The App Store is available in 175 regions and 40 languages, making it easy for users around the world to discover and download your app. Localizing your iOS app helps make it relevant to a variety of cultures and languages, and provides an opportunity to grow your business. Learn how to prepare your iOS app for a global audience and understand considerations for expanding into new markets.
Structure Your App for Localization
Internationalization, the process of structuring your app’s code and UI for localization, is a fundamental first step in building apps for a global audience. With Apple’s powerful tools and technologies, including Xcode, Foundation APIs, Auto Layout, and Unicode support, it’s easy to prepare your apps to support multiple languages and regions, even before you know which languages you’d like to add.
Xcode automatically separates user-visible text and images from executable code. When you translate these elements into other languages, you can integrate the content back into your app as separate localized resource files stored within the app bundle. Images — including image sets, Apple Watch complications, Apple TV image stacks, Sprite Atlases, and symbol sets — can be localized directly in your Asset Catalog.
Use Foundation APIs to correctly express user-visible or dynamically-generated values, such as dates, lengths, weights, prices, and currency symbols, across different locales. Ensure your app accepts user-generated text in any language and in multiple languages at once, independent of the user interface language.
Streamline with AZbox: While Xcode handles the technical aspects of localization, managing translations across multiple languages can become complex. AZbox integrates seamlessly with your iOS development workflow, allowing you to:
- Automatically sync your
Localizable.stringsfiles via GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket - Collaborate with translators in real-time
- Maintain translation memory to ensure consistency
- Use AI-powered suggestions (DeepL/Google) to accelerate translation
- Track changes and manage multiple app versions
For a detailed step-by-step guide on implementing iOS localization with Swift, see our complete iOS translation guide.
Prepare for a Global Audience
Investigate Market Factors
Market-specific demographics, such as population, language, and purchasing power, can help you better understand areas that might have an affinity or need for your app. Every market has its own preferences for the types of apps or categories customers most enjoy. For example, games are popular worldwide, however strategy games may be more popular in a particular region.
Consider selecting markets with similar attributes to those in which you have already established success, such as strong app downloads, sales, usage, or retention metrics, as this may make for easier growth. When selecting a market, assess how your app might fit in and how its value and functionality aligns with that market’s needs.
Use App Analytics to Determine Potential Markets
If you offer your app worldwide but haven’t localized for particular regions, you can look at key performance metrics, such as Product Page Views, App Units, Sales, and Active Devices, filtered by territory. This can help you determine if your app is attracting users in a particular territory that might benefit from localization.
For example, if your app is primarily in English and you see lower than average retention or Sessions per Active Device in Germany, you might consider adding German language support. Keep in mind that some markets may have greater proficiency with your app’s primary language, while others may require more significant localization work.
AZbox Analytics Integration: Track which languages generate the most engagement and prioritize your localization efforts accordingly. AZbox provides insights into translation usage and helps you make data-driven decisions about which markets to target next.
Consider Local Culture and Customs
While your app and product page should each provide a consistent experience across all markets, it’s sometimes valuable to refine certain elements for cultural relevance. For example, you might try incorporating market-specific content or cultural moments, such as special holiday content or regional art styles.
You may want to consider any local policies and market regulations, as well as any political or religious sensitivities, to increase the likelihood that your app is well received.
Localize Your App
Translate User-Visible Content
Use the Xcode Export For Localization feature to automatically extract all localizable content, including localized strings referenced from code, stringsdict files, and Interface Builder files, as well as any localized assets. This process shouldn’t require modifications to your source code, making it easy to work on translations in-house or with an external localization service.
Enhance Your Workflow with AZbox: Instead of manually managing exported localization files, AZbox automates the entire process:
- Automatic File Detection: AZbox automatically detects and imports your
Localizable.stringsand.stringsdictfiles - Real-Time Collaboration: Work with translators who can see context, screenshots, and previous translations
- Translation Memory: Never translate the same string twice. AZbox remembers your translations and suggests them automatically
- AI-Powered Suggestions: Get instant translation suggestions from DeepL and Google Translate, then refine with human translators
- Over-the-Air Updates: Update translations in your app without waiting for App Store approval using AZbox’s iOS SDK
Be sure to also localize purpose strings for a consistent app experience, and consider localizing your privacy policy so that all users have a clear understanding of how their data may be handled.
Apple Services: Use Apple APIs to automatically present localized buttons, payment sheets, errors, and more for Apple Pay, Apple Wallet, and Sign in with Apple.
Audiovisual Media: You can also provide localized support for audiovisual media in your app using AVKit and AVFoundation. These frameworks provide built-in support for easily presenting subtitles and closed captions, and for selecting alternative audio and video tracks.
Localization Services: If choosing an external localization service to help translate content, find out if they specialize in localizing for particular languages, cultures, or categories, and confirm the levels of quality assurance they provide. Providing the service with context about your app and content can help increase efficiency and minimize translation errors.
AZbox provides comprehensive localization services specifically designed for iOS developers:
- Context Sharing: Upload screenshots directly from your app to provide visual context for translators
- Glossary Management: Maintain consistent terminology across all languages
- Quality Assurance: Automated checks for missing translations, placeholder errors, and string length issues
- Version Control: Track changes and manage multiple app versions simultaneously
Avoid machine translation as your only translation method, since this can lead to inaccurate and low-quality translation because it does not account for context, cultural sensitivities or language nuances. AZbox combines the speed of AI translation with the quality of human review, ensuring your translations are both fast and accurate.
Test Your Localization
Configure test plans in Xcode to easily run tests with different settings and define your testing variants in one place. This helps flag any instances of clipping, truncation, layout overlapping, or issues with right-to-left formatting for the devices and languages you support.
You can use the Localization Screenshots feature to generate localized screenshots from successful tests and export these screenshots for use in tutorials, marketing materials, or your App Store product page. Once your app is localized, use TestFlight to share your app with a group of users in the market to get feedback and gather opportunities for improvement.
AZbox Testing Tools: AZbox helps you catch localization issues before they reach production:
- String Length Validation: Automatically detect when translations exceed UI constraints
- Placeholder Validation: Ensure all placeholders are correctly formatted across languages
- Missing Translation Alerts: Get notified when new strings are added but not yet translated
- Screenshot Context: Visual context helps translators understand where strings appear in your app
Prepare for Launch
Localize Your Product Page
Localize your App Store metadata in App Store Connect — such as your app description, keywords, app previews, and screenshots — for each of the regions in which you offer your app. You can also translate your app’s name and tailor your keywords to reflect the values of each market so your app might better resonate with the local audience.
You can use the App Store Connect API to automate your metadata upload and management for multiple localizations.
AZbox App Store Integration: While AZbox focuses on in-app localization, maintaining consistent terminology between your app and App Store listings is crucial. Use AZbox’s glossary feature to ensure your App Store descriptions use the same terminology as your app.
International Payment Methods and Pricing
The App Store handles payment processing, so it’s easy to offer your content to users around the world. Users pay for your apps and in-app purchases with credit or debit cards, carrier billing, digital wallets, or App Store and iTunes gift cards, depending on regional availability.
When pricing your apps and in-app purchases, you’ll choose a price tier in App Store Connect that contains prices already adjusted appropriately for the market in each region. For auto-renewable subscriptions, you can choose from 800 price points across all available currencies and price tiers to offer appropriate pricing for each storefront, with an additional 100 higher price points available upon request.
Adapt Your Marketing Strategy
When launching your app in a new market, adapt your marketing strategy to the region to help your audience easily learn about your app and the value it provides. Research which social networks or other channels are most popular with local audiences, as these may vary significantly across markets, and use them to spread the word about your app.
Localize any materials you use in your marketing and user acquisition efforts, such as screenshots, banners, and advertisements.
App Store Badges: Use the Download on the App Store badge in your communications as a clear call to action to download your app. Localized badges are available to let your international audience know that your app is tailored for them.
App Store Marketing Tools: Generate short links or embeddable code that lead to your App Store product page and display your app icon, a QR code, or an App Store badge. You can also create custom marketing assets — such as banners and images — and add preset messages in multiple languages to promote your apps in your regional advertising efforts.
Evaluate Success
Use App Analytics in App Store Connect to find out how customers discover and engage with your app, and filter this data by the territories in which you’ve expanded. See how many users discover your app while searching or browsing on the App Store and measure the percentage of views that result in a first-time download.
Find out if users continue to use your app, and see the number of installations, sessions, and active devices. Compare this data to that of other markets where your app has been available longer. You may find you need to adjust your marketing strategy or better localize your app to improve performance.
AZbox Performance Insights: Track which languages drive the most engagement and identify opportunities for improvement. AZbox’s analytics help you understand:
- Which translations are most frequently used
- Translation quality metrics
- Time-to-translation for new features
- Translator productivity and collaboration patterns
Once you’ve found success in your chosen markets, you can identify new markets and add additional localizations to provide a great user experience for even more customers.
Streamline Your iOS Localization Workflow
While Apple provides excellent built-in tools for iOS localization, managing translations across multiple languages, coordinating with translators, and keeping everything in sync with your codebase can become overwhelming as your app grows.
AZbox is designed specifically to solve these challenges:
- Seamless Integration: Connect your GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket repository and AZbox automatically syncs your
Localizable.stringsfiles - Real-Time Collaboration: Work with translators in real-time, with built-in comments, context sharing, and review workflows
- Translation Memory: Never translate the same string twice. AZbox remembers all your translations and suggests them automatically
- AI-Powered Speed: Get instant translation suggestions from DeepL and Google Translate, then refine with human translators
- Over-the-Air Updates: Update translations in your app instantly without waiting for App Store approval using AZbox’s iOS SDK
- Quality Assurance: Automated checks catch missing translations, placeholder errors, and string length issues before they reach production
For a detailed technical guide on implementing iOS localization with Swift, including code examples and best practices, see our complete iOS translation guide.
Ready to streamline your iOS localization workflow? Start your free trial with AZbox and see how easy it is to manage translations for your iOS app.
