How to Localize for Finnish in the App Store

Apple's keyword reference allows 100 bytes, not 100 characters. Counted as UTF-8, the example below contains 65 one-byte and 2 two-byte characters (separators excluded). Only the accented letters cost two bytes, so the field holds between 50 and 100 letters depending on how many accents you use. The words below are a hypothetical keyword list for a habit tracker called Streakly; they are illustrations, not validated search terms, and each has at least three characters.

Joined with commas and no spaces after them, the field is:

tottumukset,rutiini,tavoitteet,muistutus,motivaatio,päiväsuunnittelu,kuri

That is 73 characters and 75 bytes: 69 bytes of keywords plus 6 commas, leaving 25 of the 100 bytes free. The byte counts assume UTF-8; confirm the final count in App Store Connect before you save.

As in Norway and Denmark, the Finland row defaults to English (U.K.) and lists the local language as an addition. If you do nothing, Apple's fallback gives Finnish users the next most relevant localization. The Finland keyword page covers local competition. Its Nordic neighbors are Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.

Finnish is also unrelated to those three, so no keyword transfers by similarity.

Apple's table reads these rows as follows: Finnish is never the default and an additional language in 1.

Finnish builds long words by adding endings and joining compounds, such as päiväsuunnittelu at 16 characters. Only ä and ö take two bytes, so the cost is mostly in length. In the example, päiväsuunnittelu costs 18 bytes by itself.

Apple does not document whether search matches a keyword against inflected forms of it, which is the question that matters most in Finnish. Because you cannot know, put the form you expect users to type and verify it by searching for it in the Finnish storefront. The shortest term in the example, kuri, passes the three-character minimum with four letters.

LocalASO checks keywords in 52 App Store storefronts, each in the storefront's local language, so you can compare your Finnish candidates with the English ones in one place. Keywords, ranks and listings stay in a database on your Mac. LocalASO is a one-time $29 purchase and the app needs a license key to run; the setup is in the localization docs and the price is on the pricing page. To test the field you just built, use the keyword field checker, or browse every language page. Neighboring languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish.