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Connect your Zendesk account to AppReply so that reviews matching your ticket rules automatically become Zendesk support tickets. All it takes is your Zendesk subdomain and one sign-in by a Zendesk admin. There is nothing to create in Zendesk first. Rules only check reviews that were posted in the store in the last 2 hours; see Helpdesk integrations.

Before you start

  • A Zendesk admin to sign in and allow access during the connection (see why admin rights are needed)
  • Your Zendesk subdomain, which is the part before .zendesk.com in your Zendesk address. A custom help center domain such as support.your-company.com won’t work here, so use the .zendesk.com one.

Connect Zendesk

1

Open the connect window

In AppReply, go to Integrations (in the Apps section of the sidebar) and click Connect in the Helpdesk connections section (or Connect your first helpdesk), then choose Zendesk.
The Connect helpdesk window: Choose a helpdesk, with Zendesk, Intercom and Salesforce as the options
2

Enter your subdomain and click Authorize

Type your Zendesk subdomain in the Subdomain field. If your Zendesk address is your-company.zendesk.com, enter your-company. Then click Authorize.
The Connect Zendesk window: the subdomain acme typed in front of .zendesk.com, a note that Authorize opens Zendesk for an admin to allow access, and the Authorize button
3

Allow access in Zendesk

Zendesk opens in a new window. If it asks you to sign in, use your Zendesk admin email and password. Zendesk then asks whether to allow AppReply to access your account and lists what the app can do. Click Allow.
Zendesk asking: Allow AppReply to access your Zendesk account? It lists the ticket, trigger, user and webhook permissions, with Deny and Allow buttons
4

Check the connection

The Zendesk window closes and AppReply shows Your Zendesk account is now connected. Click Done. Zendesk now appears under Helpdesk connections with an Active status.
Helpdesk connections on the Integrations page, with Zendesk connected and Active, a Verify button and a delete icon
Next, set up ticket rules to choose which reviews become Zendesk tickets, or use Create ticket on a single review.

Use your own OAuth client

You don’t need this to connect. It is for teams that want the connection to run through an OAuth client they manage in their own Zendesk account. First, create the OAuth client in Zendesk:
1

Open Zendesk Admin Center

Log in to your Zendesk account and navigate to Admin Center > Apps and integrations > APIs > Zendesk API.
2

Create an OAuth client

Go to the OAuth Clients tab and click Add OAuth client. Give it a name like “AppReply” and an optional description.
3

Set the redirect URL

In the Redirect URLs field, enter this URL exactly:
This is the callback URL AppReply uses to complete the OAuth flow. Click Save.
4

Copy your credentials

After saving, Zendesk shows the Unique Identifier, which is your Client ID, and the Secret. Copy both.
Zendesk shows the secret only once. Save it somewhere safe before you leave the page.
Then connect with it in AppReply:
1

Show the OAuth client fields

Open the connect window and choose Zendesk as above, enter your subdomain, and click Use your own OAuth client instead.
2

Paste your credentials and authorize

Paste the Client ID into OAuth Client ID and the secret into OAuth Client Secret, then click Authorize. Sign in as a Zendesk admin and allow access, as in the steps above. To go back to connecting without an OAuth client, click Connect without an OAuth client.
The Connect Zendesk window with the OAuth Client ID and OAuth Client Secret fields, the redirect URL to set in Zendesk, and a Connect without an OAuth client link

Why admin rights are needed

When you connect, AppReply adds one webhook and one trigger to your Zendesk account so that ticket status changes show up in AppReply. Creating them requires admin rights. Both are removed when you disconnect. You can revoke AppReply’s access at any time in Zendesk, under Admin Center > Apps and integrations > APIs > External OAuth clients.

Switching accounts

To connect a different Zendesk account, disconnect the current one first. Disconnecting removes that connection’s ticket rules and ticket history, so recreate any rules you still need after you connect the new account.

Ticket status sync

AppReply uses the webhook and trigger it added to your Zendesk account to receive ticket status updates: the webhook AppReply Ticket Status Sync and the trigger AppReply - Ticket Status Changed. This keeps ticket statuses in sync between Zendesk and AppReply. Disconnecting Zendesk in AppReply removes both.

What happens when a ticket is created

When a review matches your ticket rule, AppReply creates a Zendesk ticket with:
  • A subject built from the rule’s subject template, which can use placeholders such as {rating} and {app_name}
  • The review text as the ticket comment/description
  • The review’s rating, app name, author, date and any translation, in the ticket description
  • The priority and tags configured on the rule
Ticket status changes in Zendesk (open, pending, solved, closed) sync back to AppReply through the webhook, and AppReply shows solved tickets as Resolved.

Reply to a review from Zendesk

Your agents can answer a review from its ticket in Zendesk. When an agent types a public reply on a ticket AppReply created, AppReply posts that reply on the store as your answer to the review. The agent doesn’t need to open AppReply. It is off until someone in your workspace turns it on for the Zendesk connection.

Turn it on

1

Turn on Post agent replies to the store

In AppReply, go to Integrations. Under the Zendesk card in Helpdesk connections, turn on Post agent replies to the store. AppReply shows “Agent replies will be posted to the store”.
The Zendesk card under Helpdesk connections, Active, with the Post agent replies to the store switch turned on
2

Check the trigger in Zendesk

AppReply adds one trigger to your Zendesk account, AppReply - Agent reply to review, under Admin Center > Objects and rules > Business rules > Triggers. Nothing else changes in Zendesk. The person who connected Zendesk must be a Zendesk admin, or the trigger can’t be added and the switch says so.
The Zendesk trigger list with AppReply - Ticket Status Changed and AppReply - Agent reply to review, whose description says it sends AppReply a notice when a public reply is added to a ticket AppReply created
Tickets AppReply creates in Zendesk carry the tag appreply. The trigger only acts on tickets with that tag.

Reply from the ticket

The agent opens a ticket AppReply created, types a public reply in the agent workspace or the Zendesk mobile app for agents, and submits it. Within a few seconds AppReply queues that text as the reply to the review and adds an internal note to the ticket that starts with “AppReply:” and says the reply is queued for the store, for example “AppReply: This reply is queued to be posted on Google Play as the answer to the review. If the store refuses it, the review in AppReply shows why.”
A Zendesk ticket with the tags app-review and appreply: the agent's public reply, then AppReply's internal note that the reply is queued to be posted on Google Play
In AppReply, the review shows the reply as queued, then as replied once the store accepts it. The responder is shown as the agent’s name followed by (Zendesk). The reply counts towards your plan’s replies for the period, like any other reply.
A public reply is posted on the store word for word, where anyone can read it. AppReply does not check, rewrite or approve it first.

Which replies are posted

  • Posted: a public comment typed by an agent or admin in the agent workspace or the agent mobile app. A macro an agent applies and submits as a public reply counts too, because the agent sent it.
  • Never posted: internal notes, comments by end users, comments sent by email, comments added through the API or by another app, comments added by triggers or automations, and the text Zendesk writes when tickets are merged.
  • The newest public reply wins. A later public reply on the same ticket replaces the earlier one on the store. Huawei AppGallery and RuStore don’t allow a posted reply to be changed, so there the first reply stays and a later one is refused with a note.

Notes AppReply adds to the ticket

When a reply can’t be posted, the internal note starts “AppReply: This reply was not posted to the store.” and says why: A note also explains when the review is not for one of your own apps, when your plan’s replies for the period are used up, and when the app’s store is not connected. AppReply adds at most 5 notes to a ticket a day. If the store itself refuses a reply after it was queued, the ticket still says “queued”. The refusal shows on the review in AppReply.

Limits

  • Only tickets AppReply created through the current connection. A reply written before the switch was turned on is never posted. Tickets created while the switch was off are covered: once it is on, a reply written from then on is posted.
  • After you reconnect Zendesk, the switch turns itself off. Turn it on again. Tickets created before the reconnect are not covered, and a reply there gets no note.
  • While the connection is not working, a reply an agent posts is not picked up later. Post it again once the connection works.
  • Your own apps only. Never competitor apps you track.
  • The reviewer gets no email. The ticket has no real requester address, so a public reply is not emailed to the reviewer. On tickets made by ticket rules, the requester is the Zendesk admin who connected AppReply, who gets Zendesk’s usual notification.

Turn it off

Turn off Post agent replies to the store. AppReply removes its AppReply - Agent reply to review trigger from Zendesk. Ticket status sync keeps working as before. Disconnecting Zendesk removes the webhook and both AppReply triggers.

Troubleshooting

Sign in to Zendesk as an admin when the Zendesk window opens, click Allow, and check that your subdomain is correct. If your browser blocked the window, allow pop-ups for AppReply and click Authorize again. If you connect with your own OAuth client, also make sure its redirect URL matches exactly (https://api.nango.dev/oauth/callback) and that the Client ID and Client Secret are entered correctly.
AppReply shows “Enter the part before .zendesk.com, for example your-company. A custom domain like support.yourcompany.com won’t work here.” when the Subdomain field holds a custom domain. Enter only the part of your .zendesk.com address that comes before .zendesk.com, for example your-company.
This warning means the Zendesk user who authorized AppReply couldn’t create the webhook and trigger that ticket status sync needs. Creating them requires admin rights, so connect again as a Zendesk admin: click Connect on the Integrations page, select Zendesk, enter the same subdomain, and authorize. Your ticket rules are kept.
Your AppReply workspace is already connected to a different Zendesk account, and the message names it (for example, acme.zendesk.com). To connect another account, disconnect the current one on the Integrations page first. Disconnecting removes that connection’s ticket rules and ticket history. If you meant to reconnect the existing account, enter its subdomain instead.
Check that your ticket rules are active and that the review conditions match. Also verify the Zendesk connection shows an Active status on the Integrations page.
Go to Integrations and connect Zendesk again as a Zendesk admin to re-establish the webhook and trigger. If AppReply showed the “ticket status sync was not configured” warning when you connected, see that entry above.
Reconnecting turns Post agent replies to the store off. The card says “Turned off when the connection was reconnected. Turn it on again to keep posting replies. It will not cover tickets created before the reconnect.” Turn the switch on again.
If someone deleted AppReply - Agent reply to review in Zendesk, the card says “The AppReply trigger is missing in Zendesk, so replies are not being posted. Turn this on again to add it.” Turn the switch on again. If the card says “Reconnect Zendesk as an admin first: ticket status sync is not set up.”, connect Zendesk again as a Zendesk admin first.

Set up ticket rules

Configure which reviews become Zendesk tickets