Localization is one of the highest-ROI ASO moves most developers skip. How to adapt your App Store previews, screenshots, and metadata for international markets.
Most of the world's App Store users do not speak English natively, yet most indie listings ship in English only. Localization is one of the few ASO levers that opens entirely new audiences rather than competing harder for the one you already have.
Start with the highest-value markets
You do not have to localize everywhere at once. Look at where your installs already come from, and where your category is large. Common high-ROI starting points are Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), and Korean, but let your own data lead.
Localize metadata for discovery
- Translate your app name, subtitle, and keyword field per locale: keywords especially, since search terms differ by language.
- Do not machine-translate keywords blindly; how people actually search rarely matches a literal translation.
- Each localization is a fresh set of indexed keywords, effectively multiplying your discoverable surface.
Localize visuals for conversion
A visitor who sees captions in their own language trusts the listing more and converts better. At minimum, translate screenshot captions and preview text overlays. If your app's UI is itself localized, re-record the preview in that language so the on-screen content matches too.
- Translate screenshot captions and re-export the set per locale.
- Translate preview text overlays: often you can keep the same footage and swap only the text.
- For your biggest markets, record the app in that locale so the UI matches the captions.
- Upload localized assets to the matching localization slot in App Store Connect.
Mind cultural fit
Localization is more than translation. Date formats, currency, reading direction, color associations, and even which feature you lead with can vary by market. A quick review by a native speaker catches the things a translation tool never will.
Translating your keywords opens the door; translating your screenshots gets people through it.
– Gregory Lister
Because prevy keeps your text overlays editable and separate from the footage, producing a German or Japanese variant of a preview is usually a matter of swapping captions and re-exporting, not re-shooting the whole thing.
Written by
Gregory Lister
Co-founder & Head of Growth
Gregory has shipped App Store campaigns for indie apps and venture-backed studios alike. He writes about conversion, ASO, and the unglamorous mechanics of getting people to tap “Get”.