# Google Play Reviews Scraper & Insights: Ratings, Complaints (`tanlabs/google-play-review-insights`) Actor

Google Play reviews scraper + analysis: scrape Android app reviews by URL, package or app name in any country, and get an insight report: rating by version, monthly trend, complaint themes, developer reply rate, top 1–2★ words. No login, no proxies.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tanlabs/google-play-review-insights.md
- **Developed by:** [TanLabs](https://apify.com/tanlabs) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, E-commerce
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **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 & Insights: Ratings, Complaints & Trends

Scrape **Google Play Store reviews** for any Android app, in any country and language, and get a **ready-made review analysis** in the same run: rating distribution, **rating by app version**, monthly trend, **top complaint themes** with example quotes, **developer reply rate** and the most-used words in 1–2★ reviews.

Most Google Play review scrapers give you raw rows and leave the analysis to you. This one gives you the raw reviews **and** a one-row summary per app × country that you can paste into a report, a spreadsheet or an LLM prompt.

- ✅ Input by **Play Store URL, package name (`com.spotify.music`) or plain app name** ("Spotify")
- ✅ Up to **5,000 reviews per app per country** per run, sorted by newest, most relevant or rating
- ✅ **Filters**: star ratings (e.g. only 1–2★), keywords, last N days
- ✅ **Developer replies** included (reply text, reply date, reply rate, median reply time)
- ✅ No login, no cookies, no browser, no proxy setup
- ✅ Same report format as our [App Store Reviews Scraper & Insights](https://apify.com/tanlabs/app-store-review-insights), so you can compare **iOS vs Android** side by side
- ✅ Pay per result, no monthly fee

### Table of contents

- [What you get](#what-you-get)
- [Use cases](#use-cases)
- [Input](#input)
- [Sample output](#sample-output)
- [Pricing and cost examples](#pricing-and-cost-examples)
- [How to run it](#how-to-run-it)
- [How to find an app's package name](#how-to-find-an-apps-package-name)
- [Scheduling and alerts](#scheduling-and-alerts)
- [FAQ](#faq)
- [Limits](#limits)

### What you get

For every **app × country**, one `summary` row:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `appName`, `developer`, `genre`, `price`, `installs`, `currentVersion`, `lastUpdated` | From the app's Google Play page |
| `storeAverageRating`, `storeRatingCount`, `storeReviewCount`, `storeRatingHistogram` | Google Play's all-time star rating, rating count, written-review count and 1–5★ histogram |
| `reviewsFetched`, `fetchedAverageRating` | How many reviews were analysed and their average rating |
| `ratingDistribution`, `negativeShare` | 1–5★ counts in the analysed reviews and the share of 1–2★ |
| `ratingByVersion` | Average rating per app version, so you can spot the release that broke things |
| `ratingByMonth` | Monthly review count and average rating |
| `complaintThemes` | Crashes/bugs, login/account, pricing/subscription, ads, performance, sync/data loss, bad update/UI, support, notifications: counts, share of negative reviews and an example quote |
| `topNegativeTerms`, `topNegativePhrases` | Most frequent words and two-word phrases in 1–2★ reviews |
| `developerReplyRate`, `developerReplyRateNegative`, `medianReplyDays` | How often (and how fast) the developer answers reviews, overall and for 1–2★ |
| `mostHelpfulNegative` | The 3 most up-voted critical reviews |

Optionally, every individual review as its own row (`type: "review"`): `reviewId`, `text`, `rating`, `version`, `author`, `date`, `voteSum` (thumbs-up), `developerReply`, `developerReplyDate`.

The dataset has two ready-made views in the Console: **App summaries** and **Reviews**. Export either to CSV, Excel, JSON or HTML.

### Use cases

- **Competitor research**: find what users hate about the top apps in your category before you build.
- **Product and QA teams**: catch a bad release within days with `ratingByVersion` and `recentDays`.
- **Support / CX teams**: measure your developer reply rate and reply speed against competitors.
- **ASO and app marketing agencies**: monthly Android + iOS review reports for clients.
- **AI agents and LLM workflows**: hand a model a compact structured digest instead of thousands of raw reviews.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `apps` | array | – | Play Store URLs, package names or plain app names |
| `countries` | array | `["us"]` | Two-letter country codes (`us`, `gb`, `de`, `in`, `br`, `jp`…) |
| `language` | string | `"en"` | Review language code (`en`, `de`, `es`, `fr`, `pt`, `ja`…) |
| `sortBy` | string | `"newest"` | `newest`, `mostRelevant` or `rating` |
| `maxReviewsPerCountry` | integer | `200` | 1–5,000 per app per country |
| `includeReviews` | boolean | `true` | Also save every review as its own row. Turn off to pay only for summaries |
| `ratingFilter` | array | all | Only these star ratings, e.g. `["1","2"]` |
| `keywords` | array | `[]` | Only reviews containing any of these words |
| `recentDays` | integer | `0` | Only reviews from the last N days (0 = no limit) |

**Example: one app by URL, newest 1,000 reviews**

```json
{
  "apps": ["https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo"],
  "countries": ["us"],
  "maxReviewsPerCountry": 1000
}
```

**Example: complaints of the last 30 days for two competitors, by name**

```json
{
  "apps": ["Spotify", "com.pandora.android"],
  "countries": ["us", "gb"],
  "ratingFilter": ["1", "2"],
  "recentDays": 30,
  "maxReviewsPerCountry": 500
}
```

**Example: keyword search inside reviews**

```json
{
  "apps": ["com.duolingo"],
  "keywords": ["streak", "energy", "hearts"],
  "maxReviewsPerCountry": 300
}
```

### Sample output

Real output from a test run on 2026-10-31 (Spotify, US, 1–2★ reviews of the last 30 days), shortened:

```json
{
  "type": "summary",
  "appId": "com.spotify.music",
  "country": "us",
  "appName": "Spotify: Music and Podcasts",
  "developer": "Spotify AB",
  "installs": "1,000,000,000+",
  "storeAverageRating": 4.349,
  "storeRatingCount": 36568824,
  "reviewsFetched": 200,
  "ratingDistribution": {"1": 161, "2": 39, "3": 0, "4": 0, "5": 0},
  "developerReplyRate": 0.305,
  "medianReplyDays": 0.2,
  "ratingByVersion": [
    {"version": "9.1.94.1929", "reviews": 86, "avgRating": 1.23},
    {"version": "9.1.92.3058", "reviews": 42, "avgRating": 1.24}
  ],
  "complaintThemes": [
    {"theme": "pricing_subscription", "negativeReviews": 58, "shareOfNegative": 0.29, "example": "I used to love this app, ads and all. Now it feels completely money-hungry…"},
    {"theme": "ads", "negativeReviews": 46, "shareOfNegative": 0.23, "example": "…"}
  ],
  "topNegativeTerms": [{"term": "songs", "reviews": 46}, {"term": "ads", "reviews": 43}, {"term": "music", "reviews": 38}]
}
```

```json
{
  "type": "review",
  "appId": "com.spotify.music",
  "country": "us",
  "reviewId": "e5171e14-fdc9-4466-bdd1-c6ccfe902f89",
  "text": "a lot of glitch nd its slow u should fix this soon",
  "rating": 1,
  "author": "(user name)",
  "date": "2026-10-30T15:35:01",
  "voteSum": 0,
  "developerReply": "Hi. Thanks for leaving us a review. We suggest reinstalling the app for a quick fix…",
  "developerReplyDate": "2026-10-30T19:13:05"
}
```

### Pricing and cost examples

Pay per event, no subscription:

- **App report**: $0.02 per app × country summary
- **Review**: $0.0003 per individual review row (only when `includeReviews` is on)

| Job | Events | Approx. cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 app, 1 country, 1,000 reviews + summary | 1 report + 1,000 reviews | $0.32 |
| 5 competitors, 1 country, summaries only (analysis of 500 reviews each) | 5 reports | $0.10 |
| 1 app, 10 countries, summaries only | 10 reports | $0.20 |

Tip: with `includeReviews: false` you still get the full analysis of every fetched review, and you pay only for the summary rows.

Apify's free plan includes monthly platform credit, so you can try it without paying.

### How to run it

**Apify Console (no code):** open the Actor, paste a Google Play link into *Apps*, click **Start**, then download the results as CSV/Excel/JSON.

**API (cURL), run and get results in one call:**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tanlabs~google-play-review-insights/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"apps":["com.duolingo"],"countries":["us"],"maxReviewsPerCountry":300,"includeReviews":false}'
```

**Python:**

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("tanlabs/google-play-review-insights").call(run_input={
    "apps": ["https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotify.music"],
    "countries": ["us", "gb"],
    "maxReviewsPerCountry": 500,
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    if item["type"] == "summary":
        print(item["appName"], item["country"], item["fetchedAverageRating"], item["complaintThemes"][:3])
```

**JavaScript / Node.js:**

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('tanlabs/google-play-review-insights').call({ apps: ['Duolingo'], countries: ['us'] });
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.filter((i) => i.type === 'summary'));
```

**AI agents (MCP):** add Apify's MCP server with this Actor, e.g. `https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=tanlabs/google-play-review-insights`, then ask Claude, Cursor or another MCP client things like *"What are Android users complaining about in Duolingo this month?"*

### How to find an app's package name

Open the app on [play.google.com](https://play.google.com/store/apps). The package name is the part after `id=` in the URL: `https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=`**`com.supercell.brawlstars`**. You can also paste the whole URL or just the app name.

### Scheduling and alerts

- Create an **Apify Schedule** (daily or weekly) with `sortBy: newest` and `recentDays: 7` to build a review history.
- Add a **webhook** or the Zapier, Make or n8n integration to send each new summary to Slack, Google Sheets or email.
- Watch `negativeShare` and `ratingByVersion` after every release.

### FAQ

**Do I need a Google account or API key?** No. The Actor reads public Google Play pages, which need no login.

**How many reviews can I get?** Up to 5,000 per app per country per run. For more, split by country or run on a schedule with `recentDays`.

**Can I use app names?** Yes. Names resolve to the first app on Google Play's search page (the same one a person sees first). URLs and package names are exact.

**Why do some reviews have no version?** Google Play only shows the app version when the reviewer's device reported it.

**How are complaint themes detected?** With keyword rules for the most common app complaint types, applied to 1–2★ reviews (English works best). Each theme comes with counts and a real example quote so you can check it.

**Can I compare iOS and Android?** Yes. Run [App Store Review Insights](https://apify.com/tanlabs/app-store-review-insights) with the same app. Both Actors use the same summary fields.

**Is scraping Google Play reviews legal?** The Actor reads publicly available reviews. You are responsible for how you use the data. Reviewer names are personal data, so treat them according to the privacy law that applies to you (e.g. GDPR).

### Limits

- Google Play sometimes returns fewer reviews than requested for small apps or rare languages.
- Review text is returned as Google provides it (no translation). Theme detection is tuned for English.
- Not affiliated with Google.

### Support

Questions or feature requests: open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab.

### More from TanLabs

- [App Store Reviews Scraper & Insights (iOS)](https://apify.com/tanlabs/app-store-review-insights)
- [App Store Ranking Tracker: Top Charts & Daily Movers](https://apify.com/tanlabs/app-store-top-charts)
- [AI Search Readiness Audit (GEO/AEO) + llms.txt generator](https://apify.com/tanlabs/ai-search-readiness-audit)
- [OG Image & Open Graph Checker (Social Preview, X Card)](https://apify.com/tanlabs/social-preview-meta-checker)

# Actor input Schema

## `apps` (type: `array`):

Google Play URLs (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo), package names (com.duolingo) or plain app names ("Duolingo", first search match).

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

Two-letter Google Play country codes. Each app is checked in every country listed.

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

Two-letter language code (en, de, es, fr, ja, pt…). Google Play returns reviews written in this language.

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

Newest is best for monitoring and trends; Most relevant is Google's default order.

## `maxReviewsPerCountry` (type: `integer`):

Up to 5,000 reviews per app per country per run.

## `includeReviews` (type: `boolean`):

Also save every review as its own dataset row (billed per review). Turn off to get only the insight summary.

## `ratingFilter` (type: `array`):

Optional, e.g. \["1","2"] for complaints only. Empty = all ratings.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Optional keywords (case-insensitive, any match).

## `recentDays` (type: `integer`):

0 = no date limit.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "apps": [
    "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "maxReviewsPerCountry": 200,
  "includeReviews": true,
  "recentDays": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `summaries` (type: `string`):

One insight report per app and country.

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

Individual reviews (when includeReviews is on).

# 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 = {
    "apps": [
        "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo"
    ],
    "countries": [
        "us"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tanlabs/google-play-review-insights").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 = {
    "apps": ["https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo"],
    "countries": ["us"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tanlabs/google-play-review-insights").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 '{
  "apps": [
    "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ]
}' |
apify call tanlabs/google-play-review-insights --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/b5KH4vfp53pPZ2kNN/builds/v4WQJHwAa1yRawjCm/openapi.json