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The fastest-rising apps in Korea and Japan this week are local games and Korean-made social apps. Kakao Games' MMORPG Dokkaebi World went from outside Korea's Google Play Top 30 on October 7 to #1 free on October 14, and Korean apps zeta and setlog climbed 10 and 5 places on Japan's Google Play chart (Apptica, 2026). Only six apps appear in the iOS Top 50 of Korea, Japan and the US at the same time (App Store, 2026).
Data: Apple App Store Top Free 50 (KR/JP/US, October 14, 2026) and Google Play Top Free 30 via Apptica (KR/JP/US, October 7 vs. October 14, 2026). Rankings change daily.
Which apps rose fastest in Korea and Japan this week?
| App | Market | Google Play move (Oct 7 → Oct 14) | Publisher (HQ) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dokkaebi World (도깨비의세계) | Korea | Out of Top 30 → #1 | Kakao Games (KR) | MMORPG |
 Cat Hero: Idle RPG | Korea | Out of Top 30 → #5 | Game Duo (KR) | Idle RPG |
 Chiikawa Pocket | Korea | Out of Top 30 → #16 | Applibot (JP) | Character game |
 zeta | Japan | #26 → #16 | Scatter Lab (KR) | AI character chat |
 setlog | Japan | #22 → #17 | New Chat (KR) | Group video diary |
Dokkaebi World: a new Korean MMORPG goes to #1 in its first week
Dokkaebi WorldKakao Games opened pre-downloads on October 6 and launched Dokkaebi World on October 8, 2026 (iNews24, 2026). Developer Super Cat built it on the Naver web novel and webtoon Myeolgwi Sudojeon.
By October 14 it was the #1 free app on Google Play in Korea. It wasn't in the Top 30 a week earlier (Apptica, 2026).
The US Google Play Top 30 on October 14 has no MMORPG. Its games are puzzles such as Meowdoku and Magic Sort!, plus Roblox.
Cat Hero: a three-year-old Korean idle game climbs back into the Top 5
Cat HeroCat Hero: Idle RPG from Korean studio Game Duo first launched in 2023. Its App Store listing shows a 3rd-anniversary event in its latest update.
It went from outside Korea's Google Play Top 30 on October 7 to #5 on October 14 (Apptica, 2026). That puts two Korean-made games in Korea's top five free apps this week.
zeta and setlog: Korean social apps keep climbing in Japan
zetasetlogzeta (Scatter Lab) rose from #26 to #16 on Japan's Google Play and is #6 on Japan's iOS chart. zeta passed ¥120 million in monthly revenue in Japan and reached 2 million Japanese users (ITmedia, 2026).
setlog (New Chat) is the #1 free iOS app in Japan and rose from #22 to #17 on Google Play. Groups of up to 12 friends each record one 2–4 second clip per hour, and the app stitches the clips into a shared daily vlog with no retakes or filters.
Chiikawa Pocket: a Japanese IP enters Korea's Top 20
Chiikawa PocketChiikawa Pocket from Applibot, a CyberAgent company, moved from outside Korea's Google Play Top 30 to #16 (Apptica, 2026).
The game launched on March 27, 2025, in 43 countries and regions, including Korea (Anime Corner, 2025).
iOS standouts: film cameras in Korea, fried chicken in both markets
iOS rankings in this section are a single-day snapshot (October 14). Week-over-week iOS comparison starts next week.
Moments I See When I Love You
101camTwo of Korea's iOS top 10 are film-camera apps: ironpig's 내가 당신을 사랑할 때 보이는 순간들 ("Moments I See When I Love You", #6) and SNOW's 101cam (#9). The US iOS Top 50 has no camera app. Its creative slots go to video editors (CapCut #12, Edits #40).
후라이드참잘하는집
Dave's Hot ChickenChicken franchise app 후라이드참잘하는집 is #3 on Korea's iOS chart and #8 on Korea's Google Play new-free chart. The #1 free iOS app in the US is Dave's Hot Chicken.
What do Korea and Japan share that the US doesn't?
| Pattern | Korea | Japan | US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korean apps in the top charts | Domestic | setlog iOS #1zeta iOS #6 Rocket Now iOS #21 | None in Top 50 |
| Convenience-store apps (iOS Top 50) | Pocket CU #14, GS25 #23, Daiso Mall #29 | Daiso #26, Lawson #37, 7-Eleven print apps #38 and #48 | None |
| Short-drama apps | NetShort, ReelShort, DramaBox, homegrown Vigloo (iOS #15) | StoryReel, GoodShort, DramaWave; PineDrama new on Google Play | PineDrama #7, VibeShort, BlinkDrama (iOS) |
| Same-week game launches | Last Echo on new-free chart | Last Echo on new-free chart | — |
Korea to Japan is the busiest route. Besides setlog and zeta, Coupang's Rocket Now is #21 on Japan's iOS chart. Coupang says Rocket Now became Japan's #1 food-delivery app by downloads within eight months of launch.
Mabinogi MobileNexon's Mabinogi Mobile launched in Korea in March 2025 (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 2025) and in Japan on October 7, 2026. It is the #1 new free app on Google Play in Japan (Apptica, 2026).
Last Echo, a strategy game mixing block-sliding puzzles with cannon combat from Hong Kong's Genesis Network, appears on the new-free Google Play charts of both Korea and Japan this week. Publishers can treat the two markets as one launch window.
Korea is the only one of the three markets with a homegrown short-drama app near the top: Spoon Labs' Vigloo is #15 on Korea's iOS chart.
Which global apps are big in the US but missing in Korea and Japan?
Only six apps are in the iOS Top 50 of all three countries on October 14, 2026: ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, Threads, CapCut and Spotify (App Store, 2026).
| App | US | Korea | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
 Vinted | iOS #3 · Google Play #9 | Not in Top 50 | Not in Top 50 |
 Bump | Not in Top 50 | Not in Top 50 | iOS #2 |
Vinted doesn't chart in Korea or Japan. Vinted's US downloads grew more than 12x after its US expansion announcement (Appfigures, 2026). Japan's resale market is led by Mercari and Korea's by Danggeun (Karrot).
Bump shows the reverse. It comes from amo, a startup founded by the team behind Zenly. Snap shut Zenly down on February 3, 2023 (TechCrunch, 2022), and in a July 2024 survey of 448 Japanese university students, 57.6% still named Zenly first when asked about location apps (Spinshell, 2024).
Which local entertainment apps should North American readers know?
TVer
U-NEXT
Coupang PlayTVer (#12 Google Play, #14 iOS) is the free catch-up streaming service of Japan's commercial TV networks, similar to ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX sharing one free app. It reached a record 44.7 million monthly users in January 2026 (TVer, 2026).
U-NEXT (#13 iOS) is Japan's homegrown subscription streamer, ranked well above Netflix (#49) on iOS.
Coupang Play is bundled with Coupang's Rocket WOW membership, the same model as Prime Video on Amazon Prime. It has carried HBO and Max originals in Korea since March 21, 2025, including The Last of Us and The White Lotus (Nocut News, 2025). Neither Coupang Play nor TVING is in Korea's Top 50 this week.
Summary
The fastest risers this week were local: Dokkaebi World went to #1 in Korea, and Korean apps zeta and setlog climbed in Japan (Apptica, Oct 14, 2026).
Korea and Japan share more with each other than with the US: Korean apps chart in Japan, a Japanese IP charts in Korea, and one game launched in both in the same week.
Only six apps sit in the iOS Top 50 of all three markets, so a US hit is not a given in Korea or Japan.
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