# Apple Podcasts Scraper: Shows, Episodes, Reviews & Charts (`winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper`) Actor

Search Apple Podcasts, pull show details and full episode lists from the podcast's own RSS feed, collect listener reviews in any country, and read the Top Shows charts. No login or API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Alex Burton](https://apify.com/winterlock) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 reviews

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

## Apple Podcasts Scraper: Shows, Episodes, Reviews & Charts

Everything Apple publishes about a podcast, plus the full episode list from the show's own RSS feed. No Apple account, API key or browser needed.

One Actor, five jobs:

| Mode | What you get |
|---|---|
| **Search** | Shows matching any keyword, in Apple's ranking order, with the RSS feed URL for each |
| **Show details** | Publisher, genre, episode count, artwork, explicit flag, latest release date and feed URL |
| **Episodes** | Every episode from the show's RSS feed: title, description, publish date, duration, season and episode numbers, and the audio file URL |
| **Reviews** | Star rating, title, full text, date and reviewer nickname, in any country |
| **Top Shows chart** | Apple's Top Shows chart for any storefront, optionally enriched with feed URLs and episode counts |

### Why use this one

- **Episodes come from the source.** Most podcast scrapers only read Apple's store pages. This one follows the `feedUrl` Apple publishes and parses the show's actual RSS feed, so you get every episode with its real audio URL, duration and episode numbering — not just the handful Apple shows.
- **Monitor mode for reviews.** Turn on *Only new reviews since the last run* and schedule the Actor daily. It remembers the newest review for each show and country, returns only what's new, and you pay only for new reviews.
- **Every storefront.** Reviews and charts differ by country. Add as many country codes as you need in one run.
- **Bring your own feed.** The Episodes mode also accepts plain RSS URLs, so it works for shows that are not on Apple at all.
- **Clean, flat output.** One row per show, episode or review, ready for Excel, Google Sheets, a database or an AI pipeline.

### How to use it

1. Choose **What to scrape**.
2. Add **Search terms**, or **Podcasts** (Apple links or numeric IDs), or **Feed URLs**.
3. Add **Countries** (`us`, `gb`, `de`, `au`…).
4. Click **Start**, then download results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or fetch them through the Apify API.

Podcasts can be given in any of these forms:

```
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485
id1296350485
1296350485
```

#### Example input: every episode of a show

```json
{
  "mode": "episodes",
  "podcasts": ["https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485"],
  "maxEpisodesPerPodcast": 500
}
```

#### Example input: daily review monitor

```json
{
  "mode": "reviews",
  "podcasts": ["1296350485"],
  "countries": ["us", "gb", "ca", "au"],
  "onlyNewReviews": true
}
```

#### Example input: Top Shows chart with feed URLs

```json
{
  "mode": "topCharts",
  "countries": ["us"],
  "chartLimit": 100,
  "enrichChartsWithDetails": true
}
```

### Output

Each item has a `type` field: `podcast`, `episode`, `review` or `chartEntry`. The dataset has ready-made **Shows**, **Episodes** and **Reviews** table views.

**Show**

```json
{
  "type": "podcast",
  "podcastId": 1296350485,
  "name": "Darknet Diaries",
  "artist": "Jack Rhysider",
  "country": "us",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/darknetdiaries",
  "url": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485",
  "artworkUrl": "https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/...600x600bb.jpg",
  "episodeCount": 162,
  "primaryGenre": "Tech News",
  "genres": ["Tech News", "News", "Technology"],
  "explicit": false,
  "releaseDate": "2026-10-07T00:00:00Z"
}
```

**Episode**

```json
{
  "type": "episode",
  "episodeId": "a1b2c3d4-0000-4444-8888-000000000000",
  "podcastId": 1296350485,
  "podcastName": "Darknet Diaries",
  "title": "Ep 162: Shadow Brokers",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-07T04:00:00Z",
  "durationSeconds": 3847,
  "episodeNumber": 162,
  "seasonNumber": null,
  "episodeType": "full",
  "explicit": false,
  "audioUrl": "https://traffic.megaphone.fm/example.mp3",
  "audioBytes": 61552000
}
```

**Review**

```json
{
  "type": "review",
  "reviewId": "11234567890",
  "podcastId": 1296350485,
  "podcastName": "Darknet Diaries",
  "country": "us",
  "rating": 5,
  "title": "Best security storytelling anywhere",
  "text": "I have listened to every episode twice…",
  "date": "2026-10-11T18:22:04Z",
  "author": "listener_42",
  "voteSum": 3
}
```

### Pricing

Pay only for results:

| Result | Price |
|---|---|
| Review | $1.00 per 1,000 |
| Episode | $1.00 per 1,000 |
| Show, search result or chart entry | $5.00 per 1,000 |

Pulling 1,000 episodes of one show costs $1.00. A daily review monitor pays only for the new reviews it finds, at $1.00 per 1,000. Set a maximum spend per run in the run options and the Actor stops cleanly when it's reached.

### Limits to know about

These come from Apple's public feeds, not from this Actor:

- **Reviews** cap at 500 per show, per country, per sort order (10 pages of 50). Choose *Both* orders to reach up to 1,000 per country, or add more countries. Ratings without written text are not included in the feed.
- **Search** returns at most 200 shows per term and country.
- **Episodes** come from the publisher's RSS feed. Most feeds carry the full back catalogue, but some publishers truncate their feed to recent episodes only — in that case the feed is the limit, not this Actor.
- **Apple lists no `feedUrl` for a small number of shows**, usually Apple Podcasts Originals and subscriber-only feeds. Episodes mode skips those and logs a warning.
- The Top Shows chart is read from Apple's Marketing Tools feed, which replaced the retired `/rss/toppodcasts` path. It does not support filtering by genre.

### FAQ

**Do I need an Apple account?** No. Everything comes from Apple's public endpoints.

**Can I watch reviews for my own show every day?** Yes. Turn on monitor mode, then create a schedule in Apify Console and connect the dataset to Slack, Google Sheets, Zapier or Make.

**Can I download the audio?** The Actor returns each episode's `audioUrl`, which is the publisher's own file. Downloading and using that audio is between you and the publisher.

**Why did a run return fewer episodes than Apple shows?** The publisher's RSS feed is truncated. Compare `episodeCount` on the show record against the number of episodes returned.

**Is it legal to scrape this?** The Actor reads publicly available data from Apple's public endpoints and from publishers' own RSS feeds, and does not log in or bypass any protection. Reviews include public reviewer nicknames, which may count as personal data in some jurisdictions; turn off *Include reviewer nicknames* if you don't need them.

### Feedback

Found a bug or need a field that's missing? Open an issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab.

# Actor input Schema

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

Search for shows, pull details of specific shows, list their episodes, collect listener reviews, or read the Top Shows chart.

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

For Search. Each term returns shows in Apple's ranking order, with a searchRank field.

## `podcasts` (type: `array`):

For Show details, Episodes and Reviews. Paste Apple Podcasts links (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/name/id1234567890) or bare numeric IDs.

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

For Episodes. Use this to read a podcast's feed directly without looking it up on Apple first.

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

Two-letter storefront codes such as us, gb, de, au. Reviews and charts differ by country.

## `reviewSort` (type: `string`):

Apple returns up to 500 reviews per show, per country, per order. Choose Both to collect up to 1,000 (duplicates removed).

## `maxReviewsPerPodcastPerCountry` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many reviews for each show in each country.

## `onlyNewReviews` (type: `boolean`):

Remembers the newest review seen for each show and country, and on later runs returns only newer ones. Schedule the Actor daily to get a feed of new reviews and pay only for those.

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

Keep only reviews with at least this many stars.

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

Keep only reviews with at most this many stars. Set to 2 to collect only complaints.

## `includeReviewerNames` (type: `boolean`):

Turn off to leave out reviewer nicknames and profile links.

## `maxEpisodesPerPodcast` (type: `integer`):

Episodes are read newest-first from the show's RSS feed.

## `maxResultsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Apple's search API returns at most 200 shows per term and country.

## `chartLimit` (type: `integer`):

How many shows to read from the Top Shows chart.

## `enrichChartsWithDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Looks up each charted show to add its feed URL, episode count, genre and release date. Charged as a show per entry.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop the run after saving this many items. Leave empty for no limit.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Lower this if you see rate-limit retries in the log.

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

Not needed for most runs. Use Apify Proxy for very large jobs if Apple starts rate-limiting.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerms": [
    "true crime"
  ],
  "podcasts": [
    "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ],
  "reviewSort": "mostrecent",
  "maxReviewsPerPodcastPerCountry": 200,
  "onlyNewReviews": false,
  "includeReviewerNames": true,
  "maxEpisodesPerPodcast": 100,
  "maxResultsPerSearch": 50,
  "chartLimit": 50,
  "enrichChartsWithDetails": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "true crime"
    ],
    "podcasts": [
        "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485"
    ],
    "countries": [
        "us"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper").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 = {
    "searchTerms": ["true crime"],
    "podcasts": ["https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485"],
    "countries": ["us"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper").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 '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "true crime"
  ],
  "podcasts": [
    "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darknet-diaries/id1296350485"
  ],
  "countries": [
    "us"
  ]
}' |
apify call winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,winterlock/apple-podcasts-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

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/uedGXvQPdVuheSxFV/builds/bmSEvQ8xZW0X12GT7/openapi.json