Watch ReelShort Episodes Free Everything to Know

The Puzzle: Two Names, One Suspect

A search for “short tv” in an app store returns a crowd of lookalikes, the press history of a Chinese studio and, buried somewhere in the middle, a hit app named ShortMax. That knot is the case this file attempts to untangle. The main theory 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. It is a strong theory, but it is not proven, since no official rename announcement has been found. Rather than taking anyone’s word https://www.reelshorts.org/where-to-watch/hooked-on-you/ for it, we will go through the public records one clue at a time. The clues are each small on their own, so the weight comes from how neatly they fit together. You should be able to judge the claim yourself by the end and, more usefully, steer clear of the wrong short tv drama app.

The First Clue: The Package Name on Android

Each Android app has a package name: a fixed internal ID that rarely changes even when the store title does. ShortMax’s Google Play listing uses the package live.shorttv.apps. Unless the app began under another name, that is an odd choice for a brand called ShortMax. The package ID is usually set at the very beginning, before marketing settles on a final title. The kind of fingerprint that survives a rebrand is therefore a package name that spells out “shorttv”. Anyone can check this clue in seconds: the ID also appears in the web address of the Play listing. Still, a package name by itself only suggests a history and does not document one.

Second Clue: The Entity on Record

In the fine print of both app stores sits the second clue. On the App Store, ShortMax’s seller is SHORTTV LIMITED. Although Google Play lists the developer as SHORTMAX LIMITED, the legal entity behind it is once again SHORTTV LIMITED, with an address in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong. Hong Kong law also governs its terms of service. In app publishing, it is a common pattern for a studio to rename its consumer product while keeping the original company name. Even if it does not prove the brands are the same, it puts ShortTV’s name on the contract you accept when you pay for ShortMax.

Third Clue: The Launch Month

The third thread is timing. ShortTV’s launch is dated to September 2023 in Baidu’s encyclopedia entry. Google Play gives September 3, 2023 and the App Store gives September 11, 2023 for ShortMax, which arrived in the same month. A simpler explanation for the overlap is one product that launched once and later traded under a new name. Nearly identical names on two unrelated brands debuting within the same few weeks would be a remarkable coincidence. In January 2024, a few months after that launch, China Daily was still calling Jiuzhou’s English-market app ShortTV. Even so, a shared month is circumstantial, so it matters mainly alongside the other clues.

Fourth Clue: The Redirect Between Domains

Of all the clues, the fourth is the easiest to verify, since it happens in your browser. As of September 2026, loading shortmax.com produces a permanent 301 redirect to shorttv.live. That destination site offers web browsing of the same dramas the app streams. Because companies normally point a domain only at property they control, the redirect ties both names to one operator. No part of a permanent redirect is an accident of search results; it is a deliberate server setting. Even though nobody has written it down in a press release, it is the closest thing in this file to a signed statement.

Clue Five: The Copyright Notice

The final clue is a footer. Over on the shorttv.live site, a ShortMax page displays the line “© 2024 SHORTTV LIMITED”. The name in a copyright notice tends to be the one that actually owns the content and the site. When you add the package name, the seller, the launch month and the redirect, the pattern is hard to read any other way. The rename should still be treated by careful readers as likely but unconfirmed. Nobody could find an official announcement of a switch from ShortTV to ShortMax, and the company may describe its brands differently in the future.

Who Is Behind It: Jiuzhou Culture

Jiuzhou Culture, a Chinese short-drama producer, is the company that stands behind the ShortTV name. 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. The same report said Jiuzhou had produced more than 600 mini-dramas for overseas markets. Of these titles, about 80% were dubbed adaptations of Chinese productions, while the remaining 20% were original overseas shoots. Each 70-episode short series costs, by the company’s own figures, $100,000 to $150,000. This mix explains why the catalog contains both dubbed Chinese stories and locally shot originals. These days, ShortMax’s own listing claims more than 50,000 dramas in 19 languages, though that company figure has not been independently audited. Dating from early 2024, those figures should be treated as a snapshot rather than a current tally. It is the ownership trail through SHORTTV LIMITED that this studio connects to the ShortMax brand you see in stores today.

The Trouble With Look-Alike Apps

Because the short tv name is not protected in app store search, the case becomes messier here. None of the unrelated developers who publish apps with nearly identical titles is connected to Jiuzhou or ShortMax. The differences show up only in the developer field, which most people never read. A person looking for a shorts app from the ShortTV team can easily install one of these instead. The developer names recorded in the store listings are listed in the table as of September 2026. Treat the developer name, not the icon or title, as the real ID.

How Much It Costs

Since ShortTV and ShortMax appear to be one product, pricing follows the ShortMax listing. 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. Prices vary by country, platform and promotion, and one-time purchases run from about $3.49 to $24.99. Since the US store lists only weekly passes, monthly or yearly plans could not be confirmed. Refunds are denied unless the service is unusable because of ShortMax, and passes renew automatically 24 hours before they expire, according to the terms. The developer’s own responses on Google Play admit that its “free trial” wording confused some users. Another complaint from App Store reviewers involves episodes costing up to 60 coins without clear pricing up front. To cancel, use the App Store or Google Play subscription settings, since deleting the app does not stop the billing.

Before Installing: A Quick Checklist

Taking less than a minute, a few checks head off most mix-ups. The goal is to confirm you are getting the Jiuzhou-linked app and not a look-alike. Before starting a short series you cannot afford to finish, it also helps you spot the pricing traps. None of these steps requires special tools, only the store page itself. Avoid any site offering modded versions or “unlimited coins”, because those are unofficial and risky. Go through the list below before you tap install.

1. Make sure that the developer or seller reads SHORTTV LIMITED or SHORTMAX LIMITED.
2. Check the install count on Google Play sits at 100M+.
3. To check current weekly pass prices in your country, check the in-app purchase list.
4. Keep in mind that passes keep renewing automatically until you cancel in your store settings.
5. No matter how similar the title looks, avoid any app whose developer name matches none of the above.