Patrick <patrick@oleary.com> wrote

> Similar to the google play scraper
> https://github.com/facundoolano/google-play-scraper
>
> The iOS/Mac scraper facundoolano might be of use to you
> https://github.com/facundoolano/app-store-scraper
>
> Node.js module to scrape application data from the iTunes/Mac App Store.
> The goal is to provide an interface as close as possible to the
> google-play-scraper module.

The good news about that iOS scraper is that within a year or two, even iOS
can have an excellent app search engine that is almost as good as Android.

For reference, please see this PSA I posted just now to the Android ng.

===< begin PSA for Android/iOS app search engines >===

Because I am on this ng to learn from others and to add value,
I would like to let everyone know about this *fantastic* new app!

*Skyica App Finder is the best Google Play Store search engine*
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=scadica.aq>

*The search engine works on Mac/Linux/Windows too!*
<https://skyica.com/>

This new free, ad free & gsffree Google Play Store skin does almost
everything you'd ever want an app-search engine to do, including writing
the results to an editable Excel file after running one of the best search
algorithms on the planet with filters for user ratings, no ads, no cost,
play pass, no in-app purchases, number of ratings, number of downloads,
price range, in-app price range, date last updated, date originally
released, content rating, required Android API, target Android API, etc.

Skyica App Finder uses the FOSS Google Play Store repository scraper
<https://github.com/facundoolano/google-play-scraper>
and works in very many languages (and is actively developed & supported).

Once you've searched for & chosen an app, the Skyica App Finder will
gracefully pass you to your favorite installation method, whether that be
the Google Play Store skin itself, or a web browser interface to the Google
Play Store repository - or even one of the third-party skins to the Google
Play Store repository (such as Aurora Store, Yalp or whatever), where these
tools have huge advantages over the typical Google Play Store installation
method (such as automatically *not deleting* the APK after installing it!).

I know that this new Skyica App Finder works gracefully with privacy-based
third-party installers because the Skyica App Finder developer recently
supported me on the XDA site to ensure that people like I am (who have no
accounts whatsoever on our phones) can still use the Skyica App Finder
seamlessly with the Aurora Store Google Play Store skin to search for apps
and then to gracefully automatically *not delete* those APKs found, and
then to install those APKs on our phone (prior to automatic APK archival).
<https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-6-0-app-finder-the-most-advanced-search-engine-for-android-apps.4578809/>

BTW, Skyica's newly written Mac/Linux/Windows web site is also the best on
the planet for searching apps on the Google Play Store repository (IMHO),
(but it's not yet phone friendly).

The developer is constantly improving the new Skyica App Finder app and his
associated Skyica App Finder web search engine, where he says he will be
adding more repositories such as F-Droid, Amazon, Galaxy, and even the iOS
app repos in the near future if the app takes off & becomes commonly used.
--
I sincerely enjoy helping people learn more & I love to learn from others
which is why I wrote this public service announcement - to inform others.