How far do apps actually rebuild their store listing when they cross a border? Further than translation, and the depth is measurable. Of six apps holding positions on the Korean, Japanese and US App Store charts in the week of November 2, 2026, all six ship different screenshots in each country, three use a different title per country, four rewrite the description per country, and one runs an entirely separate app for its home market (Apple App Store listing data, November 2, 2026). Two Korean apps that do not sell abroad do the opposite: one listing, in Korean, worldwide. How far a team has gone is not a matter of taste. It is a statement about how it has decided to treat that market.
Data: Apple App Store listing data for eight apps in the Korean, Japanese and US storefronts, collected November 2, 2026 via the public iTunes Lookup API. Chart positions are Apple App Store Top Free 50 for November 1–2, 2026.
What did they change, and what did they leave alone?
| App | Title | Screenshots | Description | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DramaWave (SKYWORK AI) | 🇰🇷🇯🇵🇺🇸 all different | all different | all different | 28 |
| zeta (Scatter Lab) | all different | all different (🇰🇷10 🇯🇵10 🇺🇸5) | all different | 3 |
| Tabelog (Kakaku.com) | 🇰🇷🇺🇸 different | different | different | 4 |
| setlog (New Chat) | 🇰🇷🇯🇵 identical | all different | all different | 8 |
| Rocket Now (Coupang) | 🇯🇵 only | 🇯🇵 only | 🇯🇵 only | 2 |
| Muse from Meta | 🇯🇵🇺🇸 identical | 🇯🇵7 🇺🇸8 | different | 39 |
| Olive Young (control) | 올리브영 everywhere | same 10 | same 493 chars | 1 |
| Pocket CU (control) | 포켓CU everywhere | same 7 | same 1,197 chars | 1 |
Apple App Store listing data, November 2, 2026.
Screenshots change first and titles change last. All six border-crossing apps rebuilt their screenshots; only three went as far as the title. setlog ranked #3 on Japan's App Store Top Free chart on November 1, 2026 while running the same title it uses in Korea, “setlog” (Apple App Store, 2026). A brand that can keep its name keeps it.
The four levels of store localization
| Level | What it looks like | Apps here |
|---|---|---|
| 1. One listing worldwide | Title, screenshots and description identical in every storefront | Olive Young, Pocket CU |
| 2. Target market only | That market gets its own set; every other storefront shares a default | Rocket Now |
| 3. Every storefront | Rebuilt country by country | setlog, zeta, DramaWave |
| 4. A separate app | The market is served by a different listing altogether | Tabelog |
Level 1 is visible to users
Olive Young ships the same ten screenshots and the same 493-character Korean description to the Korean, Japanese and US App Stores, under the title 올리브영 in all three. Pocket CU does the same with seven screenshots. A US shopper who finds either app is reading a Korean-language listing.
That is not a mistake. Neither company sells abroad, so Level 1 is coherent for both. What is not coherent is running acquisition in a market while sitting at Level 1 in it.
Level 2 is a deliberate half-measure
Coupang built a Japanese listing for Rocket Now and stopped there. Japan gets a Japanese title and its own screenshot set; Korea and the US share one English screenshot set and a byte-identical 2,441-character description. The app supports two languages, English and Japanese. Coupang localized the market it sells into and left the rest on a default.
Level 4: Kakaku.com runs two Tabelog apps
The Tabelog app that entered Korea's App Store Top Free chart at #39 on November 2, 2026 is not listed in Japan's App Store at all. Kakaku.com serves Japan with a separate app, 食べログ, which supports a single language. The travelling app supports four: English, Korean, Thai and Chinese.
At Level 4 the question has stopped being “should we translate the listing” and become “are we selling the same product to both audiences?” When the answer is no, the listing was never the real problem.
Supported-language count is a ceiling, not an engine
Muse from Meta supports 39 languages and DramaWave 28. They are the only two apps in this set holding a top-10 position in more than one country at the same time (Apple App Store, November 1–2, 2026).
But zeta holds positions in three countries on three languages — Korean, Japanese and English. Adding languages does not produce results. Multilingual support widens the range you can reach; what produces results inside that range is the listing for each country.
One visible gap: zeta ships ten screenshots to Korea and Japan and five to the US. Same app, same day.
What to change first
1. Screenshots. The one thing all six border-crossing apps changed. It is decided on the first screen.
2. Description. Rewritten per country by four of them. Not translation — a restatement of what you are selling in that market.
3. Title. Changed by only three. It earns its keep where the brand has no recognition.
4. The product. Tabelog's answer. If the first three are done and it still does not work, this question is what is left.
Entering Japan or Korea? Rocket Ads by aix Inc. tracks the Korea and Japan app charts every week and helps app publishers acquire high-value users in Japan.
Sources
- Apple App Store listing data (KR/JP/US storefronts), public iTunes Lookup API, November 2, 2026 — app IDs: DramaWave 6670430706 · zeta 1619030760 · Tabelog overseas 6752922875 · 食べログ domestic 763377066 · setlog 6587576438 · Rocket Now 6739188587 · Muse from Meta 6760173601 · Olive Young 873779010 · Pocket CU 573144133
- Apple App Store Top Free 50 (KR/JP/US), feeds of November 1–2, 2026
