My UWP app gets a bad review because it can only be installed through Microsoft Store

Question

Interesting observation: my app gets a bad (1) review because the user doesn't like to provide a Microsoft account in order to install it through the Microsoft Store.
What can I do about that? Can I remove such a review (although I actually don't care so much about this as long as not everyone is doing this).

Also not sure if this is the right forum for this type of question.

Answer 1

Hi, I don't think you need to worry about that. That's the limitation of WIndows, not your app. Just ignore it or reply to the review and explain why the user must use MS account to download apps from Windows Store.

Or, you could publish a traditional exe file if your app has no specific dependencies of UWP APIs and MS account. But that means you have to rewrite it by WPF or something else. I don't think it's worth at the moment.

I also noticed that some traditional free software, such as Ditto - I use it every day - it published a Windows Store version. That's an interesting trend.

Basically, I think you could make decisions for your most valuable users. I don't mean the user who left the bad comment is not valuable. But you need to consider your cost and benefit from your effort.

Answer 2

It is possible to create an installer for UWP apps now so you don't have to go through the store. I'm not sure if this route makes sense for you or not.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/package/packaging-uwp-apps