Quick Answer: To export your own app's reviews, use App Store Connect (iOS) or Google Play Console (Android) — both are free. To scrape reviews from any app, use AppFollow for a managed dashboard, Apify for cloud-based scraping, or the google-play-scraper and app-store-scraper Python libraries for full programmatic control. We compare all five methods below.
Why Export App Store Reviews?
App store reviews are a direct line to your users. But reading them inside App Store Connect or the Google Play Console — one review at a time, with limited filtering — is not analysis. Exporting reviews to a spreadsheet or data pipeline unlocks several high-value workflows:
- ✓Sentiment tracking over time: Plot review sentiment by week or month to detect the impact of releases, outages, or marketing campaigns.
- ✓Bug detection: Filter exported reviews by star rating (1-2 stars) and scan for recurring complaints. This is faster than manually scrolling through the console.
- ✓ASO (App Store Optimization): Extract the language your users naturally use to describe your app. These phrases become keyword targets for your app listing.
- ✓Feature prioritization: Cluster review text by topic to identify the most-requested features and the most common pain points.
- ✓Competitive intelligence: Export competitor app reviews to understand what their users love and hate. Use those insights to position your own app.
- ✓Stakeholder reporting: Build structured reports with sentiment breakdowns, rating distributions, and topic analysis for product and executive teams.
Apple App Store vs Google Play: Data Differences
The two platforms provide different review data. Knowing what is available on each helps you pick the right export method.
| Data Field | Apple App Store | Google Play |
|---|
| Review title | Yes | No |
| Review text | Yes | Yes |
| Star rating (1–5) | Yes | Yes |
| Reviewer name | Yes (nickname) | Yes (display name) |
| Date | Yes | Yes |
| App version | Yes | Yes |
| Country/language | Yes | Yes |
| Device info | Limited | Yes (device model, Android version) |
| Developer response | Yes | Yes |
| Thumbs up / helpfulness | No | Yes |
| Updated review | No direct flag | Yes (original + updated text) |
Apple reviews include titles, which are useful for quick scanning. Google Play reviews include device-level data and helpfulness votes, which are valuable for bug tracking and prioritization.
Method 1: App Store Connect & Google Play Console (Free, Own Apps)
The Official Way to Export Your Own App's Reviews
If the app is yours, the platform consoles give you direct access to review data for free.
Apple App Store Connect:
- ✓Log in to appstoreconnect.apple.com
- ✓Select your app
- ✓Go to Ratings and Reviews
- ✓Use the filters to narrow by date range, star rating, or territory
- ✓Click the download/export button to get a CSV file
Alternatively, use the App Store Connect API for automated exports. The /v1/apps/{id}/customerReviews endpoint returns paginated JSON with all review fields.
Google Play Console:
- ✓Log in to play.google.com/console
- ✓Select your app
- ✓Navigate to Ratings and reviews → Reviews
- ✓Click "Download reviews" to export as CSV
Google Play Console also supports the Google Play Developer API (reviews.list endpoint) for programmatic access to review data.
Pros
- ✓Completely free
- ✓Official source — no TOS concerns
- ✓Full metadata including developer responses
- ✓API available for automation
Cons
- ✓Only works for your own apps
- ✓Cannot export competitor reviews
- ✓App Store Connect export interface can be slow for high-volume apps
- ✓API requires developer account setup and token management
Best for: App developers and product teams who need to export and analyze reviews for their own apps.
Method 2: Dedicated Review Management Tools
AppFollow, Appbot, AppTweak & Rivioo
Dedicated app review management tools aggregate reviews from both stores, provide built-in sentiment analysis, and let you respond to reviews from one dashboard. They are designed for product teams that treat app reviews as a core feedback channel.
Tool comparison:
| Tool | Starting Price | Platforms | Key Features |
|---|
| AppFollow | $111/mo (Essential) | iOS, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Mac App Store | Review management, sentiment analysis, ASO, reply automation, Slack/Zendesk integrations |
| Appbot | $49/mo | iOS, Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Mac App Store, Windows Store | AI sentiment analysis, topic clustering, review translation, custom reports |
| AppTweak | $69/mo (Starter) | iOS, Google Play | ASO tools + review analysis, keyword tracking, competitor benchmarking |
| Rivioo | Free (limited) / $29/mo | iOS, Google Play | Review monitoring, sentiment trends, email alerts, CSV export |
Pros
- ✓Both stores in one dashboard
- ✓Built-in sentiment analysis and topic clustering
- ✓Reply to reviews directly from the tool
- ✓Automated alerts for negative reviews
- ✓CSV/Excel export included
- ✓Works for any app (not just your own)
Cons
- ✓Monthly subscription cost ($29–$200+/month)
- ✓Data lives on the vendor's servers
- ✓Vendor lock-in — switching tools means migrating data
- ✓Lower-tier plans have app count and review volume limits
Best for: Product teams that want a managed review monitoring and response workflow with built-in analytics. Worth the investment if you act on review feedback regularly.
Method 3: Chrome Extensions & No-Code Tools
Browser-Based Review Export
Chrome extensions and web-based tools like ExportComments.com can sometimes scrape reviews directly from the App Store or Google Play web pages. You paste the app URL, click export, and download a file.
How it works:
- ✓Navigate to the app's page on the App Store (apps.apple.com) or Google Play (play.google.com)
- ✓Use a Chrome extension or paste the URL into a web-based tool
- ✓Click export and download the CSV
Limitation: The App Store web page shows very few reviews (typically the most recent 10). Google Play shows more but still paginates. Browser-based tools are limited to what is visible or loadable on the web page — they typically cannot access the full review history.
Pros
- ✓No coding required
- ✓Quick for small exports
- ✓Works for any app
Cons
- ✓Very limited review count from web pages
- ✓Unreliable — breaks when Apple/Google update their web UI
- ✓Missing metadata compared to API-based methods
Best for: Quick spot checks when you need a handful of reviews from a specific app. Not suitable for comprehensive analysis.
Method 4: Apify Actors
Cloud-Based Scraping Without Code
Apify is a cloud scraping platform with pre-built "actors" (scrapers) for both the Apple App Store and Google Play. You configure the actor with the app URL or ID, run it, and download structured review data in CSV, JSON, or Excel.
How to use Apify for app reviews:
- ✓Create an account at apify.com
- ✓Search the Apify Store for "App Store reviews" or "Google Play reviews"
- ✓Select a well-rated actor
- ✓Enter the app URL or ID in the input configuration
- ✓Set the number of reviews to scrape (e.g., 1000)
- ✓Run the actor and download results
Typical data output:
Apify actors typically return: reviewer name, rating, review title (if available), review text, date, app version, device info, thumbs up count, and developer response.
Pros
- ✓Works for any app on either store
- ✓No coding required
- ✓Handles thousands of reviews per run
- ✓Schedulable for recurring exports
- ✓Output in CSV, JSON, or Excel
- ✓Free tier available ($5/month in credits)
Cons
- ✓Paid plans needed for larger volumes ($49+/month)
- ✓Relies on scraping — actors may break after store UI changes
- ✓Quality varies between actors — check ratings and recent usage
- ✓Data processed on Apify's cloud servers
Best for: Non-developers who need to scrape large volumes of reviews from apps they do not own, especially for competitor analysis.
Method 5: Python Libraries
google-play-scraper & app-store-scraper
Open-source Python libraries give you full programmatic control over app review extraction. The two most popular libraries are google-play-scraper (for Google Play) and app-store-scraper (for the Apple App Store). Both are free and actively maintained.
Install the libraries:
pip install google-play-scraper app-store-scraper
Export Google Play reviews:
from google_play_scraper import Sort, reviews
import csv
# Scrape reviews (up to 5000 per call)
result, _ = reviews(
"com.example.app", # Replace with the app's package name
lang="en",
country="us",
sort=Sort.NEWEST,
count=1000
)
# Write to CSV
with open("google_play_reviews.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=[
"userName", "score", "content", "at", "appVersion", "thumbsUpCount"
])
writer.writeheader()
for review in result:
writer.writerow({
"userName": review["userName"],
"score": review["score"],
"content": review["content"],
"at": review["at"].isoformat(),
"appVersion": review.get("appVersion", ""),
"thumbsUpCount": review.get("thumbsUpCount", 0)
})
print(f"Exported {len(result)} Google Play reviews")
Export App Store reviews:
from app_store_scraper import AppStore
import csv
# Initialize and fetch reviews
app = AppStore(country="us", app_name="example-app", app_id="123456789")
app.review(how_many=500)
# Write to CSV
with open("app_store_reviews.csv", "w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as f:
writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=[
"userName", "rating", "title", "review", "date"
])
writer.writeheader()
for review in app.reviews:
writer.writerow({
"userName": review.get("userName", ""),
"rating": review.get("rating", ""),
"title": review.get("title", ""),
"review": review.get("review", ""),
"date": review.get("date", "")
})
print(f"Exported {len(app.reviews)} App Store reviews")
Pros
- ✓Completely free and open source
- ✓Full programmatic control — filter, transform, merge
- ✓Automatable with cron jobs or CI/CD
- ✓Works for any app (not just your own)
- ✓Data stays on your machine
- ✓Easily integrates with analysis pipelines
Cons
- ✓Requires Python knowledge
- ✓Libraries depend on undocumented APIs — may break with store changes
- ✓Rate limits apply — large scrapes may need delays
- ✓app-store-scraper can be slow for large review counts
Best for: Developers and data teams who want free, automated, and customizable review extraction with full control over the pipeline.
Full Comparison Table
| Feature | Native Console | Dedicated Tools | Chrome / No-Code | Apify | Python Libraries |
|---|
| Cost | Free | $29–200+/mo | Free / varies | Free / $49+/mo | Free |
| Coding required | No (API: yes) | No | No | No | Yes (Python) |
| Own apps only | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| iOS + Android | Separate | Both | Varies | Both | Both (separate libs) |
| Review volume | All | Depends on plan | Very limited | Thousands+ | Thousands+ |
| Sentiment analysis | No | Built-in | No | No | Via code |
| Reply to reviews | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Automation | API: yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Export formats | CSV | CSV, Excel, PDF | CSV | CSV, JSON, Excel | Any (code) |
| Best for | Own apps | Product teams | Quick spot checks | Competitor research | Data teams |
What to Do with App Review Data
Once you have your reviews in a spreadsheet or data pipeline, here are the highest-value workflows:
Sentiment Analysis
Feed review text into an LLM (ChatGPT, Claude) or a Python NLP library (VADER, TextBlob) to classify reviews by sentiment. Track sentiment by app version to measure the impact of each release. Our guide to analyzing reviews with ChatGPT walks through this step by step.
Bug Tracking & QA
Filter for 1–2 star reviews and search for keywords like "crash," "freeze," "bug," "broken," or "update." Cross-reference with the app version column to identify which releases introduced problems. This is often faster than waiting for crash reports.
ASO (App Store Optimization)
Extract recurring phrases from positive reviews — these are the words your users naturally associate with your app's value. Use them in your app title, subtitle, description, and keyword field. Reviews are a goldmine for long-tail keyword discovery.
Competitive Intelligence
Export reviews from competitor apps. Look for recurring complaints in their 1–2 star reviews — these are opportunities for your app to differentiate. Look at their 4–5 star reviews to understand what they do well. Cross-reference this with feedback from other platforms using tools like Amazon review analyzers for products, or review-based competitor analysis for broader market intelligence.
Feature Prioritization
Cluster reviews by topic (manually or using an LLM) to identify the most-requested features, the most-loved features, and the biggest pain points. Weight by recency and rating to build a data-driven feature roadmap.
Legal & Ethical Considerations
- ✓Official consoles and APIs are safe. Exporting reviews through App Store Connect, Google Play Console, or their official APIs is fully within platform terms.
- ✓Third-party scraping is a gray area. Both Apple and Google restrict automated data collection in their Terms of Service. Python libraries and Apify actors rely on undocumented endpoints or web scraping, which technically violates these terms. The practical risk is low for reasonable-volume research use, but commercial-scale scraping may draw enforcement.
- ✓Respect reviewer privacy. Reviews are public, but reviewers may not expect their comments to be aggregated and analyzed. Anonymize reviewer names in published reports or research.
- ✓Do not manipulate reviews. Use exported data for analysis, not for identifying and targeting negative reviewers or gaming the review system.
- ✓Rate limits exist. All automated methods have practical rate limits. Respect them to avoid getting your IP or API keys blocked.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you scrape App Store reviews?
Yes. You can export App Store reviews using App Store Connect (for your own apps), dedicated review management tools like AppFollow and Appbot, Apify actors, or the Python app-store-scraper library. The method you choose depends on whether the app is yours, the volume of reviews, and your technical skill level.
How do I export Google Play reviews to CSV?
For your own apps, Google Play Console lets you download reviews as CSV from the Ratings & Reviews section. For any app, the google-play-scraper Python library or Apify actors can extract reviews and export them to CSV. Dedicated tools like AppFollow also support Google Play review export.
Is it legal to scrape app store reviews?
App store reviews are publicly visible. Scraping them for research, analysis, and competitive intelligence is widely practiced. However, both Apple and Google's terms of service technically restrict automated data collection. Using official APIs and developer consoles is the safest approach. Third-party scraping should be done responsibly — respect rate limits, do not overload servers, and use the data ethically.
What data fields are available in app store reviews?
App store reviews typically include: reviewer name or username, star rating (1–5), review title (App Store only), review text, date posted, app version reviewed, device/OS info (varies), developer response (if any), and helpfulness votes. Google Play reviews also include thumbs-up count. The exact fields depend on the platform and export method.
What is the best free tool to scrape app reviews?
The google-play-scraper and app-store-scraper Python libraries are both free and open source. They require basic Python knowledge but give you full control over the export. For non-developers, Google Play Console and App Store Connect are free for your own apps. Apify offers a free tier with limited credits that can be used for app review scraping.
How many app reviews can I export at once?
Google Play Console exports all reviews with no limit. App Store Connect exports reviews in batches. Python libraries can scrape thousands of reviews per run — google-play-scraper handles up to several thousand per app. Apify actors can process tens of thousands of reviews across multiple apps in a single run. Rate limits and platform restrictions apply to automated methods.
About the author
Daniel is the founder of Adlicio. He builds the scrapers behind it and uses them daily to turn customer comments and reviews into ad angles.