How to Localize App Store Screenshots for Every Market

Quick answer: To localize App Store screenshots, start with the markets that already send you impressions, translate the headlines (not just the description), capture your app's UI in each language, and adapt the layout: give German and French room to run longer, mirror layouts for Arabic and Hebrew, and use proper fonts for Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Then upload a set per localization in App Store Connect.

Screenshots are the first thing most shoppers look at, and a headline in a language they don't read is a headline they skip. Apple's own product page guidance says that if your app is available in multiple languages, you should localize your description, keywords, app previews and screenshots for each market.

Localized metadata and localized screenshots do different jobs:

• Keywords, name and subtitle affect whether you're found in that market's searches.
• Screenshots affect whether people who find you actually download. Apple doesn't document screenshot text as a ranking factor, so think of localized screenshots as a conversion tool.

If you only localize the text fields, shoppers in Tokyo or Berlin see a translated listing with English images, which looks unfinished. Our pillar guide on App Store localization covers metadata; this article focuses on the screenshots.

App Store Connect currently supports 50 languages and locales for metadata, including regional variants such as English (U.K.), French (Canada), Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Mexico). The full list is in our App Store localization languages guide. You don't need all of them on day one.

A practical way to prioritize:

1. Follow your existing traffic. Check impressions and product page views by territory in App Store Connect analytics. Markets where people already find you are the fastest wins.
2. Check each storefront's default language. Apple's localization reference lists the default language per country. Many Latin American storefronts default to Spanish (Mexico), for example, so one Spanish (Mexico) localization reaches a lot of countries.
3. Weigh how much English your audience reads. Markets such as Japan, Korea, China, Brazil, Germany, France and Spain often respond better to native-language listings than to English ones.
4. Start with three to five languages. Measure conversion per territory, then expand to the next group.

The same message takes very different amounts of space across languages. Here's one headline in five languages:

How to handle it:

• Write short source headlines. Three to six English words leave room for languages that expand.
• Let translators rewrite, not transliterate. A shorter local phrase that keeps the benefit beats a literal translation squeezed into a smaller font.
• Set a minimum font size. Auto-shrinking is helpful, but if a German headline drops far below your English size, shorten the copy instead.
• Check every screen, every size. A headline that fits on the 6.9-inch canvas may overflow on iPad or Android.

Right-to-left (RTL) markets need more than translated text. Readers scan from the right, so the whole composition should flip:

• Align text to the right. Headlines, subtitles and badges start at the right edge.
• Mirror the layout, not the images. If the device sits on the right in English, move it to the left so the eye lands on text first. Never flip the screen capture itself, your logo or photos.
• Flip directional elements. Arrows, progress indicators and "swipe" cues should point the other way.
• Capture the RTL interface. iOS mirrors interfaces for right-to-left languages when apps use leading and trailing layout. Capture your app running in Arabic or Hebrew rather than placing RTL text over an English screen.
• Recheck panoramas. A layout that flows from left to right across screenshots should still make sense when read from right to left.

Apple's right-to-left design guidance explains which elements should mirror and which shouldn't: logos, photographs, illustrations and real-world objects such as clocks keep their original orientation. It also suggests slightly increasing the size of Arabic and Hebrew text when it sits next to uppercase Latin text.

CJK headlines are short in characters but visually dense. A few rules keep them crisp:

• Use a font made for the script. Latin-only fonts fall back to a system font, often mismatched in weight. Pick a deliberate companion such as Noto Sans JP, SC, TC or KR.
• Separate Simplified and Traditional Chinese. They're different localizations with different audiences, such as China mainland versus Hong Kong and Taiwan.
• Break lines at natural phrases. Japanese and Chinese don't use spaces, so automatic wrapping can split a word awkwardly. Insert manual line breaks at phrase boundaries.
• Skip italics and wide letter-spacing. Neither suits CJK typography.
• Give Indic and Thai scripts extra line height. Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Thai and similar scripts stack marks above and below letters that collide with tight spacing.

Our guide to fonts for App Store screenshots lists font options by script.

The headline is only half of a localized screenshot. The app screen inside it should feel local too:

• Capture the app in each language. Automation such as fastlane snapshot can capture every screen in every language and device for you.
• Use local formats. Currencies, dates, times, decimal separators and units (kilometers or miles, Celsius or Fahrenheit) should match the market.
• Use believable local demo data. Names, cities and content that feel native, while remaining fictional.
• Adapt imagery thoughtfully. Photos of people, food, holidays or gestures may need local versions.
• Keep social proof true for that market. Only show ratings, awards or press quotes that are real and current.

1. Finalize your English (or primary-language) set first.
2. Put every headline and subtitle in one sheet, one row per screen, one column per language.
3. Translate with a native speaker or AI translation, then have a native speaker review the result in context.
4. Capture localized UI screens for each language you ship.
5. Apply the translations, mirror RTL layouts and fix overflow and line breaks.
6. Export each language as its own set for every device size.
7. Upload each set under its localization in App Store Connect, and on Google Play add localized graphics per language.

The detailed version, including how to manage dozens of languages, is in how to translate App Store screenshots. For how languages work inside the editor, see ScreenShipper's language help.