KEN’S CAT LOG
▤Daily App Store Report

Daily App Store Report 2026-09-11

Five apps made simultaneous same-day debuts across four markets in Photo & Video, Food & Drink, and Shopping. Among them, Hype AI (HR #21–KR #74) and Lardel (JP #33–US #99) are the strongest early signs of new trends. Meanwhile, 85% of the top 10 remained in place (|Δ|3), leaving the top unchanged; movement is concentrated in ranks 51–100 (held 69%, new 19%).

1. New Entries

On 2026-09-11, 468 charts / 45,741 rows were collected, and all 468 charts were comparable with the previous run on 2026-09-10. Simultaneous debuts across multiple countries stood out: Hype AI (ios-photo-video/free) entered at HR #21, GB #59, DE #69, and KR #74; Lardel (ios-food-drink/grossing) at JP #33, DE #90, GB #94, and US #99; Game Price Tracker: PSprices (ios-shopping/paid) in GB/DE/US/JP; while CarDex (ios-reference/free) and Reword (ios-graphics-design/grossing) also entered four markets simultaneously. Among single-market entries were WorldStock at GB #1, Delivery From the Pain(No Ads) at HR #1, [777Real]緑ドン at JP #1, and KR’s 이클립스: 더 어웨이크닝, which arrived at games/grossing #1 and overall/grossing #3.

2. Sharp Rises vs. Baseline

The baseline date is 2026-08-24 (18 days ago; the oldest date in the archive, not a full month). The largest gain was WalkColor in JP at #2 (+96), followed by Mortgage Calculator Pro in the US at #10 (+87) and Oblique Strategies SE in JP at #14 (+84). Apps absent on the baseline date that reached the top 20 this time were concentrated in JP, including FlashSCORE at #1, トルネコの大冒険 at #1 (games/overall paid), and 阪急阪神百貨店アプリ at overall/free #1. In the US, 2AM CAM and 2Do reached paid #1.

3. By Tier

top (1–10) was stable at held 85% / new 2% / |Δ|3; mid (11–50) recorded held 80% / new 7% / |Δ|7; and bottom (51–100) recorded held 69% / new 19% / |Δ|9.7. Movement is concentrated toward the tail, and Google holds the most slots in every tier (127 / 146 / 72).

4. By Country

All 78 charts in each country were comparable. Top-10 retention was strongest in the US at 89%, while HR and KR were at 83%. HR had the most new rows at 1,131, while KR had the fewest at 797. TestFlight ranked #1 in all six markets, and Duolingo ranked #1 in education/grossing in all six markets. By contrast, sharp baseline-to-current gains appeared only in JP and the US; DE, GB, HR, and KR show “Rises vs. baseline: —”.

5. By Category

The categories with the most turnover were ios-utilities (364 new entries) and ios-music (336). At the other extreme, ios-social-networking was the quietest, with 95% top-10 retention and 147 new entries, while ios-shopping had the fewest new entries at 79. ios-developer-tools had the lowest retention rate at 77%.

Key Findings

1. Hype AI debuts simultaneously in four markets in Photo & Video free — today’s strongest new-entry signal

POLYVERSE ENTERTAINMENT INC.’s Hype AI - AI 포토 & 비디오 appeared in ios-photo-video/free on the same day at HR #21, GB #59, DE #69, and KR #74. This indicates a broader rollout gaining traction rather than an appearance on a single chart. In the same category, AI Catch also entered three markets simultaneously (GB #32 / US #35 / KR #52), creating a one-day overlap of new inflows in AI photo and video generation.

Confidence: High

2. Lardel lands in food-drink/grossing across four markets, led by JP #33

TIMOTHY LABREXA’s Lardel entered ios-food-drink/grossing at JP #33, DE #90, GB #94, and US #99. A simultaneous entry into four markets on the grossing side rather than the free side is unusual, suggesting a new entrant whose monetization is working from the outset. Similarly, Game Price Tracker: PSprices entered ios-shopping/paid simultaneously in four markets: GB #43, DE #52, US #52, and JP #59.

Confidence: High

3. The baseline is 18 days old, not monthly — JP WalkColor posts the largest gain at +96

The baseline date, 2026-08-24, is the oldest collection date in the archive and was 18 days before the reporting date. Since there is not yet a full month of history, the +N figures below should be read as changes over roughly 2.5 weeks. Within that context, the largest increases were WalkColor at JP/ios-photo-video/free #2 (+96), Mortgage Calculator Pro at US/ios-finance/paid #10 (+87), and Oblique Strategies SE at JP/ios-productivity/paid #14 (+84).

Confidence: High

4. Apps absent on the baseline date but now in the top 20 are concentrated in JP, with four reaching #1

Of the 15 apps absent on the 2026-08-24 baseline date that entered the top 20 this time, nine were in JP. FlashSCORE (education/paid #1), トルネコの大冒険 不思議のダンジョン (games/paid #1 and overall/paid #1), and 阪急阪神百貨店アプリ (overall/free #1) led their charts. On the US side were 2AM CAM (photo-video/paid #1), 2Do (productivity/paid #1), and Muse from Meta (productivity/free #2). The launch momentum of catalog-revival titles and retail apps is particularly notable in Japan.

Confidence: High

5. Movement is concentrated in the tail — bottom has new 19% and |Δ|9.7, versus top at new 2% and |Δ|3

top (1–10, 4,675 slots) is nearly fixed, with held 85%, new 2%, and an average movement of 3. mid (11–50, 18,540 slots) records held 80%, new 7%, and |Δ|7. bottom (51–100, 22,526 slots) records held 69%, new 19%, and |Δ|9.7, with most new slots landing at rank 51 or lower. It is therefore sensible to observe the 51–100 band for early signals from new apps.

Confidence: High

6. Google retains the most slots across every tier, including 127 in top

Slot retention in the top tier is led by Google with 127, followed by Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd with 32, Microsoft Corporation with 27, Instagram, Inc. with 27, and Apple with 24. Google also holds 146 slots in mid and 72 in bottom, showing that the same small group of companies dominates at every depth. In practice, openings for new entrants exist only toward the tail.

Confidence: High

7. The US is the most stable (89% top-10 retention), while HR is the most fluid (1,131 new rows)

All 78 charts in each of the six markets were comparable. Top-10 retention was 89% in the US, 85% in DE/GB, 84% in JP, and 83% in HR/KR. HR had the most new rows at 1,131, while KR had the fewest at 797. This supports using HR to seed new entries and the US to assess whether they are sticking.

Confidence: High

8. TestFlight and Duolingo are the fully global entries in the top 10 across all six markets

TestFlight ranked #1 in ios-developer-tools/free in DE, GB, HR, JP, KR, and the US. Duolingo ranked #1 in ios-education/grossing in all six markets, while its free-chart performance was also broad at JP #1 / KR #1 / DE #2. Microsoft Teams likewise ranked #1 in business/free in five markets, with KR #7 as the exception. Conversely, KR’s 이클립스: 더 어웨이크닝 at games/grossing #1 and JP’s [777Real]緑ドン at games/free #1 are entirely local, single-market phenomena; even hits on the same day can have very different market designs.

Confidence: High

9. ios-utilities saw the most rotation (364 new entries), while ios-social-networking was largely static (95% retention)

New-row totals were highest for ios-utilities at 364, ios-music at 336, and ios-education at 311. At the other extreme, ios-shopping had the fewest at 79, while ios-social-networking was the quietest with 95% top-10 retention. ios-developer-tools had the lowest retention at 77% (followed by ios-reference at 79%), indicating that turnover is occurring at the top of these categories.

Confidence: High

10. Developer tools are the most volatile category at 77% retention, with new paid and grossing entrants reaching the top

ios-developer-tools had the lowest category-level top-10 retention at 77%, with 168 new entries. Specifically, FileToHash entered GB/ios-developer-tools/paid at #2 and YAML Tools entered KR/paid at #3, while TDLiDAR entered grossing charts across three markets at GB #18, DE #27, and US #48. In HR, Supanator rose sharply to #3 (+94).

Confidence: Medium

11. Three paid charts in HR changed #1 simultaneously

In HR, Delivery From the Pain(No Ads) entered ios-entertainment/paid at #1, MyKairos entered ios-lifestyle/paid at #1, and Stlls entered ios-photo-video/paid at #1 on the same day. HR had the most new rows among the six markets at 1,131, demonstrating that the top of its paid charts can be replaced overnight.

Confidence: High

12. US growth is concentrated in finance, prediction markets, and learning AI

The US’s baseline-to-current gains include two finance/paid apps: Mortgage Calculator Pro at #10 (+87) and HomeBudget with Sync at #14 (+77). In addition, Kalshi reached overall/free #10 (+70), while EA College Football Mobile 27 reached games/free #14 (+74). In education, Gizmo: AI Tutor rose in both free at #14 (+65) and grossing at #40 (+59), suggesting that not only exposure but also monetization is gaining momentum.

Confidence: Medium

Recommended Actions

  • Keep the five apps that debuted simultaneously in four markets (Hype AI / Lardel / Game Price Tracker: PSprices / CarDex / Reword) on tomorrow’s watchlist, and retain only those that improve their ranking on day two as candidates for product planning. Prioritize Lardel in particular because of its simultaneous landing on grossing charts.
  • Hype AI and AI Catch entered multiple markets on the same day in AI photo and video. Treat them as one ios-photo-video/free cluster and plan around the category trend rather than individual apps.
  • Set the observation point for new entries in the 51–100 band (bottom: new 19%, |Δ|9.7). The top 10 barely moves at new 2% and |Δ|3, so watching only the top will miss emerging launches.
  • JP had the most apps moving from absence on the baseline date into the top 20 (including FlashSCORE, トルネコの大冒険, and 阪急阪神百貨店アプリ). It is worth establishing a dedicated deep-dive track for Japanese revival, retail, and pachislot-related apps.
  • HR recorded 1,131 new entries and 83% top-10 retention, with three paid-chart #1 positions changing on the same day. Use it as an observation market for test releases and early-velocity validation in smaller markets, while using the US (89% retention) to determine sustained adoption.
  • Add a daily checkpoint for the top of ios-developer-tools (77% retention, 168 new entries) and ios-reference (79%). These two categories replace top-10 apps faster than the others.
  • Until degraded status is resolved for the four featured sources (DE/GB/JP/KR), explicitly flag any featured-derived insights in reports.
  • Since the baseline is only 18 days old, continue building the archive through at least 2026-09-24. Until then, avoid the term “monthly” in the report and label comparisons as “vs. baseline date.”

Data Quality Notes

For the 468 target charts, all 468 charts and 45,741 rows were collected, with zero missing collections. All 468 / 468 charts were comparable with the previous run on 2026-09-10, so there are no missing values caused by incomparable charts. However, four sources—DE/featured, GB/featured, JP/featured, and KR/featured—were collected in degraded status, so insights that depend on them should be treated with caution. Ratings are missing for 274,405 records, and this report makes no judgments based on rating scores. The baseline date for the monthly comparison, 2026-08-24, was 18 days before the reporting date and is the oldest collection date in the archive. Therefore, even where this report says “monthly,” the actual comparison covers roughly 2.5 weeks, and true monthly trends cannot yet be measured. In addition, rows from charts unavailable in the previous run are not counted as new entries; lack of comparison data must not be interpreted as a new entry.