How to Remove Abusive or Rude Reviews from Your Podcast on the Apple Podcasts App

If someone has left your podcast a rude, abusive, or untrue review on your show in Apple Podcasts, here’s what you can do: “Report a Concern” directly to the Apple Podcast team so they can remove it!

Let’s face it; there’s always that rude person who’s going to leave a bad review on your podcast because they have nothing better going on. That’s annoying and unkind of them to do. Thankfully, the team at Apple Podcasts is exceptionally kind and understanding. (I wish YouTube could learn from them, haha)

One caveat here: Just because someone leaves you a 2-4 star review doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. (Scroll to my important note at the end of this post!) 

Before getting into the 10 steps below, here’s something that will really help your chances: Don’t mention anything other than Apple Podcasts. Meaning don’t say, “Oh, I got the review from someone on PodLottery, PodMatch, PodKite, My Podcast Reviews, or Rate This Podcast.” If you mention a service other than Apple Podcast directly, you’re going to really harm your chances of getting the review removed!

If you’re receiving malicious or abusive reviews on your podcast, you can take steps to have them removed. Here’s a simple guide on how to do so:

1. Get the review’s date and author name directly from the review they left on your podcast. (**Take a screenshot of the review on the Apple Podcast app.)
2. Log in to iTunes Connect.
3. Visit the specific page to contact the Apple Podcast team.
4. Enter your name and the email address associated with your podcast RSS feed as you used to submit to Apple Podcast when you started your show.
5. Select “Ratings and Reviews” as the Topic.
6. Enter your podcast’s title and RSS feed URL.
7. Enter the date of the review in “Date Review Was Submitted.”
8. Choose “Report a Concern” under “What is your issue regarding?”
9. Explain your reason for requesting the review’s removal and include the reviewer’s author’s name.
10. ** Include a screenshot of the review (Make sure it was taken from the Apple Podcast app, not a 3rd party app) that you want to be removed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You should only use this process to request reviews to be removed that are inappropriate, abusive, bullying, or simply untrue. A 3-star review with constructive criticism isn’t a review that should be reported/requested to have removed from your show.

In fact, some of the most helpful reviews (not just for me to improve) that people have seen are ones that they disagree with that are less than 5 stars! (It’s not always a bad thing!)