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Northgrid Data

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Get the App Store top free apps chart for any country with one curl (Apple RSS, no key)

#webdev #api #tutorial #ios

Disclosure: I built the Apify Actor linked at the end and charge per result. The raw endpoint below is free and needs no key.

Apple still serves its storefront charts as a JSON feed. You can pull the top apps for any country and category without an account.

The request 

curl -s "https://itunes.apple.com/us/rss/topfreeapplications/limit=5/json"
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Checked 2026-11-01: the top five were TikTok Pro - Events, Muse from Meta, ChatGPT, Vinted and Netflix Game Controller. The feed's updated field was 2026-11-01T05:00:31-07:00.

Each entry under feed.entry has im:name.label, id.attributes["im:id"] (the app id), category.attributes.label and im:image.

Variations

  • Swap us for any two-letter storefront code (gb, de, jp).
  • Use toppaidapplications or topgrossingapplications for other charts.
  • Add /genre=6015 before /json to filter by category (6015 is Finance).
  • Asking for limit=200 returned 100 entries when I tried it (checked 2026-11-01).

Gotchas

  • Chart entries use the im: XML-namespace keys, so access them with bracket syntax.
  • The feed is a snapshot that refreshes on Apple's schedule; store it with a timestamp if you want history.
  • Join the app ids with the lookup endpoint (https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=<id>) to get ratings, price and version.

Hosted version

If you'd rather not maintain a script, I packaged search, top charts and app metadata as an Apify Actor, pay per event, no subscription: https://apify.com/northgrid-data/app-store-search-charts-metadata

Feedback welcome in the Actor's issues.

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