Travel & Local Apps Reply to Almost Twice as Many Reviews as Tools Apps
Sourced from real App Store and Google Play review data in Appeye's catalogue.Travel & Local in the catalogue
Figures as of 16 September 2026.
- Travel & Local avg. response rate (167 apps, 16 Sep 2026)
- 48.1%
- Tools avg. response rate (136 apps, 16 Sep 2026)
- 25.4%
- gap between the two categories' response rates
- 22.7pp
- Travel & Local ratings at 4-5 stars (604 apps)
- 91.3%
Key takeaways
- Travel & Local's 48.091% average response rate is nearly double Tools' 25.394%, both measured on 16 September 2026.
- Both categories reply to negative reviews more than positive ones - by a similar margin (11.9pp vs 10.8pp).
- Travel & Local's high reply rate coexists with an already positive catalogue: 91.3% of its ratings are 4-5 stars.
Reply rates vary sharply by category, and nowhere more than at the two ends of Appeye's catalogue. As of 16 September 2026, Travel & Local apps replied to reviews far more often than Tools apps - a gap wider than most single-app swings we track.
Across 167 Travel & Local apps, the average response rate was 48.091% on 16 September 2026. Across 136 Tools apps measured the same day, it was 25.394% - a 22.697 percentage-point difference. Travel & Local developers answered roughly every second review; Tools developers answered roughly every fourth.
Comparison
Within each category, negative reviews got more replies than positive ones. Travel & Local answered 56.723% of negative reviews versus 44.856% of positive ones. Tools answered 33.561% of negative reviews versus 22.764% of positive ones - lower throughout, but the same lean toward complaints first.
In both categories, negative reviews get answered more often than positive ones - by 11.9 points in Travel & Local and by 10.8 points in Tools.
That reply habit isn't a sign of crisis management: the same 604 Travel & Local apps logged 91.3% of ratings at 4-5 stars, 6.7% at 1-2, and 2.0% at 3. Replying more, here, sits alongside a catalogue that's already mostly happy.
Distribution
Travel & Local: star rating split
- 1-2★6.7%
- 3★2%
- 4-5★91.3%
What did Appeye actually measure here?
As of 16 September 2026, Appeye recorded each app's response rate - the share of reviews that got a developer reply - averaged across apps in a category. Travel & Local (167 apps) averaged 48.091%; Tools (136 apps) averaged 25.394%.
Could this just be one or two very responsive Travel apps skewing the average?
The figure is an average across 167 apps, not a handful of outliers, and the same pattern - Travel & Local ahead, Tools behind - holds on both the negative-review reply rate (56.723% vs 33.561%) and the positive-review reply rate (44.856% vs 22.764%). A skew that consistent across three separate metrics is unlikely to come from a couple of apps.
Does replying more mean Travel & Local apps are better rated?
Not necessarily - this data doesn't establish that direction. What it does show is that the same 604 Travel & Local apps also logged 91.3% of ratings at 4-5 stars, so the high reply rate isn't compensating for an unusually unhappy user base.
Why do both categories reply to negative reviews more than positive ones?
The data doesn't say why, only that it's true in both: Travel & Local replies to negative reviews 11.9 points more than positive ones, and Tools replies to negative reviews 10.8 points more. It looks like a shared industry habit rather than something specific to either category.
Is 25.394% low for Tools, or just where the whole category sits?
It's the category average across 136 Tools apps measured on 16 September 2026, so it describes the whole category, not a laggard. Individual Tools apps will sit above and below that line, same as individual Travel & Local apps sit around 48.091%.
Should a Tools app owner aim for the Travel & Local number?
Not blindly - the comparison shows a gap between categories, not a target that fits every product type. It's a useful benchmark for deciding whether 25.4% is normal or worth pushing past, not a claim that 48.1% is the right number for every kind of app.
What this means for you
- Marketer
- If you're benchmarking a Travel & Local client's reply rate, 48.1% as of 16 September 2026 is the realistic category average, not an exceptional score - treat anything near it as par, not a win.
- App owner
- If you run a Tools app, the category average was only 25.394% on 16 September 2026 - clearing 40-50% would already put you well ahead of most competitors in your category, not just on par with Travel & Local.
- Agency
- Pitching 'reply more' as a quick win lands harder in Tools, where the average sits at 25.4%, than in Travel & Local, where 48.1% is already the norm and the ceiling is closer.
Explore this in the catalogue
All Travel & Local apps (1854 tracked)
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