App Store Localization for Chinese (Simplified): Storefronts, Bytes, Keywords

Apple's localizations table names Chinese (Simplified) as the default language of one storefront: China mainland. Each of them also lists English (U.K.). It appears as an additional language in 2 more: Singapore and United States. The default language listed next to it is English (U.K.) in one and English (US) in one.

Apple's keyword reference allows 100 bytes, not 100 characters. Counted as UTF-8, the example below contains 24 three-byte characters (separators excluded). At three bytes a character the field holds at most 33 characters of keywords, commas included. The words below are a hypothetical keyword list for a habit tracker called Streakly; they are illustrations, not validated search terms, and each has at least three characters.

Joined with commas and no spaces after them, the field is:

习惯养成,打卡记录,目标管理,每日提醒,自律计划,待办清单

That is 29 characters and 77 bytes: 72 bytes of keywords plus 5 commas, leaving 23 of the 100 bytes free. The byte counts assume UTF-8; confirm the final count in App Store Connect before you save.

The China mainland row has "Simplified Chinese" as its default and English (U.K.) as the additional language. Singapore and the United States use the label "Chinese (Simplified)" as additional languages; Singapore's default is English (U.K.). I treat them as the same locale because Apple's language list has one Simplified Chinese entry. Apple's table does not say that the labels differ in meaning.

China mainland is the only storefront where this language is the default. There is no LocalASO country page for the China mainland storefront; the pages for the other two are Singapore and United States. For the Traditional script see Chinese (Traditional).

Each Chinese character takes three bytes in UTF-8, so the 100-byte field holds at most 33 characters of keywords, against up to 100 for an ASCII list. That sets a tight ceiling: six four-character keywords with their commas already use 77 bytes.

Short words are not a trick here; Apple requires each keyword to be longer than two characters, and a two-character Chinese word does not qualify. Four-character terms such as 目标管理 work. Apple does not document how it segments Chinese text into words, so test candidate keywords in the storefront rather than assuming how they are split. Japanese and Korean face the same three-byte cost.

LocalASO checks keywords in 52 App Store storefronts, each in the storefront's local language, so you can compare your Chinese (Simplified) candidates with the English ones in one place. Keywords, ranks and listings stay in a database on your Mac. LocalASO is a one-time $29 purchase and the app needs a license key to run; the setup is in the localization docs and the price is on the pricing page. To test the field you just built, use the keyword field checker, or browse every language page. Related languages: Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean, English (U.S.).