app-store-scraper
Node.js module to scrape application data from the iTunes/Mac App Store. The goal is to provide an interface as close as possible to the google-play-scraper module.
Installation
npm install app-store-scraper
Usage
Available methods:
- app: Retrieves the full detail of an application.
- list: Retrieves a list of applications from one of the collections at iTunes.
- search: Retrieves a list of apps that results of searching by the given term.
- developer: Retrieves a list of apps by the given developer id.
- privacy: Display the privacy details for the app.
- suggest: Given a string returns up to 50 suggestions to complete a search query term.
- similar: Returns the list of "customers also bought" apps shown in the app's detail page.
- reviews: Retrieves a page of reviews for the app.
- ratings: Retrieves the ratings for the app.
app
Retrieves the full detail of an application. Options:
-
id
: the iTunes "trackId" of the app, for example553834731
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theappId
should be provided. -
appId
: the iTunes "bundleId" of the app, for examplecom.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theid
should be provided. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the app details from. Defaults tous
. Note this also affects the language of the data. -
lang
: language code for the result text. Defaults to undefined, so country specific language should be used automatically.
-
ratings
: load additional ratings information likeratings
number andhistogram
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.app({id: 553834731}).then(console.log).catch(console.log);
Results:
{ id: 553834731,
appId: 'com.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga',
title: 'Candy Crush Saga',
url: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/candy-crush-saga/id553834731?mt=8&uo=4',
description: 'Candy Crush Saga, from the makers of Candy Crush ...',
icon: 'http://is5.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple30/v4/7a/e4/a9/7ae4a9a9-ff68-cbe4-eed6-fe0a246e625d/source/512x512bb.jpg',
genres: [ 'Games', 'Entertainment', 'Puzzle', 'Arcade' ],
genreIds: [ '6014', '6016', '7012', '7003' ],
primaryGenre: 'Games',
primaryGenreId: 6014,
contentRating: '4+',
languages: [ 'EN', 'JA' ],
size: '73974859',
requiredOsVersion: '5.1.1',
released: '2012-11-14T14:41:32Z',
updated: '2016-05-31T06:39:52Z',
releaseNotes: 'We are back with a tasty Candy Crush Saga update ...',
version: '1.76.1',
price: 0,
currency: 'USD',
free: true,
developerId: 526656015,
developer: 'King',
developerUrl: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/king/id526656015?uo=4',
developerWebsite: undefined,
score: 4,
reviews: 818816,
currentVersionScore: 4.5,
currentVersionReviews: 1323,
screenshots:
[ 'http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple49/v4/7a/8a/a0/7a8aa0ec-976d-801f-0bd9-7b753fdaf93c/screen1136x1136.jpeg',
... ],
ipadScreenshots:
[ 'http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Purple49/v4/db/45/cf/db45cff9-bdb6-0832-157f-ac3f14565aef/screen480x480.jpeg',
... ],
appletvScreenshots: [],
supportedDevices:
[ 'iPhone-3GS',
'iPadWifi',
... ]}
Example with ratings
option:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.app({id: 553834731, ratings: true}).then(console.log).catch(console.log);
Results:
{ id: 553834731,
appId: 'com.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga',
// ... like above
ratings: 652230,
histogram: {
'1': 7004,
'2': 6650,
'3': 26848,
'4': 140625,
'5': 471103
}
}
list
Retrieves a list of applications from one of the collections at iTunes. Options:
-
collection
: the collection to look up. Defaults tocollection.TOP_FREE_IOS
, available options can be found here. -
category
: the category to look up. This is a number associated with the genre for the application. Defaults to no specific category. Available options can be found here. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the list from. Defaults tous
. -
lang
: language code for the result text. Defaults to undefined, so country specific language should be used automatically. -
num
: the amount of elements to retrieve. Defaults to50
, maximum allowed is200
. -
fullDetail
: If this is set totrue
, an extra request will be made to get extra attributes of the resulting applications (like those returned by theapp
method).
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.list({
collection: store.collection.TOP_FREE_IPAD,
category: store.category.GAMES_ACTION,
num: 2
})
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log);
Returns:
[ { id: '1091944550',
appId: 'com.hypah.io.slither',
title: 'slither.io',
icon: 'http://is4.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple30/v4/68/d7/4d/68d74df4-f4e7-d4a4-a8ea-dbab686e5554/mzl.ujmngosn.png/100x100bb-85.png',
url: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slither.io/id1091944550?mt=8&uo=2',
price: 0,
currency: 'USD',
free: true,
description: 'Play against other people online! ...',
developer: 'Steve Howse',
developerUrl: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/steve-howse/id867992583?mt=8&uo=2',
developerId: '867992583',
genre: 'Games',
genreId: '6014',
released: '2016-03-25T10:01:46-07:00' },
{ id: '1046846443',
appId: 'com.ubisoft.hungrysharkworld',
title: 'Hungry Shark World',
icon: 'http://is5.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple60/v4/08/1a/8d/081a8d06-b4d5-528b-fa8e-f53646b6f797/mzl.ehtjvlft.png/100x100bb-85.png',
url: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hungry-shark-world/id1046846443?mt=8&uo=2',
price: 0,
currency: 'USD',
free: true,
description: 'The stunning sequel to Hungry ...',
developer: 'Ubisoft',
developerUrl: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/ubisoft/id317644720?mt=8&uo=2',
developerId: '317644720',
genre: 'Games',
genreId: '6014',
released: '2016-05-04T09:43:06-07:00' } ]
search
Retrieves a list of apps that results of searching by the given term. Options:
-
term
: the term to search for (required). -
num
: the amount of elements to retrieve. Defaults to50
. -
page
: page of results to retrieve. Defaults to to1
. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the similar apps from. Defaults tous
. -
lang
: language code for the result text. Defaults toen-us
. -
idsOnly
: (optional, defaults tofalse
): skip extra lookup request. Search results will contain array of application ids.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.search({
term: 'panda',
num: 2,
page: 3,
country : 'us',
lang: 'lang'
})
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log);
Results:
[
{ id: 903990394,
appId: 'com.pandarg.pxmobileapp',
title: 'Panda Express Chinese Kitchen',
(...)
},
{
id: 700970012,
appId: 'com.sgn.pandapop',
title: 'Panda Pop',
(...)
}
]
developer
Retrieves a list of applications by the give developer id. Options:
-
devId
: the iTunes "artistId" of the developer, for example284882218
for Facebook. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the app details from. Defaults tous
. Note this also affects the language of the data. -
lang
: language code for the result text. Defaults to undefined, so country specific language should be used automatically.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.developer({devId: 284882218}).then(console.log).catch(console.log);
Results:
[
{ id: 284882215,
appId: 'com.facebook.Facebook',
title: 'Facebook',
(...)
},
{ id: 454638411,
appId: 'com.facebook.Messenger',
title: 'Messenger',
(...)
},
(...)
]
privacy
Retrieves the ratings for the app. Currently only for US App Store. Options:
-
id
: the iTunes "trackId" of the app, for example553834731
for Candy Crush Saga.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.privacy({
id: 324684580,
})
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log);
Returns:
{
"managePrivacyChoicesUrl": null,
"privacyTypes": [
{
"privacyType": "Data Used to Track You",
"identifier": "DATA_USED_TO_TRACK_YOU",
"description": "The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:",
"dataCategories": [
{
"dataCategory": "Contact Info",
"identifier": "CONTACT_INFO",
"dataTypes": [
"Email Address",
"Phone Number"
]
},
...
],
"purposes": []
},
...
]
}
suggest
Given a string returns up to 50 suggestions to complete a search query term.
A priority index is also returned which goes from 0
for terms with low traffic
to 10000
for the most searched terms.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.suggest({term: 'panda'}).then(console.log).catch(console.log);
Results:
[
{ term: 'panda pop' },
{ term: 'panda pop free' },
{ term: 'panda' },
{ term: 'panda express' },
{ term: 'panda games' },
{ term: 'panda pop 2' },
...
]
similar
Returns the list of "customers also bought" apps shown in the app's detail page. Options:
-
id
: the iTunes "trackId" of the app, for example553834731
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theappId
should be provided. -
appId
: the iTunes "bundleId" of the app, for examplecom.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theid
should be provided.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.similar({id: 553834731}).then(console.log).catch(console.log);
Results:
[
{
id: 632285588,
appId: 'com.nerdyoctopus.dots',
title: 'Dots: A Game About Connecting',
(...)
},
{
id: 727296976,
appId: 'com.sgn.cookiejam',
title: 'Cookie Jam',
(...)
}
(...)
]
reviews
Retrieves a page of reviews for the app. Options:
-
id
: the iTunes "trackId" of the app, for example553834731
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theappId
should be provided. -
appId
: the iTunes "bundleId" of the app, for examplecom.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theid
should be provided. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the reviews from. Defaults tous
. -
page
: the review page number to retrieve. Defaults to1
, maximum allowed is10
. -
sort
: the review sort order. Defaults tostore.sort.RECENT
, available options arestore.sort.RECENT
andstore.sort.HELPFUL
.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.reviews({
appId: 'com.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga',
sort: store.sort.HELPFUL,
page: 2
})
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log);
Returns:
[ { id: '1472864600',
userName: 'Linda D. Lopez',
userUrl: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/reviews/id324568166',
version: '1.80.1',
score: 5,
title: 'Great way to pass time or unwind',
text: 'I was a fan of Bejeweled many moons ago...',
updated: '2021-07-26T18:26:24-07:00',
url: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/review?id=553834731&type=Purple%20Software' },,
{ id: '1472864708',
userName: 'Jennamaxkidd',
userUrl: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/reviews/id223990784',
version: '1.80.1',
score: 1,
title: 'Help! THE PROBLEM IS NOT FIXED!',
text: 'STILL HAVING THE SAME ISSUE. It\'s happening again...',
updated: '2021-07-26T18:04:41-07:00',
url: 'https://itunes.apple.com/us/review?id=553834731&type=Purple%20Software' },
(...)
]
ratings
Retrieves the ratings for the app. Options:
-
id
: the iTunes "trackId" of the app, for example553834731
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theappId
should be provided. -
appId
: the iTunes "bundleId" of the app, for examplecom.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga
for Candy Crush Saga. Either this or theid
should be provided. -
country
: the two letter country code to get the reviews from. Defaults tous
.
Example:
var store = require('app-store-scraper');
store.ratings({
appId: 'com.midasplayer.apps.candycrushsaga',
})
.then(console.log)
.catch(console.log);
Returns:
{
ratings: 652719,
histogram: {
'1': 7012,
'2': 6655,
'3': 26876,
'4': 140680,
'5': 471496
}
}
Memoization
Since every library call performs one or multiple requests to
an iTunes API or web page, sometimes it can be useful to cache the results
to avoid requesting the same data twice. The memoized
function returns the
store object that caches its results:
var store = require('app-store-scraper'); // regular non caching version
var memoized = require('app-store-scraper').memoized(); // cache with default options
var memoizedCustom = require('app-store-scraper').memoized({ maxAge: 1000 * 60 }); // cache with default options
memoized.app({id: 553834731}) // will make a request
.then(() => memoized.app({id: 553834731})); // will resolve to the cached value without requesting
The options available are those supported by the memoizee module. By default up to 1000 values are cached by each method and they expire after 5 minutes.