The Case: Two Names, One Suspect
When you type “short tv” into an app store, you are met with a crowd of lookalikes, the press history of a Chinese studio and, somewhere in the middle, a hit app going by the name ShortMax. The puzzle this file attempts to untangle is that very knot. The working theory fruit love island app is simple: the ShortTV brand that a Chinese producer announced for the US, Canada and Australia and the app now sold as ShortMax are one and the same. The theory is strong, but it is not proven, because no official rename announcement has turned up. So rather than taking anyone’s word for it, we will walk through the public records one clue at a time. The clues are each small on their own, and the weight comes from how neatly they line up. When you reach the end, you should be able to judge the claim yourself and, even more usefully, steer clear of installing the wrong short tv drama app.
The First Clue: The Android Package Name
A package name, the fixed internal ID, comes with every Android app, and it rarely changes even when the storefront title does. The package live.shorttv.apps is the one ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses. Unless the app began under another name, this is an curious choice for a brand called ShortMax. Developers usually choose the package ID at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. A package name that spells out “shorttv” is therefore the kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand. Still, a package name on its own only suggests a history but does not document one. Anyone can confirm this clue in seconds, since the ID also appears in the web address of the Play listing.
Clue Two: The Legal Entity
Buried in the fine print of both app stores sits the second clue. ShortMax’s seller on the App Store is SHORTTV LIMITED. Although Google Play lists the developer as SHORTMAX LIMITED, the legal entity behind it is again SHORTTV LIMITED, with an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. The company’s terms are also governed by Hong Kong law. Studios often rename their consumer product while keeping the original company name, a pattern familiar in app publishing. Even if it does not prove the brands are the same, it places ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.
The Third Clue: The Month of Launch
The timing is the third thread. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. ShortMax arrived in the same month, with Google Play listing September 3, 2023 and the App Store listing September 11, 2023. A pair of unrelated brands with near-identical names debuting within the same few weeks would be a remarkable coincidence. A simpler explanation for the overlap is a single product that launched once and later traded under a new name. In January 2024, a few months after that launch, China Daily was still referring to Jiuzhou’s English-market app as ShortTV. Even so, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly when combined with the other clues.
The Fourth Clue: The Web Domain Redirect
Of all the clues, the fourth is the easiest to check, because it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, anyone visiting shortmax.com gets sent to shorttv.live through a permanent 301 redirect. Web browsing of the same dramas the app streams is offered on that destination site. A permanent redirect is not an accident of search results but a deliberate server setting. Since companies normally point a domain only at property they control, the redirect ties both names to one operator. Although nobody has written it down in a press release, this is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.
Fifth Clue: The Copyright Line
The evidence ends with a footer. The name in a copyright notice is usually the one that actually owns the content and the site. The line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED” appears on a ShortMax page on the shorttv.live site. Put together with the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect, the pattern is hard to read any other way. Still, careful readers should treat the rename as likely but unconfirmed. No one could find an official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax, and the company may describe its brands differently in the future.
Who Runs It: Jiuzhou Culture
Behind the ShortTV name is Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer. Jiuzhou launched two overseas apps, per a January 2024 report in China Daily: 99TV for Southeast Asia and ShortTV for the US, Canada and Australia. More than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets had been made by Jiuzhou, according to the same report. About 80% of them were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, while the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. According to the company’s figures, the cost of a 70-episode short series came to $100,000 to $150,000. Both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals appear in the catalog, and that mix explains it. Those numbers date from early 2024, so treat them as a snapshot rather than a current tally. Today, ShortMax’s own listing advertises more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, a company figure that has not been independently audited. This studio is linked to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today through the ownership trail that runs through SHORTTV LIMITED.
The Look-Alike Apps Problem
Here the case gets messier, because the short tv name is not protected in app store search. A number of unrelated developers publish apps with nearly identical titles, and none of them is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. The developer field is the only place the differences show up, and most people never look at it. Someone looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team can easily install one of these instead. The developer names recorded in the store listings appear in the table as of September 2026. Do not treat the icon or title as the real ID; treat the developer name as the real ID.
| App name in the store | Developer or seller name | Platforms | Install count | Link to Jiuzhou’s ShortTV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ShortMax (package live.shorttv.apps) | SHORTTV LIMITED, Hong Kong | Android and iOS | 100M+ on Google Play | Likely the same app; the rename is unconfirmed |
| ShortTV: Watch Drama Shorts | HUNG LAM INVESTMENT AND CONSTRUCTION JSC | Android | 1M+ | Unrelated |
| Short TV – Drama & Shorts | BullFX | Android | Not listed | Unrelated |
| Shortv | Instant Shadow Limited | iOS | Not listed | Not related |
What You Will Pay
Pricing follows the ShortMax listing, because ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product. In the US App Store as of September 2026, the Weekly Pass Pro is priced at about $19.99 a week, with a cheaper tier at about $9.99. Monthly or yearly plans could not be verified, since the US store lists only weekly passes. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. Passes are renewed automatically 24 hours before they expire, according to the terms, and refunds are denied unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax. Another complaint from App Store reviewers concerns episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. Through its own replies on Google Play, the developer admits that its “free trial” wording confused some users. Deleting the app does not stop the billing; cancellation happens in the App Store or Google Play subscription settings.
Before You Tap Install: A Brief Checklist
A few quick checks take less than a minute and prevent most mix-ups. Confirming you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike is the whole point. Pricing traps also become easier to spot before you start a short series you cannot afford to finish. Any site that offers modded versions or “unlimited coins” are best avoided, since those are unofficial and risky. No special tools are needed for any of these steps, only the store page itself. Before you tap install, run through the list below.
- Confirm that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
- Check the install count on Google Play reads 100M+.
- Read the in-app purchase list to see current weekly pass prices in your country.
- Keep in mind that passes keep renewing automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
- Skip any app whose developer name matches none of the above, however similar the title.