App Store Release Notes Scraper

Extract release notes from the Apple App Store automatically. This Actor scrapes the "What's New" section from any App Store app page and returns the version number, release date, and release notes text for every new version — with built-in deduplication so repeat runs only return versions you haven't seen before.

Try it on the Apify platform with no setup required.

What does App Store Release Notes Scraper do?

App Store Release Notes Scraper visits Apple App Store app pages, parses the full version history from the "What's New" section, and pushes each new version as a structured record to a dataset. It uses version-history deduplication via Apify's Key-Value Store, so you can schedule it to run daily and only receive versions released since your last run.

By default it covers eight major streaming apps: Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and Peacock. You can replace or extend that list with any App Store URL.

Why use App Store Release Notes Scraper?

• Competitive intelligence for PMs — track competitor app updates the moment they ship, without checking the App Store manually.
• Automated monitoring — schedule daily or weekly runs; the KV-store deduplication guarantees you only see net-new versions.
• Structured output — get clean JSON with version, date, and full release notes text, ready for export to CSV/Excel or downstream integrations.
• No infrastructure required — runs serverless on the Apify platform with API access, scheduling, and webhook notifications built in.

How to use App Store Release Notes Scraper

1. Open the Actor on Apify Console and click Try for free.
2. In the Input tab, review the pre-filled App Store URLs. Add, remove, or replace them with any App Store app page URL.
3. Leave the URL list empty to use the built-in default list of eight streaming apps.
4. Click Start and wait for the run to finish (typically under 2 minutes).
5. Open the Output tab or Dataset tab to review results.
6. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, HTML, or Excel using the export buttons.

For recurring monitoring, click Schedule to run the Actor automatically on a daily or weekly cadence.

Input

Configure the Actor using the Input tab in Apify Console or pass a JSON object to the API.

Field	Type	Required	Description
startUrls	Array of URL objects	No	Apple App Store app page URLs to scrape. Leave empty to use the built-in default list of 8 streaming apps.

Example input:

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/netflix/id363590051" },
    { "url": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spotify/id324684580" }
  ]
}

Any valid Apple App Store app URL in the format https://apps.apple.com/[country]/app/[app-name]/id[numeric-id] will work.

Output

Each new version found produces one record in the dataset. You can download the dataset in JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel format from the Output tab.

Example output record:

{
  "appName": "Netflix",
  "version": "8.120.0",
  "releaseDate": "2025-04-14",
  "releaseNotes": "Improved playback performance and fixed a crash on iPad when using Picture in Picture.",
  "appStoreUrl": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/netflix/id363590051",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-04-26T10:32:00.000Z"
}

If an app has no "What's New" section, a record is still written with version, releaseDate, and releaseNotes set to null.

Output data fields

Field	Type	Description
appName	String	App name as shown on the App Store page
version	String	Version number (e.g. 8.120.0)
releaseDate	String	Release date in YYYY-MM-DD format
releaseNotes	String	Full release notes text from the "What's New" section
appStoreUrl	String	The App Store URL that was scraped
scrapedAt	String	ISO 8601 timestamp of when the record was scraped

Pricing and cost

App Store Release Notes Scraper uses a browser (Playwright) to render JavaScript-heavy App Store pages. A typical run covering 8 apps completes in under 2 minutes and costs approximately 0.02–0.05 compute units (CU).

At Apify's free tier ($5 credit, $0.40/CU), that's roughly 100+ free runs per month. Paid plans are available for higher volume or additional features like proxy rotation.

Tips

• Schedule daily runs — the built-in KV-store deduplication means each run only outputs versions released since the previous run. Scheduling is the intended use pattern.
• Any App Store app works — not just streaming apps. Add any apps.apple.com URL to the input and the Actor will extract its release notes automatically.
• First run returns full history — on the very first run for a given app, all versions visible in the "What's New" section are returned. Subsequent runs only return new ones.
• Reset history to re-scrape — if you want to re-fetch all versions, delete the seen-versions key from the version-history Key-Value Store in the Apify Console before running.

FAQ and support

Is scraping the App Store legal? This Actor only scrapes publicly available pages — the same content visible to any visitor without logging in. It is your responsibility to ensure your use complies with Apple's Terms of Service and applicable law. The Actor does not bypass any access controls or authentication.

What if an app shows no "What's New" section? Some apps do not publish release notes. In that case the Actor writes a record with null for version, date, and notes, so you know the app was checked.

The Actor found fewer versions than I expected — why? The App Store typically shows only the most recent versions in the "What's New" section. The number of historical versions visible varies by app.

How do I add Google Play support? Google Play is planned for a future version. For now the Actor only supports Apple App Store URLs.

For bugs or feature requests, open an issue in the Issues tab on this Actor's page. For custom scraping solutions, contact the author via the Apify platform.