app-store-review-intelligence-mcp

# App Store & Google Play Review Intelligence MCP Server

**Ask your AI agent what users hate about any iOS or Android app, and what broke in the last update.** This [MCP](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server searches the Apple App Store and Google Play, pulls recent reviews for any app (yours or a competitor's), and returns analysis your agent can use directly: top complaints with quotes, rating by version, **what got worse in the latest version**, and side-by-side competitor benchmarks. No API keys, no App Store Connect or Play Console access needed.

> **Hosted (no setup):** [apify.com/parallelstudio/app-store-review-intelligence-mcp](https://apify.com/parallelstudio/app-store-review-intelligence-mcp). Connect any MCP client to `https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp` with your Apify token and pay per call. You can also run this open-source code locally over stdio: `npm install && npm run build && npx app-review-intel-mcp`.

> **Now with Google Play:** every tool works on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, including iOS-vs-Android comparisons.

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.gunnargray-dev/app-store-review-intelligence-mcp -->

Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and any client that supports MCP over Streamable HTTP.

## What you can ask

- **"What broke in Instagram's last update?"** `review_insights` compares the newest version with the previous one: rating change, negative-share change, and the complaints that rose most, with quotes.
- **"Top 10 complaints about Duolingo on Android vs iOS."** Same tool, either store. The store is inferred from the app id.
- **"Compare Notion, Obsidian and Evernote. Who has the unhappiest users, and why?"** `compare_apps` gives one table with leaders per metric. You can mix Apple and Google Play ids.
- **"Find the top meditation apps on Google Play."** `search_apps` returns ids, ratings, installs and prices.
- **"Show me the latest reviews mentioning crashes."** `get_app_reviews` returns raw review text for your own analysis.

## Tools

| Tool | Use it when | Returns | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
| `search_apps` | You have an app name or a category and need its id | id (Apple numeric id or Play package name), name, developer, rating, rating count, price, genre, version, URL; installs on Google Play | per call |
| `review_insights` | **Start here** for any "why are users unhappy / what changed / summarize feedback" question | rating distribution, rating by version, top complaint phrases (share of 1–2★ reviews + quote), `versionDeltas` (latest vs previous version: rating change, rising complaints with quotes), sample quotes | flat per call |
| `get_app_reviews` | You need the actual review text | reviews with rating, title (Apple), body, version, date, helpful votes; developer replies on Google Play | per review returned |
| `compare_apps` | Competitor benchmark of 2–10 apps (Apple and Google can be mixed) | store rating & count, installs, price, version, recent average, % negative/positive, latest-version average, top 5 complaints, leaders | flat per call |

**Parameters.** `app_id` accepts an Apple id (`284882215`, `id284882215`, or an apps.apple.com URL) or a Google Play package name (`com.instagram.android` or a play.google.com URL). `store` (`apple` | `google`) is optional because it's inferred from the id. On `search_apps` it defaults to `apple`. `country` is a 2-letter storefront code (`us`, `gb`, `de`…). `pages` is 1–10, about 50 reviews each. `lang` (Google Play only, default `en`) picks the review language. `review_insights` also takes `countries` (pool up to 10 storefronts), `since_version` (choose the version to compare from), `keyword_limit` and `quotes`.

All tools are read-only. Errors come back as MCP tool errors (`isError: true`), prefixed `invalid_input`, `upstream_error` or `internal_error`.

## Example output

`review_insights` `{ "app_id": "389801252", "countries": ["us", "gb"] }` (Instagram for iOS, real call, October 2026, trimmed):

```json
{
  "sample": { "reviews": 300, "negativeReviews": 188, "byCountry": { "us": 150, "gb": 150 } },
  "ratingDistribution": { "average": 2.42, "total": 300 },
  "storeRating": { "averageRating": 4.69, "ratingCount": 29583259 },
  "versionDeltas": {
    "basis": "version",
    "latest":   { "label": "450.1.0", "reviews": 210, "averageRating": 2.17, "negativeShare": 0.695 },
    "previous": { "label": "previous versions 448.0.0–450.0.0", "reviews": 90, "averageRating": 3.0, "negativeShare": 0.467 },
    "change": { "averageRating": -0.83, "negativeShare": 0.228 },
    "whatGotWorse": [
      { "phrase": "ipad", "status": "new", "latestShare": 0.24, "previousShare": 0, "change": 0.24,
        "examples": [{ "rating": 1, "text": "iPad Update Ruined Reels. Tiny, unchangeable aspect ratio that hovers over the search page?…" }] },
      { "phrase": "reels", "status": "increased", "latestShare": 0.281, "previousShare": 0.095, "change": 0.186 },
      { "phrase": "full screen", "status": "new", "latestShare": 0.11, "previousShare": 0, "change": 0.11,
        "examples": [{ "rating": 1, "text": "Broken UI in latest update. Can no longer see full screen reels in iPad. They now crop reels to square format…" }] }
    ],
    "confidence": "high",
    "summary": "Version 450.1.0 (210 reviews) average 2.17★ vs 3.00★ for previous versions 448.0.0–450.0.0 (90 reviews), −0.83; negative share 69.5% vs 46.7% (+22.8 pp). Rising complaints: \"ipad\" (new, 24% of negative reviews), …"
  },
  "complaintKeywords": [
    { "phrase": "reels", "reviews": 45, "share": 0.239, "example": "…" },
    { "phrase": "ipad", "reviews": 35, "share": 0.186, "example": "…" },
    { "phrase": "account", "reviews": 34, "share": 0.181, "example": "…" },
    { "phrase": "full screen", "reviews": 16, "share": 0.085, "example": "…" }
  ]
}
```

`search_apps` `{ "term": "meditation", "store": "google", "limit": 3 }`:

| id | name | developer | rating | installs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| com.spotlightsix.zentimerlite2 | Insight Timer - Meditation App | Insight Network Inc | 4.70 | 10,000,000+ |
| meditofoundation.medito | Medito: Meditation & Sleep | Medito for Mindfulness, Meditation and Sleep | 4.79 | 1,000,000+ |
| com.getsomeheadspace.android | Headspace: Sleep & Meditation | Headspace for Meditation, Mindfulness and Sleep | 4.26 | 10,000,000+ |

`compare_apps` `{ "app_ids": ["324684580", "com.spotify.music"], "pages": 1 }` compares Spotify on iOS and Android. It reports a 4.77 vs 4.35 store rating, a 4.18 vs 3.90 recent average, and 16% vs 28% negative reviews. Top Android complaints: premium, song, ads.

See [`demo/transcript.md`](https://github.com/gunnargray-dev/app-store-review-intelligence-mcp/blob/main/demo/transcript.md) for full, untrimmed responses from every tool.

**Step-by-step recipes** (release check, competitor teardown, iOS vs Android, a weekly watch in Claude Code) with real results and per-workflow cost: [`docs/workflows.md`](https://github.com/gunnargray-dev/app-store-review-intelligence-mcp/blob/main/docs/workflows.md).

## Pricing

Pay-per-event: tool events are charged only for successful calls. Calls that fail validation or can't reach the store are not charged as tool events. Apify also charges its standard **Actor start** event ($0.00005 per GB of memory, minimum one event) each time a server instance starts. At the default 512 MB standby memory that's $0.00005 per start, and one running instance serves many calls before it idles out. The **Pricing** tab on this Actor is the authoritative list of current prices.

| Event | Price | Charged for |
|---|---|---|
| `search-apps` | $0.002 | each App Store `search_apps` call |
| `review` | $0.001 | each App Store review returned by `get_app_reviews` (50 reviews = 50 events; 0 reviews = no `review` events) |
| `review-insights` | $0.03 | each App Store `review_insights` call, flat. Reviews analyzed internally are **not** charged as `review` events |
| `compare-apps` | $0.05 | each `compare_apps` call with only App Store apps, flat however many apps or reviews |

Google Play calls are billed as separate events at the same prices: `play-search` $0.002 per search, `play-review` $0.001 per review, `play-review-insights` $0.03 per call, `play-compare-apps` $0.05 per comparison that includes any Google Play app.

**Tip:** `review_insights` and `compare_apps` cost the same however many reviews they analyze. For aggregates they are much cheaper than pulling hundreds of raw reviews.

## Connect your MCP client

Endpoint (Streamable HTTP):

```
https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp
```

Authenticate with your [Apify API token](https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations) by sending it as `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>`.

### Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf (JSON config)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "app-store-reviews": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <APIFY_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

If your client only supports stdio servers, bridge with [`mcp-remote`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-remote):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "app-store-reviews": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "mcp-remote",
        "https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
        "--header", "Authorization: Bearer ${APIFY_TOKEN}"
      ],
      "env": { "APIFY_TOKEN": "<APIFY_TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Code

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http app-store-reviews \
  https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN"
```

### VS Code (`.vscode/mcp.json`)

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "app-store-reviews": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://parallelstudio--app-store-review-intelligence-mcp.apify.actor/mcp",
      "headers": {