How to Localize App Store Screenshots for Each Language

• Apple asks you to localize the app description, keywords, previews and screenshots for each market where you offer the app.
• When you add a language, screenshots and properties default to the primary language's, except description and keywords.
• You can upload up to 10 screenshots per device size, and the first one to three appear in search results depending on orientation.
• Screenshots should show the app in use, not merely title art, a login page or a splash screen (Guideline 2.3.3).
• Apple suggests focusing each later screenshot on one main benefit or feature, and including a Dark Mode screenshot if the app supports it.

1. Count the work. Multiply screenshots by languages. Six screenshots in four languages is 24 images. That number tells you whether to localize everything or in tiers.
2. Tier by visibility. Tier 1: screenshots 1 to 3, the ones that can show in search. Tier 2: the remaining screenshots. Tier 3: previews and special pages.
3. Choose the depth per tier. Three levels exist: reuse the primary image, replace only the caption text, or recapture the app UI in the target language. Caption-only is the safe floor when your app interface is not translated.
4. Keep the UI honest. A screenshot in French with an English interface, if the app is English, is accurate. A screenshot that shows a French UI the app does not have is not. This also applies if you localize the listing without translating the app; see that guide.
5. Mind the text size. Captions change length in translation, and Japanese, Chinese and Korean need fonts that cover the characters. Test captions at the size they appear in search.
6. Upload and check the product page. Open each storefront's page on a device set to that language, and compare against the primary language.

A hypothetical habit tracker, Streakly, has 6 screenshots and plans German, French and Japanese beside English. That is 4 x 6 = 24 images. Tier 1 is the first three for each of the 3 new languages, 9 images. Streakly localizes captions for those 9 first. Tier 2 is the other 3 screenshots in each language, 9 more; they stay English-captioned until the first wave shows a change in downloads. That halves the up-front work from the 18 new images a full translation would need to 9.

The caption on screenshot 1 changes from "Build streaks that last" to a German sentence written for the German market, not a literal translation, and about the same length so it fits.

Product page optimization lets you test up to three treatments with alternate screenshots against your current page. It applies to iOS and iPadOS apps and is not available for custom product pages. Use it to compare, for example, a localized caption against the primary-language caption in one storefront. Results show in App Analytics after five first-time downloads associated with the test, so low-traffic localizations may need a long run. The product page optimization glossary entry has the rules.

• Translating all 10 screenshots before checking whether the first three work.
• Using screenshots that show only a logo or splash screen. Apple's guideline wants the app in use.
• Forgetting sizes. Each device size needs its own set; the screenshot sizes answer lists them.

Once screenshots and text match, write the listing around them with the App Store localization guide. LocalASO prepares the text side (name, subtitle, keywords and descriptions per language) and can upload it to App Store Connect as a draft; see the App Store Connect docs. LocalASO works on the text fields, so you upload screenshots yourself.