# Google Play Reviews Scraper & Monitor (+ App Store) (`contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor`) Actor

Scrape Google Play Store reviews (rating, text, app version, developer reply) with an only-new-since-last-run mode for alerts and monitoring. Optional App Store reviews in the same format. Pay only for reviews delivered; empty runs are free.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Orvix](https://apify.com/contented_catwalk) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Play Reviews Scraper & Monitor (+ App Store)

Scrape **Google Play Store reviews** for any Android app into clean rows: star rating, review text, date, app version, reviewer name, thumbs-up count and the **developer's reply**. Run it on a schedule with `onlyNew: true` and you get **only the reviews posted since the last run**, which makes it a simple review monitor and alert feed. Add Apple App Store IDs and you get **iPhone and Android reviews in one dataset with the same columns**.

**You pay only for reviews delivered.** Empty runs, invalid input and failed runs cost nothing.

### What you can use it for

- **Negative review alerts:** `maxRating: 2` + `onlyNew: true` on an hourly or daily schedule, then forward the dataset to Slack, email or a webhook with an Apify integration.
- **Competitor review tracking:** put your app and your competitors in `appIds`; the `COMPARISON` record shows average stars, share of 1-2 star reviews and developer reply rate per app.
- **Release monitoring:** every row has the app `version`, so you can see how ratings move after an update.
- **Customer feedback analysis and AI:** feed review text to an LLM for sentiment, feature requests and bug themes.
- **Support team QA:** check which reviews got a developer reply and how fast (`developerReplyDate`).
- **Both stores in one sheet:** Android package names in `appIds`, Apple numeric IDs in `appStoreIds`.

### Input example

```json
{
  "appIds": ["com.spotify.music", "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp"],
  "countries": ["us"],
  "language": "en",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "maxReviewsPerApp": 500,
  "maxRating": 2,
  "onlyNew": true,
  "stateKey": "my-apps",
  "appStoreIds": ["324684580"]
}
```

For a one-off export, `{ "appIds": ["com.spotify.music"] }` is enough.

### Output example

One row per review (a real row from a test run, trimmed):

```json
{
  "store": "google-play",
  "appId": "com.spotify.music",
  "appName": "Spotify: Music and Podcasts",
  "reviewId": "e6e37945-2317-40aa-b27d-f33668c39339",
  "country": "us",
  "language": "en",
  "rating": 1,
  "title": null,
  "text": "very slow and you get 2 ads every 2 songs ...",
  "date": "2026-10-17T11:43:44.446Z",
  "version": "9.1.90.2270",
  "author": "Eshanth 4a",
  "helpfulVotes": 0,
  "developerReply": "Hi, thanks for taking the time to share your experience. ...",
  "developerReplyDate": "2026-10-17T17:31:37.742Z",
  "reviewUrl": "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.music&reviewId=e6e3...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-18T12:19:05.441Z"
}
```

App Store rows use the same fields with `"store": "app-store"` (App Store reviews also have a `title`).

The key-value store also gets `SUMMARY` (counts, app info, errors) and `COMPARISON` (per app: average stars in this run, share of 1-2 star reviews, star breakdown, developer reply rate).

### Input fields

- `appIds`: package names (`com.whatsapp`) or Play Store URLs.
- `countries` (default `us`) and `language` (default `en`). Google Play mostly shares reviews between countries with the same language, so one country per language is usually enough.
- `sortBy`: `newest`, `relevance` or `rating`. `maxReviewsPerApp` (default 500) and `maxReviews` (total cap).
- `minRating`, `maxRating`, `since` (ISO date) filters. Filtered-out reviews are not charged.
- `onlyNew` + `stateKey`: remembers what was delivered. The first run sets the baseline. If a run stops at your spending limit, the reviews it skipped are still delivered on the next run.
- `appStoreIds`, `appStoreCountries`: optional App Store apps. Apple's public feed shows only the latest 500 reviews per app per country.

### Pricing

- $0.10 per 1,000 reviews ($0.0001 each)
- $0.005 per run that delivers at least one review
- Runs that deliver nothing are free. The run stops cleanly at your maximum cost per run.

Example: monitoring 5 apps in one daily run with ~20 new reviews per app per day is about 3,000 reviews a month, roughly $0.30 + $0.15 in run fees.

### Use with Make, n8n, Zapier and AI agents

Call the Actor through the Apify API or the Apify integrations for Make, n8n and Zapier, or use it as a tool from AI agents via Apify's MCP server. Schedule it in Apify Console and connect the dataset to Slack, Google Sheets or a webhook.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Google account or API key?** No. It reads the public, logged-out review data the Play Store website shows.

**How many reviews can I get?** Up to `maxReviewsPerApp` per app and country/language (default 500). Very large exports take longer because requests are paced politely.

**How does "only new" work?** The Actor stores the IDs it already delivered under your `stateKey`. Use a different `stateKey` per project.

**Can I get reviews in other languages?** Yes, set `language` (for example `de`, `es`, `ja`) and a matching country.

**Why is `title` empty for Google Play?** Google Play reviews have no title; App Store reviews do.

### How it works and limits

It reads the public, logged-out Google Play review data that the Play Store website itself loads (via the open-source `google-play-scraper` library), one request at a time with polite pacing and back-off. No login, no proxies, no personal data beyond what Google shows publicly. Google can change this data or limit access at any time, and Google Play's terms restrict automated access; you are responsible for how you use the data. Reviewer names are public display names; handle them according to your privacy obligations.

# Actor input Schema

## `appIds` (type: `array`):

Package name (com.spotify.music) or Play Store URL (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.music).

## `countries` (type: `array`):

Two-letter country codes, e.g. us, gb, de. Google Play reviews are mostly shared across countries for the same language, so one country per language is usually enough.

## `language` (type: `string`):

Language code such as en, de, pt-BR. Google Play returns reviews written in this language.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Only-new mode always uses Newest.

## `maxReviewsPerApp` (type: `integer`):

Cap per app per country (per store).

## `maxReviews` (type: `integer`):

Optional overall cap for the run (cost control).

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Remember which reviews were already delivered and return only new ones. Ideal for schedules. The first run sets the baseline and returns up to the per-app cap.

## `stateKey` (type: `string`):

Separate memory for different monitors in only-new mode.

## `appStoreIds` (type: `array`):

Optional. Apple app IDs (324684580) or App Store URLs. Returned in the same row format with store = app-store, so you get iPhone and Android reviews in one dataset.

## `appStoreCountries` (type: `array`):

Storefronts for the App Store apps. Defaults to the Countries above. Apple's public feed gives at most the latest 500 reviews per app per country.

## `minRating` (type: `integer`):

Only reviews with at least this many stars.

## `maxRating` (type: `integer`):

Only reviews with at most this many stars (e.g. 2 for complaints).

## `since` (type: `string`):

Optional ISO date, e.g. 2026-09-01. Older reviews are skipped (and not charged).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "appIds": [
    "com.spotify.music"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "maxReviewsPerApp": 500,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "stateKey": "default"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `reviews` (type: `string`):

One deduplicated row per review (Google Play and optional App Store).

## `comparison` (type: `string`):

Average stars, share of 1-2 star reviews and developer reply rate per app.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Counts, app info, errors and charges.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "appIds": [
        "com.spotify.music"
    ],
    "countries": [
        "us"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "appIds": ["com.spotify.music"],
    "countries": ["us"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "appIds": [
    "com.spotify.music"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ]
}' |
apify call contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,contented_catwalk/google-play-reviews-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Rnke20StfPPgA6GXi/builds/geI1hYydaKrDDTgsm/openapi.json