The most notable development today is the turnover in ios-developer-tools. Its top-10 retention rate was the lowest of any category at 77%, as paid developer tools entered the top ranks across multiple countries at once, including newcomers DraftCode (JP #2), CodeMan - VSCode (GB #3), and App Icon Extractor (DE #3), as well as Internet Speed Limiter (GB #1), up +96 month over month.

New Entries

All 468 charts could be compared with the previous report from 2026-10-18. The main story today is simultaneous entries across multiple countries. Six apps entered in four countries at the same time: TDB (ios-finance/free: KR #7, DE #64, JP #64, US #90), Beat Blocks - Rhythm Practice (ios-music/paid: KR #9, JP #46, US #71, GB #84), Shelf: music, books, movies (ios-utilities/free: HR #12, GB #19, DE #24, US #35), WatchVideo Player, Disk Decipher, and Live Translator: Translate +. Stay On Target 1138 entered overall/paid simultaneously at DE #13, GB #17, and US #32. On individual charts, Finloq Accounts Ledger (ios-finance/paid #1) and CathPal (ios-medical/paid #1) debuted at #1 in HR.

Sharp Monthly Gains (Baseline: 2026-09-19)

The baseline date is 30 days ago and the oldest collection date in the archive. The largest gain was +96, shared by Internet Speed Limiter (GB ios-developer-tools/paid #1) and 먼작귀 포켓 (KR ios-games/free #1). They were followed by Empower You (HR ios-books/grossing #3, +93), VSCoW - Code Wrapper (DE ios-developer-tools/paid #4, +92), and CityMart. (US ios-shopping/paid #7, +92). Many apps that were absent on the baseline date also reached #1 this time, including Stay On Target 1138 (DE ios-utilities/paid), Shell Keyboard (JP ios-developer-tools/paid), and ダックサバイバー (JP ios-games/free).

Trends by Rank Tier

Higher ranks are more stable. The top tier (ranks 1–10) had 85% held, 2% new, and |Δ| of 3. The mid tier (ranks 11–50) had 80% held, 7% new, and |Δ| of 6.8; the bottom tier (ranks 51–100) had 70% held, 19% new, and |Δ| of 9.7. Turnover is occurring almost entirely in the lower tier. Google dominates the top-tier slots with 121, far ahead of second-place Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd (32).

Trends by Country

DE was the most active market among the six countries, with the most new entries at 1040 and the lowest top-10 retention rate at 81%. US was the most stable, with 89% retention, while JP had the fewest new entries at 787. Among the shared hits, TestFlight (ios-developer-tools/free) was #1 in all six countries, while Minecraft (ios-games/paid) and Duolingo (ios-education/grossing) also dominated the top ranks in all six.

Trends by Category

ios-developer-tools had the lowest top-10 retention rate at 77%, followed by ios-reference and ios-sports at 78%. By contrast, ios-social-networking (92%), ios-games, and ios-photo-video (91% each) barely moved. The categories with the most new entries were ios-utilities (344), ios-education (325), and ios-music (313).

Key Findings

1. Stay On Target 1138 entered overall/paid simultaneously in DE, GB, and US, reaching #1 in DE ios-utilities/paid

It entered overall/paid at DE #13, GB #17, and US #32 at the same time. In DE ios-utilities/paid, it rose +94 from the previous report to reach #1, and it was not present on the baseline date of 2026-09-19. As a paid app gaining traction simultaneously in three Western markets, this is the strongest early trend signal.

Confidence: High

2. Six apps entered in four countries simultaneously; Shelf and TDB reached higher ranks

Shelf: music, books, movies ranked in the middle tier or higher in all four countries in ios-utilities/free: HR #12, GB #19, DE #24, and US #35. TDB ranked #7 in KR ios-finance/free but remained at #64–#90 in DE, JP, and US. Beat Blocks - Rhythm Practice (ios-music/paid), WatchVideo Player, Disk Decipher, and Live Translator also entered in four countries at the same time.

Confidence: High

3. ios-developer-tools had the lowest top-10 retention rate at 77%; paid developer tools entered top ranks across countries

New high-ranking entries included DraftCode (JP #2), App Icon Extractor (DE #3), CodeMan - VSCode (GB #3), OSINT Trace Suite (GB #4), and Html Editor Plus (GB #5). Codex Tracker (KR #5) and DevMate (HR #6) also newly entered grossing charts. Month over month, VSCoW - Code Wrapper rose to DE #4 (+92), while Shell Keyboard (JP #1) was absent on the baseline date. Demand for mobile code editing and AI-coding-adjacent tools is appearing simultaneously across several countries.

Confidence: High

4. The largest monthly gains were +96; Internet Speed Limiter (GB) and 먼작귀 포켓 (KR) both reached #1

This compares results with the baseline date of 2026-09-19. Internet Speed Limiter reached #1 (+96) in GB ios-developer-tools/paid, while also gaining to GB #16 (+82) in ios-developer-tools/grossing versus the previous report. 먼작귀 포켓 reached #1 (+96) in KR ios-games/free. CityMart. (US ios-shopping/paid #7, +92) and MapsToGPX (KR ios-navigation/paid #3, +91) followed.

Confidence: High

5. Turnover is concentrated in lower tiers while top ranks remain stable; Google dominates top-tier slots with 121

The share of new entries rises down the ranks—2% in the top tier, 7% in the mid tier, and 19% in the bottom tier—while |Δ| also increases from 3 to 6.8 to 9.7. New apps are moving first within ranks 51–100, while breaking into the top 10 is rare. Google holds 121 top-tier slots, roughly four times the 32 held by second-place Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd.

Confidence: High

6. DE was the most active market (1,040 new entries; 81% retention), while US was the most stable (89% retention)

DE had the most new entries among the six countries and the lowest top-10 retention rate. Paid apps also posted striking gains from the previous report, including Stay On Target 1138 (+94) and HomeCam for HomeKit (+75). US had 89% retention, while JP had the fewest new entries at 787, making them relatively quiet markets.

Confidence: High

7. In HR, new faces and sharp gains clustered at ranks 1–3 in paid and grossing charts

New entries included Finloq Accounts Ledger (ios-finance/paid #1), CathPal (ios-medical/paid #1), Hootz (ios-finance/grossing #2), and Quick Draw: AR Tracing (ios-graphics-design/paid #2). Compared with the previous report, Empower You climbed to ios-books/grossing #3 (+97). HR appears to be a market where rankings can shift substantially even with limited activity, so isolated moves should be treated as weaker trend signals.

Confidence: Medium

8. Established apps remain the global hits shared across all six countries; TestFlight is #1 everywhere

TestFlight (ios-developer-tools/free) is #1 in all six countries. Minecraft (ios-games/paid) is #1 in five countries and #2 in JP, while Duolingo (ios-education/grossing) is #1 in all six. Replit (ios-developer-tools/grossing) is also #1 in five countries and #3 in JP. The developer-tools category has a fixed peak, with new faces rotating beneath it.

Confidence: High

9. social-networking (92%), games, and photo-video (91% each) saw little movement

The top 10 in these categories is nearly fixed. In contrast, ios-utilities (344), ios-education (325), and ios-music (313) had many new entries, primarily rotating through the middle and lower tiers. ios-reference and ios-sports also had relatively low retention at 78%.

Confidence: High

10. Religious AI apps simultaneously debuted at #3 in reference/grossing in two countries

Chatolic: Catholic AI & Saints debuted at #3 in HR ios-reference/grossing, while Qaf: Islamic AI debuted at #3 in the same chart in KR. The Vatican News also entered simultaneously in ios-news/free at HR #16, DE #50, and GB #66. This may indicate demand for faith-oriented content and AI.

Confidence: Low

Recommended Actions

• Create a "tools for developing on mobile" feature today, grouping paid new entrants in ios-developer-tools—DraftCode, CodeMan - VSCode, App Icon Extractor, and OSINT Trace Suite—with the month-over-month risers Internet Speed Limiter and VSCoW.
• Investigate why Stay On Target 1138 entered overall/paid simultaneously in DE, GB, and US—such as publicity or a sale—and track whether it holds its ranking tomorrow.
• Consider Shelf: music, books, movies (ios-utilities/free), which entered four countries simultaneously, as a candidate for short introductory content.
• Religious AI apps (Chatolic and Qaf) are a one-day signal; confirm whether the pattern persists for several days before developing a feature.
• Have the data-platform team investigate the inconsistency in missing rating counts (274329 > 45722 rows) and the degradation of KR/featured.

Data Quality Notes

All 468 target charts were collected, with zero missing. Comparison with the previous report from 2026-10-18 was also possible for all 468 / 468 charts. The monthly baseline date of 2026-09-19 is the oldest collection date in the archive; it is 30 days earlier, but comparison with earlier dates is not possible. The KR/featured source is reported as degraded. Missing ratings are reported at 274329, exceeding the 45722 rows in the analysis target, which may indicate an inconsistency in aggregation unit or scope. Ratings were therefore not used in this report. Treat large swings in markets with volatile rankings, such as HR, cautiously when they are based on a single day of results.