An unofficial Python API that let you search, browse and download Android apps from Google Play (formerly Android Market).
This library is inspired by those projects, working with the old version of the API:
This is not an official API. I am not afiliated with Google in any way, and am not responsible of any damage that could be done with it. Use it at your own risk.
You must edit config.py before using the provided scripts (search.py, download.py, apishell.py, etc.). First, you need to provide your phone's androidID:
ANDROID_ID = None # "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
To get your androidID, use *#*#8255#*#* on your phone to start Gtalk Monitor. The hex string listed after aid is your androidID.
In order to authenticate to Google Play, you also need to provide either your Google login and password, or a valid subAuthToken.
$ python search.py
Usage: search.py request [nb_results] [offset]
Search for an app.
If request contains a space, don't forget to surround it with ""
$ python search.py earth
Title;Package name;Creator;Super Dev;Price;Offer Type;Version Code;Size;Rating;Num Downloads
Google Earth;com.google.earth;Google Inc.;1;Gratuit;1;53;8.6MB;4.46;10 000 000+
Terre HD Free Edition;ru.gonorovsky.kv.livewall.earthhd;Stanislav Gonorovsky;0;Gratuit;1;33;4.7MB;4.47;1 000 000+
Earth Live Wallpaper;com.seb.SLWP;unixseb;0;Gratuit;1;60;687.4KB;4.06;5 000 000+
Super Earth Wallpaper Free;com.mx.spacelwpfree;Mariux;0;Gratuit;1;2;1.8MB;4.41;100 000+
Earth And Legend;com.dvidearts.earthandlegend;DVide Arts Incorporated;0;5,99 €;1;6;6.8MB;4.82;50 000+
[...]
Depending on the number of results you ask, you might get an error. My tests show that 100 search results are the maximum, but it may vary.
By default, all scripts have CSV output. You can use Linux's column to prettify the output:
$ alias pp="column -s ';' -t"
$ python search.py earth | pp
Title Package name Creator Super Dev Price Offer Type Version Code Size Rating Num Downloads
Google Earth com.google.earth Google Inc. 1 Gratuit 1 53 8.6MB 4.46 10 000 000+
Terre HD Free Edition ru.gonorovsky.kv.livewall.earthhd Stanislav Gonorovsky 0 Gratuit 1 33 4.7MB 4.47 1 000 000+
Earth Live Wallpaper com.seb.SLWP unixseb 0 Gratuit 1 60 687.4KB 4.06 5 000 000+
Super Earth Wallpaper Free com.mx.spacelwpfree Mariux 0 Gratuit 1 2 1.8MB 4.41 100 000+
Earth And Legend com.dvidearts.earthandlegend DVide Arts Incorporated 0 5,99 € 1 6 6.8MB 4.82 50 000+
Earth 3D com.jmsys.earth3d Dokon Jang 0 Gratuit 1 12 3.4MB 4.05 500 000+
[...]
You can list all app categories this way:
$ python categories.py | pp
ID Name
GAME Jeux
NEWS_AND_MAGAZINES Actualités et magazines
COMICS BD
LIBRARIES_AND_DEMO Bibliothèques et démos
COMMUNICATION Communication
ENTERTAINMENT Divertissement
EDUCATION Enseignement
FINANCE Finance
Sorry for non-French speakers!
All categories have subcategories. You can list them with:
$ python list.py
Usage: list.py category [subcategory] [nb_results] [offset]
List subcategories and apps within them.
category: To obtain a list of supported catagories, use categories.py
subcategory: You can get a list of all subcategories available, by supplying a valid category
$ python list.py WEATHER | pp
Subcategory ID Name
apps_topselling_paid Top payant
apps_topselling_free Top gratuit
apps_topgrossing Les plus rentables
apps_topselling_new_paid Top des nouveautés payantes
apps_topselling_new_free Top des nouveautés gratuites
And then list apps within them:
$ python list.py WEATHER apps_topselling_free | pp
Title Package name Creator Super Dev Price Offer Type Version Code Size Rating Num Downloads
La chaine météo com.lachainemeteo.androidapp METEO CONSULT 0 Gratuit 1 8 4.6MB 4.38 1 000 000+
Météo-France fr.meteo Météo-France 0 Gratuit 1 11 2.4MB 3.63 1 000 000+
GO Weather EX com.gau.go.launcherex.gowidget.weatherwidget GO Launcher EX 0 Gratuit 1 25 6.5MB 4.40 10 000 000+
Thermomètre (Gratuit) com.xiaad.android.thermometertrial Mobiquité 0 Gratuit 1 60 3.6MB 3.78 1 000 000+
You can use permissions.py to see what permissions are required by an app without downloading it:
$ python search.py gmail 1 | pp
Titre Package name Creator Super Dev Price Offer Type Version Code Size Rating Num Downloads
Gmail com.google.android.gm Google Inc. 1 Gratuit 1 403 2.7MB 4.32 100 000 000+
$ python permissions.py com.google.android.gm
android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS
android.permission.MANAGE_ACCOUNTS
android.permission.INTERNET
android.permission.READ_CONTACTS
android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS
android.permission.READ_SYNC_SETTINGS
android.permission.READ_SYNC_STATS
android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
[...]
You can specify multiple apps, using only one request.
Downloading an app is really easy, just provide its package name. I only tested with free apps, but I guess it should work as well with non-free as soon as you have enough money on your Google account.
$ python download.py com.google.android.gm
Downloading 2.7MB... Done
$ file com.google.android.gm.apk
com.google.android.gm.apk: Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract
An interactive shell can be started using the apishell.py script. It initializes the api object and logs you in.
$ python apishell.py
Google Play Unofficial API Interactive Shell
Successfully logged in using your Google account. The variable 'api' holds the API object.
Feel free to use help(api).
>>> print api.__doc__
Google Play Unofficial API Class
Usual APIs methods are login(), search(), details(), download(), browse() and list().
toStr() can be used to pretty print the result (protobuf object) of the previous methods.
toDict() converts the result into a dict, for easier introspection.
>>> res = api.search("angry birds")
>>> for i in res.doc[0].child:
... print i.title.encode('utf8')
...
Angry Birds
Angry Birds Seasons
Angry Birds Space
Angry Birds Rio
Angry Birds Space Premium
Angry Birds - AngryBirdsBackup
Angry Aviary LiteÔÿà Angry Birds
[...]
All results returned by methods such as search(), details(), ..., are Protobuf objects. You can use toStr and toDict method from GooglePlayAPI to pretty-print them and make introspection easier if you're not familiar with Protobuf.
>>> s = api.browse()
>>> s
<googleplay_pb2.BrowseResponse object at 0x025DBF48>
>>> d = api.toDict(s)
>>> d.keys()
['promoUrl', 'category', 'contentsUrl']
>>> from pprint import pprint
>>> pprint(d['category'])
[{'dataUrl': u'browse?c=3&cat=GAME', 'name': u'Jeux'},
{'dataUrl': u'browse?c=3&cat=NEWS_AND_MAGAZINES',
[...]
You only need googleplay.py and googleplay_pb2.py. All other scripts are just front-ends.
>>> from googleplay import GooglePlayAPI
>>> help(GooglePlayAPI)
What else?
Feel free to extend the API, add command-line options to scripts, fork the project, and port it to any language.
You can generate Protobuf stubs from googleplay.proto file with Google's protoc:
$ protoc -h
Usage: protoc [OPTION] PROTO_FILES
Parse PROTO_FILES and generate output based on the options given:
[...]
--cpp_out=OUT_DIR Generate C++ header and source.
--java_out=OUT_DIR Generate Java source file.
--python_out=OUT_DIR Generate Python source file.
This project is released under the BSD license.