— Guide

Ship your App Store screenshots in every language.

A step-by-step walkthrough of lokal — from your first upload to a complete localized export ready for App Store Connect and Play Console. Six steps, no manual rework.

— Before you start

Sign up and grab a credit pack.

Create an account with your email — no card required to look around. The free tier renders a couple of frames so you can see the output quality before you spend anything.

When you are ready to ship, pick a plan or a one-off pack on the pricing page. One credit equals one frame in one language — no surprise charges, top-ups never expire.

— Step 01

Upload your master screenshots

Drop your finished English (or source-language) screenshots into the workspace. PNG, JPG or WebP all work — any device size, iPhone, iPad, Android. lokal preserves the aspect ratio and the long edge up to 2400px; larger screenshots are scaled down.

  • Drag-and-drop one or many screenshots at once
  • PNG, JPG and WebP accepted; output is always PNG
  • Aspect ratio preserved, max long edge 2400px
— Step 02

Pick your target languages

Choose every store locale you ship to. Add Japanese, Korean, Arabic, German, French — 20+ languages with proper glyph coverage and RTL support. You can add or remove languages later without re-uploading.

  • 20+ App Store / Play Store locales
  • RTL languages (Arabic, Hebrew) flip layout where appropriate
  • Long-form languages (German, Russian) auto-shrink to fit
— Step 03

Choose an image model

Switch the underlying image model per screenshot. The two GPT Image models support low/medium/high quality (1, 2 or 3 credits). The two Nano Banana models run at a fixed quality — Pro at 2 credits, the fast one at 1.

  • GPT Image 2 — strongest on dense UI, low / med / high (1–3 credits)
  • GPT Image 1.5 — cheaper baseline, low / med / high (1–3 credits)
  • Nano Banana Pro — pixel-faithful, 2 credits per frame
  • Nano Banana 2 — fast and inexpensive, 1 credit per frame
— Step 04

Generate the translations

Hit run. Each frame is sent directly to the image model with your source screenshot as visual reference — a single image-to-image pass that re-draws every glyph in the target language while keeping the layout, colors, icons, and dimensions pixel-identical. Locales render in parallel; a 20-language set finishes in minutes.

  • Credits depend on the model and quality preset you pick
  • Parallel rendering across locales
  • Three automatic retries per job on failure
— Step 05

Review and tweak

Open the workspace grid. Every locale sits next to the source. Re-roll any cell, pass custom instructions to nudge tone or terminology, or switch the model for a tricky frame. Nothing is final until you export.

  • Side-by-side comparison with the source
  • Re-roll a single cell without rerunning the batch
  • Custom instructions per re-roll to refine wording
— Step 06

Export your localized set

Download per locale as a ZIP. Each archive contains every translated frame, named exactly as you uploaded it — drop the folder straight into App Store Connect or Play Console. Optionally pick a device preset (iPhone 6.7", iPhone 6.5", iPad 13", iPad 12.9") to resize on export.

  • One ZIP per language, flat file structure
  • Filenames preserved from your source upload
  • Optional device-size resize on export
— Tips

Get the cleanest output on the first run.

Four habits that take ten seconds each and save a re-roll later.

Leave headroom for expansive languages

German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Ukrainian expand 15–35% versus English. Aim for 4–7 words per line and leave 12–16% margin around copy so the model can rephrase without overflowing buttons or cards.

Use a clean, flat background

Flat color or soft gradient backgrounds round-trip perfectly. Photographic backgrounds can drift slightly between locales — keep the busy stuff away from the text and the visual fidelity stays tight.

Render frame-by-frame, not language-by-language

Run frame 1 across every locale first, then frame 2, etc. Side-by-side comparison of the same UI in different languages is the fastest way to catch a layout regression.

Pass custom instructions on re-rolls

If a translation reads too literal or misses a tone, re-roll that cell with a short instruction like "use informal address" or "prefer the loanword 'app' over 'application'". The instruction stacks on top of the default rules.

Read the full best-practices guide
— Troubleshooting

If something looks off.

The five issues that come up most often and the exact fix for each.

Text overflows the frame in German or Russian.+

Switch that cell to Nano Banana Pro and re-roll — it has the strongest awareness of source bounding boxes. If the source headline is unusually long, shorten the English copy by one or two words; that single edit propagates to every locale.

Glyphs render wrong for Japanese / Korean / Chinese.+

Make sure the source screenshot uses a font with full CJK coverage. lokal preserves the font face from the source — if the source font has no Japanese glyphs, the model falls back to a system font and the result looks off.

Output resolution is not what I expected.+

lokal always exports at the resolution of the master screenshot. If your source is 1242×2688 (older iPhone), the export will be 1242×2688. For App Store 2026 sizes, re-upload at 1320×2868 or 1290×2796 and re-run.

Credits are draining faster than expected.+

Cost depends on the model and quality preset. GPT Image 2 / 1.5 charge 1 credit on low, 2 on medium, 3 on high. Nano Banana 2 (Gemini Flash) is 1 credit per render; Nano Banana Pro (Gemini Pro) is 2. If you do not need pixel-perfect hero quality, drop to low and you cut the cost by two-thirds.

An export is missing a locale.+

If a single cell failed to render, the locale folder is still included but with that frame missing. Open the workspace, re-roll the empty cell, and re-export the affected locale.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a designer to use lokal?+

No. lokal is built for indie devs and one-person teams. If you can drop a PNG into a browser, you can ship localized screenshots.

How long does a full localization take?+

A 10-frame set across 20 languages renders in roughly 4–8 minutes depending on model choice. Manual translation of the same set takes 2–5 days.

Can I use lokal for Play Store screenshots too?+

Yes. Any input resolution is supported — App Store, Play Store, custom landing-page banners. lokal does not enforce store-specific dimensions; it preserves whatever you upload.

Are translations human-reviewable?+

Every cell in the workspace is reviewed against the source before you export. If a translation needs a tweak, re-roll that cell with a short custom instruction — the workspace keeps the new render and you only spend one credit for the redo.

Where can I get help?+

Write to hi@lokal.app — it goes straight to the founder's inbox. There is no support tier; everyone gets the same channel.

Ready to translate your first screenshot?

Open the workspace, drop a master shot, pick a language. The rest of the guide makes sense once you see one render.