How Many Languages Should You Localize Your App Store Listing Into?

Every localization is a full set of text you have to write and maintain: name, subtitle, keywords, description, promotional text and What's New. App Store Connect supports 50 metadata locales, and the number of App Store languages is a ceiling, not a target. If no localization matches a user's language, the next most relevant localization is used, and in other countries the primary language is shown. So you never have a gap, only a listing that is not written for that audience.

Apple also says a localization displays in countries where the App Store supports that language but not English. A French localization therefore serves more than France.

1. List your target storefronts. Use your sales data, your ranking by country, or the countries where users already review you.
2. Look up each storefront's languages. Apple's localizations table gives a default language and additional supported languages per country. The App Store localizations table shows them side by side.
3. Count distinct listing languages. Two countries that share a default language need one localization, not two. Variants such as English (U.K.) and English (Canada) are separate locales; the locale code reference lists them.
4. Rank by expected return. Put first the languages that cover several target storefronts or where you already see demand.
5. Add two to four, then measure. Check rank and downloads per country before the next wave. Do not add 20 at once; you cannot tell which one helped or hurt.
6. Keep the list current. A new language starts with the primary language's screenshots and properties, except description and keywords, so it is never "done" when added. Plan the images with the guide to localizing screenshots.

A hypothetical habit tracker called Streakly sells in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. Apple's table lists these languages for those countries:

Five countries, but the distinct languages are German, English (U.K.), French, Italian, Dutch, English (Canada) and French (Canada): seven. Streakly does not have to write seven. German covers three storefronts at once, so it goes in wave one together with the primary English. Wave two adds French and Dutch for Belgium and Switzerland. Italian and the Canadian variants wait until data says they are worth it.

The same table lists nine additional languages for the United States: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Mexico) and Vietnamese. That tells you which localizations the US storefront can show. It does not tell you which are worth writing for your app. Apple does not publish how many searches each of those language groups makes, so use rank data and your own downloads to choose.

Languages can be managed only when the app status is editable. Changing the primary language later has prerequisites, so pick it deliberately. Quality beats count: a thin, machine-translated listing that nobody reviewed can say things you would not publish yourself. Read the App Store localization guide for the full workflow.

LocalASO checks keywords in 52 storefronts, each in the storefront's local language, so you can see which markets give your app room before you write a listing. Details are on the localization docs page.