A short, useful checklist if you are localizing an app for the first time. Order matters — getting it wrong wastes a weekend.
1. Pick the markets, not the languages
"Spanish" covers Spain, Mexico and Argentina with very different word choices. Pick the country first, then the locale. Three to five markets is enough for a first pass.
2. Translate metadata first
App name, subtitle, promotional text and keywords. These are the biggest ASO levers and the cheapest to localize. Update them in App Store Connect under the new locale.
3. Localize the first three screenshots
These drive most of the conversion lift. The remaining seven can wait for round two.
4. Translate in-app text
Use the platform string format (Localizable.strings on iOS, strings.xml on Android). Avoid concatenating words at runtime; languages put words in different orders.
5. Localize push and email
Onboarding push notifications, password reset emails, error messages. Users notice when the app is local but the emails are in English.
6. Test on a real device set to the locale
Change your device language. Open the app. Open the App Store listing. Look for: cut-off text, English fallbacks, broken plurals, wrong number formats.
7. Soft-launch in the target market
Watch conversion and crashes for a week before going wider. Track install rate by locale, not just globally.
lokal handles step 3. Steps 1, 2 and 4–7 still need a human in the loop, and that is the right way around.