The App Store shows a Traditional Chinese page as the main one in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau and also reads it in the US (Apple help, Oct 16, 2026). In Taiwan 70 of the 100 highest-grossing apps are games, more than in Japan, Korea or China (Top Grossing, Oct 16, 2026). Make a separate zh-Hant localization, since Simplified Chinese is not on these storefronts' language list.
Where a Traditional Chinese page shows
According to Apple's App Store localizations page (Oct 16, 2026), Traditional Chinese is the default language of 3 App Store storefronts out of 175 (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), and an additional language in one more (United States).
In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Apple lists English (U.K.) as the second language, and Simplified Chinese is not on that list. A zh-Hans page made for China does not reach these storefronts, so they need their own localization.
In the US, Traditional Chinese is one of 9 additional languages, next to Simplified. According to AppTweak and Phiture, words from both localizations reach US search (AppTweak, Nov 21, 2025).
Who earns most on the App Store in Taiwan
Taiwan has more games among its top-grossing apps than Korea, Japan, China or Türkiye. On the Top Grossing chart on Oct 16, 2026, 70 of 100 are games and 6 are in the top ten, and the top three are ChatGPT, “Garena 傳說對決：十週年裂隙穿梭版本” and “TikTok - 有趣的人都在這裡”. 94 apps list Chinese among their languages.
81 of the 100 names contain Chinese characters and 18 are Latin-only, such as ChatGPT and Royal Match. Half the names are 11 characters or shorter. 40 separate the brand and a description with a colon or a dash, as in “TikTok - 有趣的人都在這裡” and “楓之谷M - 奇幻冒險MMORPG”.
| Rank | App | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatGPT | Productivity |
| 2 | Garena 傳說對決：十週年裂隙穿梭版本 | Games |
| 3 | TikTok - 有趣的人都在這裡 | Entertainment |
| 4 | YouTube | Photo & Video |
| 5 | LINE | Social Networking |
| 6 | 星城-大運西遊．紅孩兒登場 | Games |
| 7 | SD鋼彈 G世代 永恆 | Games |
| 8 | 楓之谷M - 奇幻冒險MMORPG | Games |
| 9 | 寒霜啟示錄 | Games |
| 10 | 楓之谷：放置冒險記 | Games |
Source: chart Top Grossing, Taiwan, Oct 16, 2026; languages iTunes Lookup.
What people search for on the App Store in Taiwan
We typed 9 common small-app topics into App Store search in Taiwan and saved 10 suggestions for each (Oct 16, 2026). The median query is 4 characters long. 免費 (free) does not appear in any of the 90 queries, and 軟體 or app appears in 5.
| Typed | Top App Store suggestions |
|---|---|
| 照片 photo | 照片拼貼, 照片編輯, 照片, 照片整理, 照片編輯 & 拼貼製作 |
| 影片 video | 影片剪輯, 影片製作, 影片壓縮, 影片播放器, 影片下載工具 |
| 翻譯 translation | 翻譯, 翻譯軟體, 翻譯神器, 翻譯-即時對話翻譯神器特快語音翻譯機, 翻譯鷗 |
| 睡眠 sleep | 睡眠偵測, 睡眠音樂, 睡眠監測, 睡眠品質, 睡眠紀錄 |
| 減肥 weight loss | 減肥紀錄, 減肥計劃, 減肥飲食, 減肥運動, 減肥打卡 |
| 記帳 expense log | 記帳, 記帳本, 記帳城市, 記帳軟體, 記帳本 簡單記帳軟體 |
| 掃描 scanning | 掃描全能王, 掃描器, 掃描圖片, 掃描文件軟體, 掃描qr code |
| 英文 English | 英文知識王, 英文gogogo, 英文字典, 英文單字, 英文學習 |
| 健身 fitness | 健身工廠, 健身, 健身工廠商城, 健身紀錄, 健身計畫 |
Source: App Store search suggestions, Taiwan, Oct 16, 2026.
This sets Taiwan apart from China. For the same nine topics, App Store search in China had 免费 in 7 of 90 queries (App Store suggestions, Oct 16, 2026). Taiwanese suggestions more often name the task, such as “影片剪輯” (video editing), “照片去背” (photo background removal) and “睡眠偵測” (sleep tracking).
App Store prices in Taiwan and Hong Kong dollars
Taiwan prices in New Taiwan dollars. $0.99 costs NT$30, $4.99 costs NT$150 and $9.99 costs NT$320 (App Store Connect, Oct 16, 2026), and your share dips slightly as the price grows, 80%, 79% and 78%. In Hong Kong the same steps cost HK$8, HK$38 and HK$88, and Macau prices in US dollars.
| Countries | $0.99 | $4.99 | $9.99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan | NT$30 you get NT$24 | NT$150 you get NT$118 | NT$320 you get NT$251 |
| Hong Kong | HK$8 you get HK$6.80 | HK$38 you get HK$32.30 | HK$88 you get HK$74.80 |
| Macau and United States | $0.99 you get $0.84 | $4.99 you get $4.24 | $9.99 you get $8.49 |
Source: App Store Connect, price points equal to $0.99, $4.99 and $9.99 in the US, Oct 16, 2026. Proceeds are for the Apple Small Business Program, 15% commission.
Proceeds are the price minus taxes and Apple's commission (App Store Connect Help). They are shown here for the Apple Small Business Program at 15%, and are lower at the standard 30%.
How to write the page in Traditional Chinese
- Name up to 30 characters, subtitle the same (App Store Connect Help). Half the leaders' names in Taiwan are 11 characters or shorter, and 5 of 100 use 28 or more.
- Keywords, per Apple's help, up to 100 bytes, no names of other apps (Apple). In practice App Store Connect counts characters. For our app on sale it accepted Japanese keywords of 99 characters, 259 bytes in UTF-8 (checked Oct 16, 2026). A Chinese character takes as many bytes in UTF-8 as a Japanese one.
- Keep “免費” out of the name and subtitle, since guideline 2.3.7 of the App Review Guidelines rules out pricing information in metadata.
- The suggestions on this page come from the Taiwan storefront. Check words for Hong Kong separately in the Hong Kong storefront.
Where to start with a Traditional Chinese page
- Make the Traditional Chinese localization separately from the Simplified one. According to Apple's table, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau do not read Simplified Chinese.
- If you are making a game, look at Taiwan. 70 of the 100 top-grossing apps there are games, 6 of them in the top ten.
- Start your keywords with the task itself. 免費 did not come up once in 90 Taiwanese suggestions.
- Check the price in three currencies. The $4.99 step costs NT$150 in Taiwan, HK$38 in Hong Kong and $4.99 in Macau.
Appto makes the page copy and screenshots in every language and keeps them side by side, so the Traditional Chinese page is checked against the Simplified and English ones in one window. Appto asks for your yes before writing to App Store Connect.
Questions
Does a Simplified Chinese page show in Taiwan?
Not according to Apple's table. In Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau the App Store reads Traditional Chinese and English (U.K.) (Oct 16, 2026).
How much is a $4.99 purchase in Taiwan?
NT$150 in Taiwan, HK$38 in Hong Kong and $4.99 in Macau on Oct 16, 2026 (App Store Connect). In Taiwan NT$150 brings you NT$118.
Which apps earn most in Taiwan?
Mostly games. They are 70 of the 100 top-grossing apps and 6 of the top ten. The other top-ten places go to ChatGPT, TikTok, YouTube and LINE (Top Grossing, Oct 16, 2026).
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