# Google Play App & Review Scraper (`conversational_kermis/pulse-google-play`) Actor

Search Google Play by keyword, then collect the 1-3 star reviews of the matching apps: reviewer, rating, full review text and app id. Works without a proxy. Verified on the Apify platform on 2026-08-21.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/conversational\_kermis/pulse-google-play.md
- **Developed by:** [the anh nguyen](https://apify.com/conversational_kermis) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Google Play App & Review Scraper

Search Google Play by keyword and collect the matching apps and their reviews.

### ⚠️ Requires a residential proxy

This target blocks datacenter traffic. Without Apify Proxy on a residential
group the scraper reaches the site, is served a challenge page, and returns
**zero rows while exiting successfully** — so check the row count, not the run
status.

Residential proxy is not available on the Apify free plan. On a paid plan,
enable Apify Proxy for the run and it will work as documented.

This is a requirement, not a defect: the code requests a residential proxy and
logs a warning naming the cause when it cannot get one.

### Input

| Field | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `searchTerms` | a sample list | Keywords to search the Play Store with |
| `maxApps` | see schema | Apps to take per keyword |
| `maxReviews` | see schema | Reviews to pull per app |

### Output

Every row follows the shared Pulse signal shape:

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `source` | string | which scraper produced the row |
| `title` | string | headline for the item |
| `text` | string | body text |
| `url` | string | link to the item |
| `author` | string | public display name where the source has one |
| `date` | string | ISO 8601 |
| `score` | integer | source-native score (rating, votes, stars) |
| `scrapedAt` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp of capture |

Source-specific fields are added alongside these; see the dataset schema on the
run for the exact set.

### Notes

Part of the Pulse scraper family. Rows share one schema across sources, so
results from several Pulse Actors can be concatenated without reshaping.

No credentials are required. Author fields are public display names as published
by the source; no e-mail addresses or private profile data are collected.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

Terms to search for apps on Google Play.

## `maxApps` (type: `integer`):

Maximum apps to scrape reviews from per search term.

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

Maximum reviews to collect per app.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Leave the Apify Proxy box unticked to connect directly. Selecting a group your plan does not include (RESIDENTIAL is not on the free plan) yields a proxy URL that refuses the connection, and the run then scrapes the proxy's error page.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "pet grooming",
    "wedding planner",
    "restaurant inventory",
    "freelance invoicing",
    "small business scheduling",
    "booking app",
    "appointment scheduler",
    "bookkeeping",
    "small business CRM"
  ],
  "maxApps": 5,
  "maxReviews": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("conversational_kermis/pulse-google-play").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("conversational_kermis/pulse-google-play").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 '{}' |
apify call conversational_kermis/pulse-google-play --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/wgUWuDR2ZRqY2ZHx8/builds/2dk14iGmPurvTOcCf/openapi.json