How to manage reviews in Bubble

The core idea is: create a Review data type that links a Reviewer, a Thing being reviewed (like Product or User), store the rating + comment, and update averages using simple Bubble workflows. You display reviews with a repeating group filtered by the item, and use Privacy Rules so users can only edit their own reviews. That’s the whole structure.

Database Setup

You need a dedicated data type called Review. This keeps reviews clean and easy to query.

• Review fields:
  • rating (number)
  • comment (text)
  • reviewer (User)
  • thing\_reviewed (Product or User depending on your app)
  • created\_date (Bubble auto‑generates this)

Never store reviews inside a text list; always as separate things, because Bubble can efficiently search structured data.

Creating a Review

On your review form, the submit button should run a Create a new thing workflow.

• Type: Review
• Set fields: rating input’s value, comment input’s value
• reviewer = Current User
• thing\_reviewed = Parent Group Product (or whatever you’re reviewing)

If you want to prevent multiple reviews from the same user, add a condition on the submit button like:

Only when: Do a search for Reviews
  (reviewer = Current User
   AND thing_reviewed = Parent Group Product):count is 0

Showing Reviews

Use a Repeating Group where Data Source is:

Do a search for Reviews
  where thing_reviewed = Current Page Product
  sorted by created_date descending

Inside each cell show rating (stars or number) and the comment.

Average Rating

Create a text element and set its text to:

Search for Reviews
  (thing_reviewed = Current Page Product)'s rating:avg

This recalculates automatically when a new review is created.

Privacy Rules

In Data > Privacy > Review:

• Allow This Review’s reviewer to edit and delete
• Allow everyone to view rating and comment
• Do not allow users to modify other users’ reviews

Editing or Deleting Reviews

Put Edit/Delete buttons in the repeating group and show them only when:

Current Cell Review's reviewer is Current User

Edit uses Make changes to thing. Delete uses Delete a thing.

Optional: Workflow for Updating Aggregated Rating

If you store an average rating on the Product for fast loading, trigger a backend workflow “After Review is created or modified” to recalc and save:

Make changes to Product:
  average_rating = Search for Reviews (thing_reviewed=this Product)'s rating:avg