Google Play Review Delta Monitor

This is an unofficial tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.

This Actor converts public Google Play review data into structured product intelligence:

• remembers previously seen review IDs;
• outputs only new reviews on scheduled runs;
• tags complaints by product theme;
• detects regression and churn language;
• compares recent app-version rating and complaint shifts with sample-size confidence;
• creates per-app issue summaries;
• emits comparable reports for a primary app and its competitors.

It uses deterministic classification so operating cost remains predictable. It does not claim that keyword classification is a substitute for human product research.

Pricing

Each successful app/storefront/language check emits one of two mutually exclusive events. The summary and selected review rows are included:

• app-check: $0.005 when no new review is found.
• delta-report: $0.05 when one or more new reviews are found.

Examples:

• 1 changed app: $0.05; 1 unchanged app: $0.005.
• 5 changed apps: $0.25; 5 unchanged apps: $0.025.
• 20 changed apps: $1.00; 20 unchanged apps: $0.10.

Invalid app IDs and upstream failures produce diagnostic rows and are not charged as report events.

Quick start

{
  "apps": [
    {
      "appId": "com.spotify.music",
      "country": "us",
      "language": "en",
      "label": "Primary"
    },
    {
      "appId": "com.google.android.apps.youtube.music",
      "country": "us",
      "language": "en",
      "label": "Competitor"
    }
  ],
  "reviewsPerApp": 100,
  "onlyNew": true,
  "minimumRating": 1,
  "maximumRating": 5,
  "includeReviewRecords": true,
  "resetState": false
}

Run the same input on a schedule to turn the dataset into a review-change feed. When onlyNew is enabled, each successful app report commits the latest public review IDs to a named key-value store.

Input reference

Field	Purpose	Limits/default
apps	Package IDs, countries, languages, and optional labels.	1-20 entries; required
reviewsPerApp	Newest reviews to inspect per app/storefront/language.	10-500; default 100
onlyNew	Include only reviews not seen on successful prior runs.	Default true
resetState	Ignore and replace saved review history.	Default false
minimumRating	Lowest included rating.	1-5; default 1
maximumRating	Highest included rating.	1-5; default 5
includeReviewRecords	Include normalized review rows with the report.	Default true
includeReviewerNames	Include public reviewer display names.	Default false

The same package in two different country or language combinations counts as two reports because Google Play can return different reviews for each.

Output records

The default dataset contains three record types:

• review: normalized review, theme tags, severity, and regression/churn flags.
• summary: counts, negative share, average rating, leading complaint themes, and prioritized issue clusters. Non-request themes require a rating of three stars or lower or explicit churn/regression evidence, preventing positive mentions from being mislabeled as complaints.
• diagnostic: an uncharged error row for an invalid app or upstream failure.

Example summary:

{
  "recordType": "summary",
  "appId": "com.spotify.music",
  "appName": "Spotify: Music and Podcasts",
  "country": "us",
  "language": "en",
  "generatedAt": "2026-07-28T12:00:00.000Z",
  "summary": {
    "reviewsAnalyzed": 50,
    "averageRating": 2.84,
    "negativeReviewShare": 46,
    "churnSignals": 5,
    "regressionSignals": 7,
    "priorityIssues": [],
    "versionBreakdown": [],
    "releaseIncident": {
      "currentVersion": "9.1.68.1888",
      "previousVersion": "9.1.52.1394",
      "currentSample": 24,
      "previousSample": 18,
      "averageRatingDelta": -0.62,
      "negativeShareDelta": 18.5,
      "confidence": "medium",
      "triggered": true
    }
  }
}

Example included review:

{
  "recordType": "review",
  "reviewId": "1234567890",
  "appId": "com.spotify.music",
  "appName": "Spotify: Music and Podcasts",
  "country": "us",
  "language": "en",
  "rating": 1,
  "themes": ["ads", "update-regression"],
  "severity": 85,
  "regressionSignal": true,
  "churnSignal": false
}

Apify datasets can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, HTML, RSS, or JSONL and accessed through the dataset API.

Pay-per-event setup

The source emits one custom event when it writes each successful app summary. In Apify Console:

1. Set app-check to $0.005.
2. Set delta-report to $0.05 and make it the primary event.
3. Do not add a custom start fee. If the synthetic apify-actor-start event is present, leave it at Apify's default $0.00005.
4. Remove apify-default-dataset-item; otherwise included dataset rows can be charged in addition to the report event.
5. Include platform usage in the event price.
6. Set the minimum maximum charge per run to $0.051.
7. Publish with Limited permissions and without Standby mode.

The Actor checks the ChargeResult after each summary and stops before processing the next app when the user's limit is reached. Saved state advances only after the corresponding summary and included review rows are written.

Development

npm install
npm test
npm run test:live

Compliance

The Actor reads publicly accessible Google Play pages and review responses. Storefront availability varies by app and country. It does not access private accounts, submit reviews, or automate engagement. Theme, severity, regression, and churn fields are deterministic keyword/rating signals; they are not statistical forecasts or human-reviewed product conclusions. Google can change or limit its public surfaces, so callers should handle diagnostic rows and occasional upstream failures.