# App Store Search & Charts — $0.0003/app (`plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data`) Actor

You pay only for apps actually returned. Nothing found, nothing charged. App Store metadata and charts from Apple's own published APIs — search by keyword, look up by app ID, or read a country's top free, paid and grossing charts. Ratings, price, version, release notes. No key, no scraping.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data.md
- **Developed by:** [Shun Furu](https://apify.com/plainapi) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, AI, MCP servers
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.30 / 1,000 apps

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?

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

## App Store Data — search, lookup and top charts

App Store metadata and charts, from **Apple's own published APIs**. No key, no scraping, no
browser.

```
Input:   { "mode": "search", "terms": ["notion", "obsidian"] }
Output:  one row per app — ratings, price, version, release notes, category, size
```

### Three modes

**Search** — find apps by keyword, the way the store's own search works.

```json
{ "mode": "search", "terms": ["password manager", "habit tracker"], "country": "us", "limit": 50 }
```

**Lookup** — fetch specific apps by their numeric App Store ID. IDs are batched 100 at a time, so a
long watchlist is a handful of requests rather than one per app.

```json
{ "mode": "lookup", "terms": ["1232780281", "1274495053"] }
```

**Charts** — the top free, paid or grossing apps for a country.

```json
{ "mode": "chart", "chart": "top-grossing", "country": "jp", "limit": 100 }
```

### Where the data comes from

| Mode | Endpoint | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Search, Lookup | `itunes.apple.com/search`, `/lookup` | The iTunes Search API, documented by Apple and served without a key |
| Charts | `rss.applemarketingtools.com` | Apple's own Marketing Tools RSS feed |

Both are Apple's, both are public, and neither needs an account. Nothing is scraped from a store
page.

**No reviews, and therefore no personal data.** This returns app metadata — how many ratings an app
has and their average, but not the ratings themselves or who wrote them.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| `mode` | string | `search` | `search`, `lookup` or `chart` |
| `terms` | array of strings | `["notion"]` | Keywords in search mode, numeric app IDs in lookup mode |
| `country` | string | `us` | Two-letter store code — `us`, `gb`, `jp`, `de`. Prices, availability and charts all differ by country |
| `chart` | string | `top-free` | `top-free`, `top-paid` or `top-grossing`. Chart mode only |
| `limit` | integer | `50` | Results per term. Apple caps this at 200 |

### Output

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `appId` | string | Numeric App Store ID — pass it back in lookup mode |
| `bundleId` | string | Reverse-DNS bundle identifier |
| `name` / `developer` | string | App and publisher |
| `url` | string | Store page |
| `category` / `categories` | string / array | Primary category and the full list |
| `price` / `currency` / `isFree` | number / string / boolean | In the requested country's currency |
| `rating` / `ratingCount` | number | Average and how many ratings it is based on |
| `ratingCurrentVersion` | number | Average for the current version only |
| `version` | string | Current version |
| `releasedAt` / `updatedAt` | string | First release, and the current version's release |
| `releaseNotes` | string | What changed in this version |
| `description` | string | Full store description |
| `sizeBytes` / `minimumOsVersion` | number / string | Download size and OS requirement |
| `languages` | array | ISO codes the app is localised into |
| `contentRating` | string | Age rating |
| `icon` | string | Artwork URL |
| `rank` | number | Position, in chart mode |

### Pricing

| | Price |
|---|---|
| Starting a run | **$0.00001** — one US cent per 1,000 runs |
| Each app returned | **$0.0003** — 30 US cents per 1,000 apps |

A term that matches nothing produces no rows, and errors go to the log and `SUMMARY` rather than
the dataset — so an empty search costs nothing.

### Typical uses

- **Competitive tracking.** Watch a set of apps and see when the version, price or rating moves.
- **Market research.** Pull a chart across several countries and compare.
- **ASO.** See which apps a keyword actually returns, and how they are categorised.
- **Release monitoring.** `updatedAt` and `releaseNotes` tell you what shipped and when.

### Limitations — stated up front

- **iOS only.** Google Play publishes no comparable open API, so it is not covered rather than
  scraped.
- **No reviews.** Deliberately — review text carries author names, and this stays clear of personal
  data.
- Chart rows carry less detail than search rows; take the `appId` and run lookup mode for the rest.
- Apple caps results at 200 per request.
- Rankings and prices are per country. Ask for the country you care about.

### Not affiliated

This is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apple Inc.
App Store is a trademark of Apple Inc. Data comes from Apple's own publicly documented endpoints.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Search the store, look apps up by their numeric ID, or read a country's top chart.

## `terms` (type: `array`):

Keywords in search mode, or numeric App Store IDs in lookup mode. Ignored for charts.

## `country` (type: `string`):

Two-letter store country code — us, gb, jp, de. Results, prices and charts differ by country.

## `chart` (type: `string`):

Which chart to read. Used only in chart mode.

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Apple caps this at 200.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "terms": [
    "notion",
    "obsidian"
  ],
  "country": "us",
  "chart": "top-free",
  "limit": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `apps` (type: `string`):

Every app found.

## `appsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same rows as CSV.

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

What was queried and how many rows each produced.

# 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 = {
    "terms": [
        "notion",
        "obsidian"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data").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 = { "terms": [
        "notion",
        "obsidian",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data").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 '{
  "terms": [
    "notion",
    "obsidian"
  ]
}' |
apify call plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,plainapi/app-store-search-charts-app-data"
        }
    }
}

```

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/sd8fRMNxyUXunWdIP/builds/1oUQBUph1E8tVnay1/openapi.json