Store.
When the feature will be available in Germany is not yet known. Apple generally does not announce specific dates for the introduction of new features in specific regions. However, it can be assumed that the AI summaries will also appear in the German App Store over time.
The AI-generated summaries of app reviews are an example of how artificial intelligence can improve the user experience. By filtering out the most important information from a flood of reviews, they help users make faster and more informed decisions. It remains to be seen how this technology will evolve and what other applications it will find in the future.
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