Asia App Excellence: Discover 9 Online Services for App Store Optimization and Localization

App Localization
App Store Optimization
Oct 12, 2023

App Store Optimization in Asian regions is made complicated by strong language barriers, but we at RadASO are well versed with handling various complexities that Asian locales bring to the table.  To help ease and speed up the optimization processes involved, we will be discussing the key online services that will streamline localization in Far Eastern countries.  We’ll start by describing their main functions ASO specialists will be interested in. Let's go!

Complications with Localization in Asia

AppTweak, DataAI, Appfollow and other standard industry tools do not always help when Asian regions are involved. There are three key issues that can be distinguished when working with this region.

1. A lack of clarity regarding the realistic search volume figures in China.

This occurs due to the difference in algorithms that services use to calculate the level of search term popularity

Attribute
Value
Format
PNG
Color space
Display P3 (wide-gamut color), sRGB (color), or Gray Gamma 2.2 (grayscale).
See Color Management.
Layers
Flattened with no transparency
Resolution
Shape
Square with no rounded corners
Attribute
Value
Format
PNG
Color space
Display P3 (wide-gamut color), sRGB (color), or Gray Gamma 2.2 (grayscale).
See Color Management.
Layers
Flattened with no transparency
Resolution
Shape
Square with no rounded corners
Word
Frequency in service
Qimai(China)*
AppTweak
Mobileaction
Appfollow
课程 (course)
5387 (high)
56 (mid)
5 (low)
34 (mid)
外语 (foreign language)
5699 (high)
35 (mid)
5 (low)
34(mid)
播放 (play)
5496 (high)
35 (mid)
5 (low)
35 (mid)
*Search index in China provided by Qimai and based on multidimensional calculations such as search results, downloads and relatable keywords.
App Store
Google Play
1. Icon impact on user choice
Important, but not more than a video with screenshots, as they take up most of the screen
Icon is displayed with several other icons in search results, and therefore it has the greatest impact on the user's choice
2. Icon localization
1 icon for all locales
Can be localized for each country
3. Screenshots quantity, orientation
From 1 to 10, any orientation
From 2 to 8, any orientation
4. Screenshots the most important are the ones that are visible before you start scrolling
  • Vertical screenshots: 3 are visible
  • Horizontal screenshots: only the first one is visible
  • Vertical screenshots: 4 are visible
  • Horizontal screenshots: only the first one is visible
5. Screenshots size
Large — the content is legible
Much smaller — the captions are quite illegible
6. Video quantity
Up to 3
One video that must be uploaded to YouTube
7. Video orientation
Any orientation
Horizontal orientation prioritized
8. Video autoplay
Plays automatically for 30 seconds without sound
You need to click on it to play
9. Application cover
Displayed on the application and developer pages
There is no cover
10. Graphics update
After release only
Whenever

2. Specifics of hieroglyphic input.

The biggest obstacle in visual perception of a person who doesn't understand  hieroglyphic language is the absence of any punctuation. A notable example is the difficulty of visual perception that’s related to the three variants of written  Japanese language - hiragana, katakana and kanji. They are interchangeable and can mix with each other. So you can see different types of hieroglyphs at the same time in one sentence that won't be divided in any way by spaces or punctuation.

3. Inaccurate translation using popular online translation tools.

You are not always receiving accurate keywords translations. You need to search for synonyms that are spelled correctly and have bigger popularity among locals.  

E.g.:
For the keyword "order a taxi", Google Translate returns a translation consisting of 4 Chinese hieroglyphs  — 叫出租车. Any kind of phrasing is rarely used in spoken language, thus it has a low search volume.  
Popular analogies among local population:
打车
— take a taxi — a search volume of 7176.
叫车
— call a taxi— a search volume of 5424.

Further recomendations that can address these questions.

Device or context
Icon size
iPhone
60x60 pt (180x180 px @3x)
60x60 pt (120x120 px @2x)
iPad Pro
83.5x83.5 pt (167x167 px @2x)
iPad, iPad mini
76x76 pt (152x152 px @2x)
App Store
1024x1024 pt (1024x1024 px @1x)
Source language
Target language
How much longer (+) or shorter (–) the text in the target language is
English
French
21.18%
English
Spanish
19.52%
English
Italian
17.91%
English
Deutsch
16.67%
English
Dutch
13.80%
English
Portuguese (Portugal)
14.29%
English
Portuguese (Brazil)
12.96%
English
Polish
9.33%
English
Russian
9.11%
English
Czech
3.70%
English
Arab
–6.25%
English
Japanese
–39.68%
English
Korean
–44.04%
English
Chinese (Simplified)
–61.97%
English
Chinese (Traditional)
–63.80%
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.

Multifunctional service for China — Qimai

Qimai is the Chinese counterpart of widely familiar ASO services like AppTweak, DataAI, Appfollow, etc.

It covers data originating from the main app stores (App Store and Google Play) and 9 others serving Android users in 155 countries/regions all over the world. Qimai supports numerous multidimensional data functionality, including rankings for the apps you’re interested in, comparison of competing products, gives you profit estimates, etc. The semantic core gathering process in Chinese language with Qimai will take 15-20 minutes max. This core consists of relevant keyword queries that have an accurate translation and the greatest search volume relevance at the same time.  The service is relatively free to use, but it also comes with a paid subscription. Making the switch may be necessary If you’re going to analyze more than 10 apps and 1000 words. Pricing is quite affordable and starts from 4600 CNY (approx $350).

Qimai’s main quirks

It's  fully in Chinese, so for comfortable work, you’re almost certainly going to need some form of automated translation to translate the pages. If you work in Chrome, you will automatically be given an option to translate foreign languages. In other cases, you can use browser extensions such as Select to Translate, ImTranslator, and others.

Let's take a look at the interface.

Home page:

Expanded information about the application:

Additional useful instruments:

Advantages:

  1. It simplifies the translation of keywords and synonym selection.
  2. It displays available information about the app, ranging from keywords and all the way to its position within the category.
  3. You can obtain installation analytics of yours and your competitors’ apps.  
  4. The service also holds information pertaining to all alternative Android stores  — Poco, Vivo, Huawei, Oppo, Meizu, Yingyingbao, Baidu, 360 Mobiles.
  5. The process of monitoring reviews and ratings in all alternative stores is also simplified.
  6. It has the capability to configure and optimize ASA campaigns directly from the dashboard in your personal account. Intelligent bid adjustment.
  7. Data is accessed through an API key.

Downsides:

  1. The service is exclusively geared towards China.
  2. It's designed for an audience from a specific region and therefore its interface is not always clear. Translation services do not always give a correct translation.
  3. Free version has limitations:
  • you can login from 2 devices only;
  • subscription service is limited to 10 apps and 1000 keywords;
  • you can only add 10 competitors’ products;
  • data exports are allowed only 10 times/day;
  • checking iOS download statistics/profit evaluation is available only 3 times per day.
Device
Spotlight icon size
Settings icon size
Notification icon size
iPhone
40x40 pt (120x120 px @3x)
29x29 pt (87x87 px @3x)
38x38 pt (114x114 px @3x)
40x40 pt (80x80 px @2x)
29x29 pt (58x58 px @2x)
38x38 pt (76x76 px @2x)
iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini
40x40 pt (80x80 px @2x)
29x29 pt (58x58 px @2x)
38x38 pt (76x76 px @2x)
Search term
Translation
SAP* English (U.S.)
SAP* English (U.K.)
truck games
games with trucks
62
39
lorry games
games with trucks
32
jail games
prison games
29
8
prison games
prison games
32
24
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.
App Store
Google Play
What can be tested?
  • Short description
  • Long description
  • Icon
  • Feature graphics
  • Screenshots
  • Videos
  • Screenshots
  • Videos
  • Icon (has to be uploaded to the build*)
Number of simultaneously running tests
5 tests (each test is valid within a single country.

You can choose a default country test (details below): then it will run in all countries where there are no localized graphical or textual materials.
1 test (the test can be immediately extended to all countries where the application is available or opt for specific countries as needed)
The number of test variants that can be tested with the current version in the store
Compared with a maximum of 3 new variants
Can a test be launched while another item is under review?
Yes
No
Mandatory formats for screenshots uploaded to the store
6.5
  • 6.5
  • 5.5
  • 12.9 (if there is an iPad version)
*Build – is a new version of the application. Updating the icon is only possible when updating the application version in the store. In other words, the term "build" refers to a specific version or variant of the application that is ready to be downloaded and installed on the users' devices. It contains all the necessary files and data for users to install and use the application.
More about optimizing graphic elements in the App Store and Google Play can be found in the article 'Graphics in Mobile App Promotion in the App Store and Google Play (ASO) – How to Optimize Graphic Elements.'

Services for morphological text analysis

These services let us split phrases into individual words.

Japanese morphological analyzer Atilika.org

Atilika.org (Kuromoji) — is an open source Java based Japanese morphological analyzer. It has been transferred to Apache software fund and provides Japanese language support through:

  • Apache Lucene — free open source software library for search engines
  • Apache Solr 3.6 / 4.0 — another open source enterprise search platform

Interface:

Key features of Kuromoji:

  1. Column 1: word segmentation — breaking the text structure into words.
  2. Column 2: part of speech marking  — assigning categories to words (nouns, verbs, particles, adjectives, etc.).
  3. Column 3: lemmatization — obtaining dictionary forms for conjugatable verbs and adjectives.
  4. Column 4/5: reading kanji.

Upsides:

  • Free demo version,
  • Intuitively understandable main features with an English translation,
  • Easy distribution of the whole text into separate components,
    when adding phrases, you get separate words and their original word forms which can be used to build meta-data afterwards,
  • An open source tool written in Java that can be integrated into your own resource or website if desired.

Drawbacks:

  • The service only works with the Japanese language.
  • All output is in Japanese and you will need to rely on translation tools for full comprehension.
  • A rather outdated design and primitive translation interface capabilities compared to other services. Although, perhaps, for someone, a minimalistic interface can be seen as a plus.

Japanese online dictionary RomajiDesu

RomajiDesu — is a free online Japanese-English dictionary with a bunch of features.

Interface:

Key features of RomajiDesu:

  1. Its key features for ASO are translation from Japanese to Romaji (writing Japanese words with Latin characters) and English, as well as analysis of sentence structure to identify word types and parts of speech.
  2. This site offers a two-way English-Japanese dictionary where you just need to input a word in the corresponding field. The dictionary will find the definition with audio pronunciation and examples of sentences using that word in context.
  3. It also has a kanji dictionary that comes with a search function using ideographs and radicals. The kanji dictionary has a properly drawn stroke order and examples of words.
  4. There's also a converter that can convert romaji to hiragana and katakana. It can also translate a word or paragraph in English using the Microsoft translation mechanism.

The site has a RomajiDesu Bookmarklet that allows you to quickly go to the dictionary and grab its output without having to visit the site separately. You can find this feature and the instructions for it in the RomajiDesu section of the site.

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • The main functionality is intuitive and user-friendly with a full corresponding English translation.
  • It comes with a simple translation tool that breaks down the entire text into separate components.
  • RomajiDesu has a Bookmarklet that allows you to work with the dictionary without leaving the platform to visit another site.
  • It’s optimized for mobile, so most phones and tablets should work fine.
  • It's an effective resource for learning Japanese.

Cons:

  • No localization (only English is supported at the moment).

Thai online dictionary Thai2english.com

Thai2english.com — a Thai to English online translation tool with a word separation feature.

Interface:

Key features of Thai2english:

  • Automatically inserts spaces so you can see separate Thai words.
  • Generates a transliterated version that you can easily read.
  • Shows context-dependent meanings for each word, making understanding and translation easier.

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • The main functionality is intuitive and translated into English.
  • A convenient Thai to English translation tool the divides the whole text into separate components.
  • Can serve as an effective resource for learning the Thai language.

Cons:

  • The service is exclusively focused on the Thai language
  • The translation is exclusively in English
  • Lackluster design and features compared to similar tools. But once again, depending on one’s perspective, sometimes minimalism can be considered a plus.

mdbg.net - an online service for working with Chinese languages

The service mdbg.net is focused on helping students learn Chinese.

Interface:

Key features of mdbg.net:

  • A dictionary with the capacity to search in Chinese (simplified or traditional), pinyin (the standard Latinization of Chinese) or English.
  • Searching by words - dividing the text into Chinese language parts.
  • A dictionary of characters.
  • Translation into English.

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • There are annotations and information in English.
  • There is a desktop version for Windows and Mac.

Cons:

  • The service is exclusively directed towards Chinese languages (simplified, traditional, pinyin).
  • Translation is exclusively in English.
  • The service is primarily geared towards learning Chinese.
  • Fairly outdated design. Information in the interface is formatted with different fonts, thus complicating the user experience. Predominant dark colors in the design also make things heavy on the eyes and divert the user’s attention from the parts of the interface they’re supposed to be looking at.

Google Chrome Chinese words separator plugin

Chinese words separator automatically separates the Chinese text into individual words by color. When hovering over a word an English translation of each character pops up and there’s an annotation to it.

Interface:

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • It works on the popup principle without requiring you to navigate to other pages.
  • You can use it on any website. It's convenient to use directly in ASO services for keyword selection (data.ai, appfollow, etc.) without leaving the service itself.

We couldn't find any noticeable downsides to this service :)

Google Chrome Plugin: Chinese Tools

Chinese Tools significantly simplifies work with Chinese characters. It converts the text into different versions of Chinese (simplified/traditional, pinyin), splits them into individual words, and pronounces them by going to the corresponding section of the purpleculture.net site.

To use it, you need to highlight the desired text, click with the left mouse button, and select what you need to do with it using the plugin.

Interface:

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • It has a wider functionality compared to the previous plugin.
  • You can use it on any website. It's convenient to use directly in ASO keyword tools (data.ai, appfollow, etc.).

Cons:

  • Unlike the previous plugin, starting work requires a transition to a separate page, which can introduce some inconvenience.

Site with useful tools toolnb.com

At toolnb.com  you have access to a large number of tools that can simplify many tasks. Here are some of them:

  • Chinese text separation into individual words.
  • Page screenshot.
  • Whois domain information.
  • Xpath selection and many others.

Interface:

Pros:

  • The service is completely free.
  • The main functionality is intuitively understandable.
  • The interface is available in several languages - English, French, German, Chinese.
  • There is a desktop version available that you can download on WeChat.
  • It has many other functionalities that might come in handy.

Cons:

  • The interface translation contains errors and inaccuracies, in many places it's missing completely.
  • The service developers’ language of origin is not English, so using it in English might take some effort.
Device size or platform
Screenshot size
Requirement
Screenshot source
6.5 inch (iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR)
1284 x 2778 pixels (portrait)2778 x 1284 pixels (landscape)1242 x 2688 pixels (portrait)2688 x 1242 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone
Upload 6.5-inch screenshots
5.8 inch (iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone XS, iPhone X)
1170 x 2532 pixels (portrait)2532 x 1170 pixels (landscape)1125 x 2436 pixels (portrait)2436 x 1125 pixels (landscape)1080 x 2340 (portrait)2340 x 1080 (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone and 6.5 inch screenshots are not provided
Default: scaled 6.5-inch screenshotsAlternative: upload 5.8-inch screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
1242 x 2208 pixels (portrait)2208 x 1242 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone
Upload 5.5-inch screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
2048 x 2732 pixels (portrait)2732 x 2048 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPad
Upload 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
2048 x 2732 pixels (portrait)2732 x 2048 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPad
Upload 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation) screenshots
Price
Traffic Source (Self Reporting Networks)
Facebook
Google
X (Twitter)
Apple Search Ads
Cohort reports
Impression tracking
Audience segmentation
At extra charge
Custom Dashboards
Custom Reports
At extra charge
Advertisement Cost
DAU/MAU (Stickiness)
Raw Data Export
At extra charge
At extra charge
At extra charge
API Reporting
Search term
Translation
SAP* French
SAP* French (Canada)
soldes
sale
25
5
aubainerie
sale
14
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.

Weblio: An Analysis of the Japanese Synonym Search Service

Weblio — this is a collection of Japanese online dictionaries that allows you to search and receive results from multiple dictionaries and glossaries.

The key feature for ASO specialists is the thesaurus, or synonym search.

Interface:

Pros:

  1. The service is completely free.
  2. Easy synonym search. When you add a phrase, you'll get links to other keywords registered on Weblio. You can easily check synonyms for those confusing keywords that come up in the results with just one mouse click.
  3. The site has a lot of different dictionaries, such as the thesaurus, antonym dictionaries, and also English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries. Different dictionaries on Weblio are interconnected and linked in each search result.
  4. The "Access to Ranking" feature allows you to find out which keywords other users are viewing the most.

Cons:

  1. The service is primarily geared towards Japan's internal audience or people who know Japanese, and for the average user, the interface is not completely user-friendly.
  2. Embedded translation tools aren't always accurate.
  3. It may appear to have outdated designs and limited capabilities compared to other services. In comparison to other regions, preparing metadata for Asia is a more complicated and laborious process.
Device
Icon size
iPhone
180px × 180px (60pt × 60pt @3x)
120px × 120px (60pt × 60pt @2x)
iPad Pro
167px × 167px (83.5pt × 83.5pt @2x)
iPad, iPad mini
152px × 152px (76pt × 76pt @2x)
App Store
1024px × 1024px (1024pt × 1024pt @1x)
Icon format
PNG
Color models
sRGB or P3 (see "Color Management")
Layouts
Aligned without transparency
Sizes
Shape
Square without rounded corners
All the current requirements for icons are specified in the specification.
Icon format
32-bit PNG (with alpha channel)
Color models
512 х 512 pixels
Layouts
1024 КБ
Sizes
square, without rounding and shadows (Google automatically rounds the corners and adds shadows)
All the current requirements are specified in the specification.

In comparison to other regions, preparing metadata for Asia is a more complicated and laborious process. RadASO’s experience shows that this service will help simplify work with Asian locales.

  1. Qimai can help verify the actual search volume in China and find popular synonyms among the local population. The service should come in handy for getting an overall assessment of the Chinese market and working with alternative stores.
  2. The morphological analyzer atilika.org and the online dictionary  RomajiDesu will be useful for breaking down Japanese text into individual words. The words obtained can then be used for composing metadata.
  3. The Thai online dictionary Thai2english will help with translation and breaking down the Thai text into individual words.
  4. The online dictionaries mdbg.net and toolnb.com will streamline the process of breaking down the Chinese text into individual words.
  5. Google Chrome Plugins Chinese words separator and Chinese Tools will help you understand the Chinese text better and break it down into individual words without the need to switch to other browser tabs.
  6. Japanese service weblio will help expand the semantic core in Japan with the help of synonyms.

It's only a small selection of services that are available, but we tested them all and these will certainly help you get more acquainted with the ASO specifics of the Asian region.

For the best results, it’s recommended to alternate between these resources and their features. It’s the process we use at RadASO ourselves, so we highly recommend you work it into your very own workflow.

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