The AI voice category splits cleanly in two on one question: translate the ad, or run English everywhere. Speechify runs full native German, French, and Italian versions of its offer, each live past 150 days. ElevenLabs runs only English, the same ten creatives across all 24 EU markets it advertises in, with no translation anywhere. Both approaches produce ads that survive for months. So the split is not about which is better. It is about who the buyer is.
We pulled the whole category from Apple's public Ad Repository, the transparency dataset the EU Digital Services Act requires, to see which apps localize and which do not. Every ad below runs in one placement, App Store search results, the slot after a query. None of these apps buy browse or Today-tab placements. Data window ends 14 July 2026.
The translate-everything camp
Two apps write in the local language, and their translated ads hold.
Speechify runs its English line "Read Aloud Books, Docs & PDFs" across ten smaller markets (Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Romania) at 160 days, and it also runs full native copy of the same offer in the big markets: German "Text zu Sprache, PDF & Bücher" (Austria and Germany, 160 days), French "Écoute Docs, Livres Audio, PDF" (France, 150 days), Italian "Ascolta testi Docs, Libri, PDF" (Italy, 150 days). All still live at 13 July 2026. Speechify does both at once: one English line run wide across small markets, native copy in the big-5.
Fathom translates further down. Its English hero "Record & Dictate Voice Memo" runs 102 days across 19 countries, and under it sit native versions in five languages: Italian "Registratore Vocale per iPhone" (101 days), German "Diktiergerät & Sprachnotizen" (99 days), Spanish "Grabar Audio - Notas de Voz" (97 days), Portuguese "Memorandos de Voz" (85 days), French "Dictaphone pour Notes Vocales" (25 days).
The English-only-wide camp
Two apps never translate, and their English ads hold just as long.
ElevenLabs runs ten creatives, all English, each across the full 24-country footprint. Its longest, "Text to voice for creators", ran 110 days everywhere before it repositioned to "Text to Speech, Video & Music" on 30 June 2026. Not one native translation in the set.
Fireflies runs the longest ad in the whole category, "Record and summarize meetings", in English across Germany and the Netherlands at 251 days, still live. Otter runs "AI Note Taking, Memo Recorder" in English, Ireland only, at 139 days. English lines, held for months, no local copy.
Who translates versus who runs English wide
| App | What it sells | Localization approach |
|---|---|---|
| Speechify | Read-aloud text to speech | Translates the big-5 (DE, FR, IT), English wide in small markets |
| Fathom | Voice recorder / dictation | Translates five languages (IT, DE, ES, PT, FR) |
| ElevenLabs | AI voice generator for pros | English only, all 24 markets |
| Fireflies | Meeting notetaker | English only, Germany + Netherlands |
| Otter | Meeting notetaker | English only, Ireland |
The line between the camps is the buyer, not the map. The apps that translate sell to consumers using their phone in daily life: someone who wants a book read aloud, or a plain voice recorder, reaches for the app in their own language and expects the ad in it too. The apps that run English wide sell to professionals: a creator buying a voice generator, or a team buying a meeting notetaker, already works in English tooling and searches in English from any market.
So do you need to translate your App Store ads for the EU?
There is no universal rule in this data, and that is the finding. Translated ads and English ads both survive past 150 days here. The durable pattern is to translate where the buyer expects their own language, and run English where the buyer already works in English. A consumer utility like Speechify or a dictation app like Fathom translates because its reader lives in German or Italian. A creator tool like ElevenLabs or a meeting tool like Fireflies bets on English-comfortable professionals and holds for months on one language.
For a solo founder, that turns a costly reflex into a decision. Before you pay to translate, ask who opens your app and in what language they work. Match the ad to that, not to the number of countries on the map.
See any advertiser's ads yourself
See which languages your competitors run, and which ads have survived longest, free, no account, in about a minute. You get the advertiser's live App Store ads ranked by how long each has run, with the language and countries for each.
Method note: figures are computed from Apple's public Ad Repository (DSA Article 39), across 25 EU storefronts, data window ending 14 July 2026. "Days running" is the span from a creative's first to last recorded impression across those markets, and "Over 1 year" would be Apple's own 365+ marker. Longevity is a proxy for performance, not a measured conversion rate. We invented no numbers beyond what the repository reports. Refreshed monthly.