Collectors · App stores

App Store scraper API in Python

Apple App Store apps by search term or by app/bundle id. One POST from Python with the input, rows back as JSON with 35 fields, $0.0008 per delivered app. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the app_store_apps collector returns one dict per app, at $0.0008 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/app_store_apps/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "term": "podcast player",
        "country": "us",
        "max_results": 20,
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("app_id"), row.get("bundle_id"), row.get("title"), row.get("developer"))

Python: one App Store apps run (Ricerca per termine), printing app_id, bundle_id, title, developer

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the App Store apps collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`term`	string	no	What to search in the App Store. Omit when passing app_ids.
`app_ids`	array	no	Numeric app ids, bundle ids (com.spotify.client) or store URLs.
`country`	string	no	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code — picks the local site AND the proxy exit (default us).
`lang`	string	no	Interface language (hl), e.g. en, it, de.
`max_results`	integer	no (default 20)	How many apps to deliver at most (1–200). You pay only for delivered apps.

Response fields

35 fields per app.

Fields of each row (app)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position.
`app_id`	string	Apple app id.
`bundle_id`	string, nullable	Bundle identifier.
`title`	string	App name.
`developer`	string, nullable	Seller/developer.
`developer_url`	string, nullable	Developer URL.
`category`	string, nullable	Primary genre.
`categories`	string[]	All genres.
`rating`	number, nullable	Average rating (all versions).
`reviews`	integer, nullable	Rating count.
`rating_current_version`	number, nullable	Average rating for the current version.
`price`	number, nullable	Numeric price (0 = free).
`price_formatted`	string, nullable	Price as shown.
`currency`	string, nullable	Currency code.
`version`	string, nullable	Current version.
`released_at`	string, nullable	First release date (ISO).
`updated_at`	string, nullable	Current version release date (ISO).
`content_rating`	string, nullable	Age rating.
`size_bytes`	number, nullable	Download size in bytes.
`icon`	string, nullable	Icon URL (512px when available).
`screenshots`	string[]	Up to 5 screenshot URLs.
`description`	string, nullable	Store description (trimmed).
`url`	string	Store URL.
`developer_id`	string, nullable	Apple developer id.
`developer_store_url`	string, nullable	The developer's page on the App Store.
`seller`	string, nullable	Legal seller name.
`category_id`	string, nullable	Primary genre id.
`reviews_current_version`	integer, nullable	Rating count for the current version.
`release_notes`	string, nullable	What's new in the current version (trimmed).
`minimum_os`	string, nullable	Minimum iOS version.
`languages`	string[]	Supported languages (ISO codes).
`devices`	string[]	Device families supported (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch…).
`game_center`	boolean	Game Center enabled.
`advisories`	string[]	Content advisories.
`ipad_screenshots`	string[]	iPad screenshot URLs (up to 5).

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/app_store_apps/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"term":"podcast player","country":"us","max_results":20}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.0008 per delivered app.

What App Store apps rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.0008
1,000	$0.80
10,000	$8.00

Up to 200 apps per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 2,500 apps. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free App Store apps API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 2,500 apps of this collector at $0.0008 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 200 apps per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.0008 per delivered app, no subscription.

Get an API key App Store scraper API