App Store localization: is translating your listing worth it?

What to localize, in order of impact

1. Keywords – rebuilt, not translated. Each locale has its own 100-character keyword field plus 30-character name and subtitle. Translating your English keyword list is the classic mistake: users search the words natural in their language, which are often not the dictionary translation. Research or generate per market, then verify the terms exist in local searches.
2. Name and subtitle. The 30-character name and subtitle are the most visible and most search-relevant fields. Many apps keep the brand name and localize the descriptive part and subtitle – full search benefit without fragmenting the brand.
3. Description and promotional text. Not indexed for search, but read before download – a fluent description converts, a machine-garbled one actively repels. This is where translation quality matters most per sentence.
4. Screenshots. The biggest conversion driver after the icon, and since Apple started OCR-indexing caption text, also a ranking input. Localized captions on the same underlying screenshots capture most of the value without redoing the artwork per language.

Which locales first

Start where your analytics already show downloads despite an English-only listing – existing foreign traction is proof of demand that a localized listing will amplify. Beyond that, the usual high-return set for paid and productivity apps is German, French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Korean, and Chinese (Simplified), roughly ordered by revenue per user versus competition. Check your territory breakdown before trusting anyone's default list, including this one.

Also fill locales that cost nothing strategically: cross-localization means some storefronts index additional locales (the US also indexes Spanish (Mexico), for example), so those fields expand your keyword budget in markets you already serve.

The workflow problem, and the cheap fix

The reason most indie apps stay English-only is not translation cost – it is that App Store Connect makes multi-locale editing miserable. Every locale is a separate page; a single release note update across 20 locales is 20 slow round trips, every release, forever.

This is a core Itsyconnect workflow: edit all locales in one view, translate any or all fields with your own AI key (or a free Google Translate fallback), and ship every locale in one save. AI translation with a good prompt is genuinely adequate for descriptions and release notes; put your human-review budget on the name, subtitle, and keywords, where nuance and search behavior matter most.