How to Localize for Indonesian in the App Store

Apple's keyword reference allows 100 bytes, not 100 characters. Counted as UTF-8, the example below contains 62 one-byte characters (separators excluded). Every letter costs one byte, so the field holds up to 100 characters, commas included. 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:

kebiasaan,rutinitas,target,pengingat,motivasi,disiplin,jadwal harian

That is 68 characters and 68 bytes: 62 bytes of keywords plus 6 commas, leaving 32 of the 100 bytes free. The byte counts assume UTF-8; confirm the final count in App Store Connect before you save.

The Indonesia row lists English (U.K.) then Indonesian. Malaysia's row, by comparison, lists Malay as its addition; Apple treats them as separate languages with separate locales (id and ms). Do not paste one list into the other without checking. The Indonesia keyword page covers the storefront and the Malaysia page its neighbor.

Other Southeast Asian rows are Thai and Vietnamese.

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

Indonesian has no accented letters in everyday spelling, so a keyword costs one byte per letter and the 100 bytes hold 100 characters including commas. That is the same arithmetic as English and double what a Russian field holds.

Cheap bytes tempt people to add many variations. Apple warns against stuffing and says special characters carry no extra weight. Choose the word forms people really type, including affixed forms such as pengingat, and check each in the storefront; Apple does not document how Indonesian affixes are handled.

LocalASO checks keywords in 52 App Store storefronts, each in the storefront's local language, so you can compare your Indonesian 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: Thai, Vietnamese, English (U.K.).