The astrology category splits on one question: translate the ad, or run English everywhere. Moonly runs native App Store ads in seven languages, down to Swedish and Dutch. AstroWay runs a single English line across all 25 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 how big the advertiser is, and who it thinks is reading.
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 15 July 2026.
The translate-deep camp
The three heaviest advertisers all write in the local language, and they translate far past the obvious markets.
Moonly goes deepest. Its English hero "Daily motivation & Astrology" runs across 19 countries and has passed a full year. Under it sit native versions in German ("Astrologie, Meditation, Tarot", 214 days, still live 14 July 2026), Spanish ("Meditation, Tarot, Astrologia", 211 days), Portuguese ("Astrologia. Fases da Lua.", 208 days), French ("Astrologie, Tarot, Meditation", 207 days), Italian ("Fasi Lunari, Meditazione", 207 days), plus Dutch ("Maan. Zodiac. Daily motivation") and Swedish ("Dagligt horoskop, Astrology"), each at 122 days and still live. Seven local languages under one English hero.
Nebula translates into four languages, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portuguese, alongside an English line that runs the widest footprint. Astro Love Lab (App Store listing "Astrology, Tarot, Astro & Love Lab") does the same across German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. In all three cases the pattern is identical: one English hero runs across the most countries, and each native translation covers a single big market underneath it.
The English-only-wide camp
The two lighter advertisers never translate, and their English ads hold just as long.
AstroWay runs its whole set in English. Its "Birth Chart Horoscope Psychic" line ran 163 days across all 25 markets before it went dark on 14 April 2026, and its current "Daily Horoscope, Compatibility" line runs English across 23 countries, still live at 14 July 2026. Not one native translation in the set.
Astro: Astrology & Horoscope runs two creatives, both English. Its "Zodiac sign Tarot Moon phases" line has held 168 days across 7 countries and is still live. One language, months of runway, no local copy.
Who translates versus who runs English wide
| App | Distinct creatives | Localization approach |
|---|---|---|
| Moonly | 16 | Native in 7 languages (DE, ES, PT, FR, IT, NL, SV), English hero widest |
| Nebula | 28 | Native in 4 languages (ES, DE, IT, PT), English hero widest |
| Astro Love Lab | 20 | Native in 5 languages (DE, FR, IT, ES, PT), English hero widest |
| AstroWay | 7 | English only, all 25 markets |
| Astro: Astrology & Horoscope | 2 | English only, 7 markets |
The line between the camps tracks scale, not the map. The apps that translate are the ones running the most creatives and the most records, and they have the budget to cover Spain in Spanish and Sweden in Swedish. The apps that run English wide are the leaner ones, spending less and keeping one creative live across many countries to hold cost down.
But notice the detail that holds for everyone: every app, translator or not, leads with an English hero line, and that English line carries the widest country footprint in every case. Even Moonly, with seven translations, gives its broadest reach to the English "Daily motivation & Astrology". The native ads win the home market; English wins the map.
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, and Moonly's English hero has passed a year. The durable pattern is a two-layer one: run an English hero wide to cover reach cheaply, then add native copy in the specific markets big enough to earn back the translation. A well-funded app like Moonly or Nebula can afford to translate seven or five languages deep. A leaner app like AstroWay holds one English line across the whole map and still runs for months.
For a solo founder, that turns a costly reflex into a staged decision. Start with one English hero run wide. Add a native translation only in the one or two markets where your installs are large enough to pay for it. Do not translate the map on day one.
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 15 July 2026. "Days running" is the span from a creative's first to last recorded impression across those markets, and "over 1 year" is 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.