Solana Mobile just added something that sounds almost boringly normal for an app store: user ratings and reviews. But for a decentralized app marketplace trying to carve out territory currently owned by Apple and Google, this is table stakes finally being placed on the table.

The new Ratings and Reviews feature launched June 4, 2024 in the Solana dApp Store. It includes review analytics for developers, AI-generated review summaries, and the ability for developers to reply directly to user feedback.

What the feature actually does

At its core, the system lets users rate decentralized applications on a scale and submit written reviews. Developers get access to review analytics, meaning they can track sentiment and feedback trends across their user base. AI summaries distill what could be hundreds of reviews into digestible takeaways, saving developers from manually sifting through every comment. And the direct reply feature creates a two-way communication channel between builders and users.

The feature now covers over 900 apps in the dApp Store. That’s a meaningful catalog for a platform that started with just over 50 dApps available to its first roughly 20,000 Saga device owners when the store initially launched.

Solana Mobile’s bigger play against traditional app stores

Apple and Google collectively control how billions of people discover and download software on their phones. They also impose fees often up to 30% on in-app transactions, and enforce strict policies that have historically been hostile to crypto applications.

Solana Mobile’s answer has been to build its own hardware and software stack. The Saga phone was the first device, and the company later announced Chapter Two as a follow-up. Combined device orders reached approximately 160,000 units. The dApp Store itself has grown from those initial 50-plus apps to over 900.

Solana co-founders have been vocal about challenging existing app store norms.

What this means for investors and the Solana ecosystem

The broader dApp Store ecosystem has also incorporated rewards and governance mechanisms, including tokens like SKR and TEEPIN, which add financial incentives for participation.

The risk, as always, is scale. Approximately 160,000 combined device orders is impressive for a first-mover in crypto hardware, but it’s a rounding error in the global smartphone market. The dApp Store, which typically listed 100–141 apps during the 2025–2026 period according to reported figures, needs to serve not just crypto enthusiasts who already own Saga or Chapter Two devices, but eventually attract mainstream users.