Filter iTunes search API results

itunes-search-api
user1538106 picture user1538106 · Sep 4, 2012 · Viewed 8.2k times · Source

It seems like iTunes search API returns different results than the ones returned when searching on an iPhone device (also results are in different order).

Assuming I want the results to be identical to an iPhone device, how do I do that with the official search API?

Also, is there a way to filter out non-iPhone apps from the search results?

Search API URL

iPhone search URL

Answer

Ted Hosmann picture Ted Hosmann · Feb 6, 2013

The search stack developed for the store is a different algorithm than the search stack for developer tools.

That said, understand some of the following features of the developer tool (Search API) that are helpful:

  • "sort=popular" is the default order that results are returned. "sort=recent" is the alternative.

  • "entity=software" will return apps that are available on iPhone, iPod touch and Universal apps (that work on iPad) but if you want all iOS apps you should use "entity=software,iPadSoftware"

  • Focus your search term on the attribute you are trying to target. If you know your search term is a song title (and not an album name or artist name) then use "attribute=songTerm"

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