The App Studies Initiative designs methods and software tools for app-related media research. These tools are freely available to everyone.
Note: Some of our tools require a password (indicated by a *). Please reach out to request access to these tools. We look forward to hearing from you.
| Name | Description | Version | Link | Info | Developed (In Collaboration With) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepthrough | A local-first research tool designed to automatically turn video screen recordings into clean, chronological walkthrough screenshots. It is built to help researchers, designers, and developers quickly extract key navigational steps from app runs or usability tests. Works for any screen recording on desktop, mobile and web. | beta | github.com | github.com | H. “Kevin” Jin (University of Amsterdam) | github.com |
| App Studies Capture & Analysis Toolkit* | Scrape app details, app store lists, and app store recommendations from Apple's iTunes App Store. This is an instance of the 4CAT Capture and Analysis Toolkit, a software suite that can capture data from a variety of online sources, and analyze the data through analytical processors. | beta | appstudies.digitalmethods.net | bit.ly/asirw-1; 4cat.nl | Digital Methods Initiative / OILab (University of Amsterdam) | github.com |
| AppInspect | Scan and inspect Android application packages (APKs). | beta | appinspect.phil.uni-siegen.de | appinspect.phil.uni-siegen.de | CRC ‘Media of Cooperation’ (University of Siegen) | github.com |
| PyCatFlow | A Python package for visualising categorical time series data. | beta | zenodo.org | medium.com | CRC ‘Media of Cooperation’ (University of Siegen) | github.com |
| AppTraffic | Capture, inspect, and playback the traffic of mobile apps. | beta | apptraffic.phil.uni-siegen.de | apptraffic.phil.uni-siegen.de | CRC ‘Media of Cooperation’ (University of Siegen) | github.com |
| iTunes App Store Scraper* | Scrape app details, app store lists, and app store recommendations from Apple's iTunes App Store. | beta | tools.digitalmethods.net | bit.ly/asirw-1 | Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) | pypi.org/project/itunes-app-scraper-dmi |
| Google Play Scraper* | Scrape app details, app store lists, app store recommendations, and app permissions from Google Play. | beta | tools.digitalmethods.net | bit.ly/asirw-1 | Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) | pypi.org/project/google-play-scraper-dmi |
| PartS 2.0 | (Live) capture and collect sensor data from Android-supported mobile devices and apps. | alpha | CRC ‘Media of Cooperation’ (University of Siegen) | |||
| LE-CAT | Analyse and categorise textual data using a specified lexicon (categorisation schema). | beta | sisko.cim.warwick.ac.uk | github.com | Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (University of Warwick); CRC ‘Media of Cooperation’ (University of Siegen) | github.com |
| Walkthrough Explorer | Analyse and compare app interface screens in specified apps. | beta | Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (University of Warwick) | |||
| Appcestry | Analyse Android APK files to identify code base similarities. | beta | appcestry.jasontc.net | appcestry.jasontc.net | Jason Chao (University of Warwick) | github.com |
| App Tracker Tracker | Detect software development libraries used in Android APK files. | beta | tools.digitalmethods.net | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) | |
| Google Play ‘Similar’ Apps | Extract the details of Android apps, collect ‘Similar’ Android apps, and extract their details. | beta | tools.digitalmethods.net | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) | |
| iTunes Store | Query the iTunes Store and extract the details of iOS apps. | beta | tools.digitalmethods.net | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) |
We also create reference worksheets and other resources to assist students, researchers, and lecturers in their training or teaching with tools. These are also freely available to everyone.
| Title | Status | Link | Part of | Created (With) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram Data Scraping | public | bit.ly/asirw-2 | bit.ly/msrw-index | Digital Methods Initiative; Public Data Lab; King’s College London (Digital Humanities) |
| App Store Data Scraping | public | bit.ly/asirw-1 | bit.ly/msrw-index | Digital Methods Initiative |