How Listing Localization Works
When someone visits your app’s listing in the App Store or on Google Play, the store decides which language to show them. Both platforms let publishers provide their listing in multiple languages, but the mechanics of how each store selects what to display — and what happens when a translation isn’t available — differ significantly.
Apple App Store
What You Provide
Section titled “What You Provide”App Store Connect accepts localized metadata (name, subtitle, description, keywords, screenshots, and previews) in up to 39 languages and locales. You designate one of these as your primary language, which acts as the ultimate fallback.
Each locale is independent. Providing English (US) does not auto-populate English (UK) or English (Australia) — you must supply metadata for each one separately.
Primary and Secondary Languages
Section titled “Primary and Secondary Languages”Of the 39 supported locales, 18 are primary languages — each serves as the default for at least one of Apple’s ~175 country storefronts. The remaining 21 are secondary languages — they are never a storefront’s default, and only appear when a user’s device language happens to match.
The 18 Primary Languages
Section titled “The 18 Primary Languages”| Language | Default Storefront(s) |
|---|---|
| English (UK) | United Kingdom + ~120 other countries |
| English (US) | United States |
| English (Australia) | Australia, New Zealand |
| English (Canada) | Canada |
| French | France, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon |
| German | Germany, Austria, Switzerland |
| Spanish (Mexico) | Mexico + 15 other Latin American countries |
| Spanish (Spain) | Spain |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | Brazil |
| Portuguese (Portugal) | Portugal |
| Chinese (Simplified) | China mainland |
| Chinese (Traditional) | Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan |
| Japanese | Japan |
| Korean | Republic of Korea |
| Italian | Italy |
| Dutch | Netherlands |
| Russian | Russia |
| Swedish | Sweden |
The 21 Secondary Languages
Section titled “The 21 Secondary Languages”Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, French (Canada), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
These only surface when a user’s device is set to that language and the storefront lists it as an additional supported language. For example, French (Canada) is not the default for any storefront, but Canada’s storefront supports it as an additional language — so a Canadian user with a French-language device will see the French (Canada) localization if you’ve provided one.
How Apple Selects the Display Language
Section titled “How Apple Selects the Display Language”Apple uses a storefront-centric model. Each of the ~175 country storefronts has one default language and zero or more additional languages. When a user views your listing, Apple intersects four factors:
- Storefront languages — the default and additional languages configured for the user’s country
- Device language — the user’s preferred language setting
- Your localizations — which of the 39 locales you’ve actually provided
- Your primary language — the fallback if nothing else matches
If a user’s device language matches a localization you’ve provided and that language is supported on their storefront, they see it. Otherwise, the storefront’s default language is tried. If you haven’t provided that either, your primary language is shown.
Apple does not offer auto-translation. If you haven’t localized for a user’s context, they see your primary language with no adaptation.
Cross-Localization for Keywords
Section titled “Cross-Localization for Keywords”While your visible listing (name, subtitle, description) is shown in a single language, Apple indexes keywords from multiple locales per storefront for search purposes. This means keywords you place in a secondary locale’s keyword field can still influence search rankings in that storefront — even if users never see that locale’s listing text.
Google Play Store
What You Provide
Section titled “What You Provide”Google Play Console accepts localized metadata (title, short description, full description, screenshots, feature graphic, and video) in 77–92 locales depending on the current state of the platform. You designate one as your default language.
The supported locale set is significantly larger than Apple’s, covering languages like Afrikaans, Amharic, Bengali, Burmese, Filipino, Georgian, Gujarati, Kannada, Khmer, Lao, Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Sinhala, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Zulu, and many others.
Cross-Locale Sharing
Section titled “Cross-Locale Sharing”Unlike Apple, Google Play auto-populates language variants. When you provide metadata in one variant of a language, it automatically fills in for other variants unless you explicitly override them:
- English (US) → English (UK), English (AU), English (CA)
- Portuguese (Portugal) → Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish (Spain) → Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (US)
This means fewer submissions are needed to cover multiple regions that share a base language.
How Google Selects the Display Language
Section titled “How Google Selects the Display Language”Google uses direct locale matching rather than a storefront model. There’s no concept of a country-level “storefront default language.” The display language is determined by:
- Device locale — the language and region set on the user’s Android device or browser (primary signal)
- IP-based geo — the country inferred from the user’s IP address
- URL parameters (web only) — the
hl(host language) andgl(geo location) query parameters when browsing play.google.com
If the user’s locale matches a localization you’ve provided — or one that was auto-populated via cross-locale sharing — that’s what they see.
Fallback Behavior
Section titled “Fallback Behavior”When no match is found, Google applies two levels of fallback:
- Default language — your designated default locale is shown
- Auto-translation — Google can display a machine-translated version of your listing, with a visible banner indicating the translation is automated. Users can toggle back to the default language.
This auto-translation has no equivalent on Apple’s platform.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Section titled “Side-by-Side Comparison”| Apple App Store | Google Play | |
|---|---|---|
| Supported locales | 39 | 77–92 |
| Selection model | Storefront-centric (country → language) | Locale matching (device → listing) |
| Storefront defaults | 18 primary languages across ~175 storefronts | No storefront concept |
| Cross-locale sharing | No — each locale is independent | Yes — variants auto-populate |
| Fallback | Publisher’s primary language | Default language, then auto-translation |
| Keyword indexing | Multi-locale per storefront | Title + descriptions only (no keyword field) |
| Testing | Requires device language / region changes | Append ?hl=xx&gl=YY to Play Store URL |
What This Means for Your Localization Strategy
Section titled “What This Means for Your Localization Strategy”Prioritize the 18 Apple primary languages. These cover every storefront. English (UK) alone reaches ~120 countries, so it should be treated as your global baseline — not just a UK-specific locale.
Use Google’s cross-locale sharing to your advantage. You don’t need to submit 90+ separate localizations. Provide one variant per language and let auto-population handle the rest, then override specific variants only where regional differences matter.
Don’t ignore Apple’s secondary languages. Even though they’re never a storefront default, they reach users whose device is set to that language. Hindi, Arabic, Turkish, and Thai users on Apple devices will see your secondary localization if you provide it — and your primary language if you don’t.
Remember that Google auto-translates, Apple doesn’t. On Google Play, users in unlocalized markets still get something in their language. On Apple, they get your primary language verbatim. This makes Apple localization more critical for markets where your primary language isn’t widely understood.