The 6 markets that will 10× your iOS app's global downloads

Stop trying to localize into 20 languages at once. These six App Store markets — Japan, China, Germany, France, Brazil, Korea — drive most of the realistic upside for indie iOS developers, and we explain why each.

Most indie developers who localize for the App Store make one of two mistakes: they translate into too many languages at once and never measure what worked, or they only do English variants (UK, Australia) and call it done. Neither moves the needle.

The right way to think about it: there are roughly six markets that, between them, account for the vast majority of non-English iOS revenue worldwide. Picking the right ones — based on what your app actually does, what Apple's data says about you, and where willingness-to-pay is highest — is the entire game.

Here is the prioritized list, the reasoning behind each market, the language code to use in App Store Connect, and what to localize first.

How to read this list

Each market is ranked on a combination of three factors:

• Market size (number of iOS users + spending power)
• Localization sensitivity (how much users in this market reject English-only listings)
• Conversion ROI (typical lift seen by indie devs after localizing)

If your app is already getting impressions in a market without conversions, that's a particularly strong signal that localization is the missing piece — you're being found, just not chosen. Check Sources → Territories in App Store Connect to identify these.

1. Japan (ja) — the highest-ARPU market in the world

Japan has been the highest-ARPU app market on iOS for years. Apple itself enjoys an outsized iOS share in Japan — Statcounter and similar trackers consistently put iOS market share above 60% there, well above the global average. Japanese users spend more per capita on apps and IAPs than almost any other market.

What makes localization essential:

• App Store search in Japan is performed almost entirely in Japanese
• Japanese users have very low tolerance for English-only listings — it reads as a non-serious effort
• The character economy is dramatic: a Japanese title in 30 characters can convey roughly 3× the meaning of an English one

Localize first: title, subtitle, keywords, screenshots. The description can come second. Keep keyword field deliberately Japanese-search-pattern (don't translate English keywords directly — research what Japanese users type).

2. Mainland China — Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans)

The largest single non-English iOS market by raw user count. Listed second despite the size because of operational considerations: many western indie apps are not approved on the Chinese App Store, and successful operation often requires an ICP filing or a mainland publishing partner.

If your app is available in mainland China, localization there is non-negotiable. English-only listings get effectively zero conversion — Chinese users search exclusively in Chinese, and trust signals are heavily local.

Localize first: everything. Title, subtitle, keywords, description, screenshots, "What's new". Hire a native Chinese translator with App Store / mobile context — generic translators frequently miss nuances that affect ASO ranking.

3. Germany (de-DE) — high willingness-to-pay, mature market

German iOS users are among the highest-paying in Europe. The market has a strong preference for properly localized software, and German-language keyword search dominates the App Store there. German is also the most-spoken native language in the EU, so localizing for de-DE often gets some upside in Austria and Switzerland too.

Pitfalls to watch for:

• German compound words can break character limits — a US "Time Tracker" might become "Zeiterfassungs-App", easily 20 characters
• German users are particularly sensitive to translation quality. Machine-translated German often has telltale word-order issues that read as suspicious
• The formal "Sie" vs informal "du" choice matters. Most consumer apps use "du"; B2B / productivity tools sometimes use "Sie"

Localize first: title, subtitle, description, keywords. German screenshots are often the highest-effort localization, but the conversion uplift is among the largest of any locale.

4. France (fr-FR) — protective of local language

French iOS users overwhelmingly prefer French-language listings. Search behavior is almost entirely in French. The market is mature and high-paying, similar to Germany in profile.

One operational note: the French App Store also services Belgium and parts of Switzerland and North Africa. A clean fr-FR localization picks up downloads from all those storefronts.

Localize first: title, subtitle, description, keywords. French screenshots are not as critical as German or Japanese — the description in French often carries most of the conversion lift on its own.

5. Brazil — Portuguese (pt-BR)

The largest iOS market in Latin America by users. Brazilian users have notably low English fluency for app discovery — even users who speak some English will search and read in Portuguese.

An important point about willingness-to-pay: Brazilian iOS users are price-sensitive (Brazil is a strong PPP-pricing candidate — see our PPP pricing guide). Conversion lifts from localization are large, but pair with PPP-adjusted pricing for best results.

Localize first: title, subtitle, description. Keywords matter but Brazilian search behavior is closer to spoken Portuguese — translate naturally, not literally.

6. Korea (ko) — sophisticated, app-savvy users

Korean iOS users have one of the highest mobile-spend rates per capita worldwide, with a heavy concentration in productivity, fintech, and content apps. Search behavior is almost entirely in Korean, and the market values polished, design-forward listings.

Like Japanese, Korean character economy is strong — you can convey more in fewer characters. Like German, the market is sensitive to translation quality; native review is essential.

Localize first: title, subtitle, screenshots, keywords. Description third.

The "second tier" worth doing once the top six work

What about UK English (en-GB) and Australian English (en-AU)?

These are mostly cosmetic. The same English listing works in both with very minor changes (currency symbol, occasional spelling). The exception is when your app uses heavy US idioms or US-specific features (e.g. "Venmo integration"); in that case, a UK/AU-specific listing that adjusts feature copy makes sense. Otherwise, don't overthink it.

Operational reality: this is where things break

The biggest reason indie devs don't localize, even when they know they should, isn't translation cost — it's the App Store Connect web UI. Doing this manually means clicking through 7 fields × 6 locales = 42 separate edits per release, every time you change the description or update screenshots.

Most teams either:

• Use Fastlane (free, but CLI-heavy and intimidating for non-engineering team members)
• Pay $60+/month for AppFollow or AppRadar's localization features
• Just skip localization entirely after the first burst of effort

This is exactly the operational pain we built appsops.store to solve. You upload one CSV (or use the dashboard), and we push localizations to all your locales via the App Store Connect API in one click. We support every field type — app info, version, IAP, and subscription localizations — across all 39 languages.

Pick three, ship, measure, then expand

If you're starting today, pick your top 3 from this list — biased toward where Apple's analytics shows you have impressions but low conversion. Localize those properly (title, subtitle, keywords, description, ideally screenshots). Wait 30 days. Look at downloads-per-impression in Sources → Territories. Then decide on the next 3.

The teams that succeed at international growth are the ones that treat this as a continuous process, not a one-time "translate everything" project.