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How many top apps show English to non-English countries?
We checked 155 top free iPhone apps in 37 App Store countries. 36% show English screenshots in every non-English country they're sold in, and 27% show an English description everywhere. Below the top 10 it gets much worse: 51% of apps ranked 91 to 100 in their category have no localized screenshots anywhere.
Every guide says to localize your App Store listing. We wanted to know how many apps actually do, and whether it's only the biggest ones. So we took the US Top Free charts in 12 categories and checked what each app shows in 32 non-English countries, using the same engine as our free ASO review.
The headline numbers
- 43%: the median app has its own description in 43% of the non-English countries it's sold in.
- 23%: and its own screenshots in only 23%.
- 36% of apps show English screenshots in every non-English country.
- 26% have translated their description but left English screenshots in at least one country (a median of 8 countries each). Shoppers there read their language, then see English images.
- 3%: almost nobody changes the app name per country. Brand names usually stay the same, and that's normal.
Top 10 versus ranks 91 to 100
The gap between the leaders and everyone else is the most useful finding for smaller developers. Ranks 91 to 100 in a category are still successful apps, and they look much more like an indie app's listing than the top 10 do.
| Measure | Top 10 | Ranks 91–100 |
|---|---|---|
| Median share of non-English countries with their own description | 66% | 16% |
| Median share with their own screenshots | 55% | 0% |
| Apps with an English description in every non-English country | 17% | 38% |
| Apps with English screenshots in every non-English country | 22% | 51% |
| Apps localized in every non-English country (description) | 20% | 1% |
81 top-10 apps and 74 lower-ranked apps were sold in enough non-English countries to measure. The median top-10 app has its own description in 66% of them; the median app ranked 91 to 100, in 16%. For screenshots it's 55% against 0%: the typical lower-ranked app shows English screenshots everywhere.
By country
How often an app sold in each country has its own description and screenshots there. The bigger markets get the most attention; many smaller ones get almost none, which makes them the easiest place to stand out.
| Country | Language | Description | Screenshots | Apps sold there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | Spanish / Catalan | 64% | 55% | 153 |
| Mexico | Spanish (MX) | 64% | 55% | 154 |
| France | French | 64% | 55% | 151 |
| Germany | German | 63% | 53% | 153 |
| Japan | Japanese | 58% | 48% | 150 |
| Brazil | Portuguese (BR) | 58% | 50% | 153 |
| Portugal | Portuguese (PT) | 58% | 50% | 152 |
| Italy | Italian | 58% | 46% | 153 |
| South Korea | Korean | 51% | 40% | 144 |
| Netherlands | Dutch | 48% | 37% | 152 |
| China mainland | Chinese (Simplified) | 47% | 36% | 91 |
| Taiwan | Chinese (Traditional) | 47% | 36% | 148 |
| Russia | Russian | 47% | 31% | 116 |
| Türkiye | Turkish | 45% | 35% | 150 |
| Sweden | Swedish | 44% | 32% | 153 |
| Indonesia | Indonesian | 42% | 32% | 146 |
| Denmark | Danish | 41% | 27% | 151 |
| Poland | Polish | 40% | 29% | 152 |
| Saudi Arabia | Arabic | 40% | 30% | 146 |
| Norway | Norwegian | 39% | 28% | 150 |
| Thailand | Thai | 39% | 29% | 149 |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese | 38% | 30% | 141 |
| Finland | Finnish | 33% | 22% | 151 |
| Malaysia | Malay | 32% | 22% | 148 |
| Greece | Greek | 30% | 23% | 151 |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian | 30% | 23% | 141 |
| Czechia | Czech | 27% | 19% | 151 |
| Romania | Romanian | 27% | 21% | 149 |
| Hungary | Hungarian | 25% | 20% | 151 |
| Israel | Hebrew | 20% | 17% | 151 |
| Croatia | Croatian | 19% | 12% | 150 |
| Slovakia | Slovak | 17% | 13% | 149 |
Even in Germany and Japan, the apps' own descriptions reached only 63% and 58%. English-speaking storefronts (UK, Australia, Canada, India) aren't counted, because serving the original English listing there isn't a gap. China mainland has fewer apps because many aren't sold there.
By category
| Category | Median description | Median screenshots | English everywhere | Apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photo & Video | 78% | 71% | 5% | 20 |
| Productivity | 71% | 25% | 13% | 16 |
| Entertainment | 56% | 35% | 20% | 15 |
| Education | 52% | 0% | 40% | 15 |
| Health & Fitness | 42% | 34% | 29% | 14 |
| Business | 39% | 30% | 19% | 16 |
| Shopping | 29% | 31% | 11% | 9 |
| Utilities | 22% | 28% | 33% | 15 |
| Food & Drink | 17% | 13% | 17% | 6 |
| Lifestyle | 6% | 3% | 47% | 15 |
| Finance | 0% | 0% | 57% | 7 |
| Medical | 0% | 0% | 71% | 7 |
Photo & Video and Productivity apps localize the most. Finance and Medical localize least, which fits: many are tied to one country's banks or health systems. Categories with fewer apps here had more US-only apps in their charts, so read their figures as rough.
What this means if you're an indie developer
- Localizing is still a real advantage. If an app ranked 91 to 100 typically shows English everywhere, a small app with five well-translated languages already looks more local than most of its competition.
- Do screenshots, not only text. Screenshots are localized far less often than descriptions, and they're what shoppers look at first. See should you localize your App Store screenshots?
- Start where your competitors are. Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Portuguese are where apps localize most, so that's where an English listing stands out most against them.
- Don't skip the smaller markets. In countries like Israel, Croatia, Slovakia, only about one app in five or fewer has a local description. You'd be one of the few.
See where your own app stands
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- Sample: the US App Store's Top Free iPhone charts on 14 October 2026, in 12 categories (Business, Utilities, Productivity, Photo & Video, Lifestyle, Health & Fitness, Finance, Entertainment, Education, Medical, Food & Drink, Shopping). We took ranks 1 to 10 and 91 to 100 in each: 239 apps after removing duplicates. Games aren't included.
- Reach: 84 apps were sold in fewer than 10 of the 32 non-English countries (mostly US-only services) and are left out of the percentages, leaving 155.
- What counts as localized: a country counts as localized for the name, description or screenshots only when that country's version differs from the app's most common (fallback) version and is served in a single language. A second English variant shown to Japan and Brazil alike isn't counted as localization.
- Data: Apple's public lookup API with each storefront's own language, and screenshots read from each country's live App Store page. Apple doesn't publish subtitles or keyword fields, so those aren't measured.
- Percentages are over the countries each app is actually sold in. Rounding means some rows don't add to 100.
Download the data: per-app CSV and summary JSON. You're welcome to use and cite it; please link to this page. We'll rerun the study every quarter with the same method.
FAQ
What percentage of top apps localize their App Store listing?
In our 14 October 2026 study of 155 top free iPhone apps sold internationally, the median app had its own description in 43% of the non-English countries it's sold in, and its own screenshots in 23%. 27% showed the English description in every non-English country we checked.
Do smaller apps localize less than top apps?
Yes, sharply. The top 10 apps in each category had their own description in a median 66% of non-English countries; apps ranked 91 to 100 in 16%. 51% of the lower-ranked apps showed English screenshots everywhere.
Which countries get the most localized App Store listings?
Spain, Mexico, France had the most: about 64% of apps had a description in the local language there. Israel, Croatia, Slovakia had the fewest, at 17 to 20%.
Is it worth localizing my App Store screenshots?
In most countries, most of your competitors haven't. Even in Germany, 47% of the apps we checked showed screenshots that weren't localized for German shoppers, and in many smaller markets it's over 80%. Localized screenshots are one of the clearest ways to stand out in those storefronts.