App & Game Localization: How to Reach Mobile Users Around the World

Why localization is critical for mobile apps & games

Even in our globalized world, with English being the modern-day lingua franca, speaking to audiences in their native languages is vital. According to CSA and DeepL research, 75% of potential customers won’t hesitate to look elsewhere for content in a preferred language, and 56% of consumers prioritize linguistic comfort over price.

However, expanding into other markets is not just about mobile app translation. Appealing to users from other countries means accounting for local nuances, ranging from choosing the correct date format to replacing potentially offensive elements with culturally and contextually appropriate ones. Such a level of immersiveness can only be achieved through high-quality localization.

What mobile app & game localization actually includes

Like any other project, localization of mobile apps and games is complex and starts with careful planning. To give your planning structure, consider answering questions such as:

• Which content do you want to localize? Will it be basic, partial, or full localization?
• What do you need to localize first, and into what languages?
• What are the local laws and regulations? Is your content compliant with them?
• Will you reach out to an app/game localization services provider or use crowdsourced solutions?
• What tool/platform do you want to use to localize and deliver the resulting content?
• What are the deadlines?

The most striking question is what the differences are between basic, partial, and full localization. Aside from costs and time spent, key characteristics are as follows.

Basic localization. Mostly includes only app store content: description, keywords, minimum requirements, etc. It won’t drive huge engagement in foreign markets, but it is a perfect solution when you’re on a tight budget and still want to make your content visible.

Partial localization. The most balanced approach, which means localizing in-game text, subtitles (if any), and UI on top of basic localization efforts. For markets where consumers are used to subtitling, it becomes an especially favourable option.

Full localization. In this scenario, everything from descriptions to UI to audio and visual content is localized. It is a preferred option for large markets with high purchasing power where full localization is expected (e.g., France).

When you have decided on the scope of localization and planned things out, it’s time to prepare your content.

1. Consider moving all the relevant text into external resource files—hard-coding makes localization significantly harder, and linguists might accidentally mess up the code.
2. Think about internationalization: ensure you support international date, time, and currency formats, Unicode, fonts for different scripts, and a flexible layout to accommodate differing word lengths across languages.
3. Provide context for your app or game: share company background, define target audience, send screenshots and artbooks, enable testing accounts, and prepare product-specific style guides and glossaries.

Once the workflow is in full swing, it is important to answer translators’ questions to ensure quality. It won’t take too much of your time, but it will greatly impact the accuracy and tone of your product, as well as how your target audience perceives it. Needless to say, you will avoid costly errors by providing linguists with sufficient context.

When the localized versions are ready, conduct testing to identify any linguistic, functional, or cultural issues. Once you’re satisfied with the results, it’s time to launch!

User Interface Translation

Text issues

In UI design, every character counts. However, it’s important to keep in mind that translated text can expand up to 40% for a number of languages. Without adaptable layouts that respond to that expansion, you may find that buttons, menus, and labels do not display text fully or look cluttered. To avoid issues with character limits, it is recommended to use tools like Auto Layout or ConstraintLayout for iOS and Android, respectively.

Using images with embedded text might not be convenient either: it slows down your game or app localization process and frequently causes mismatches that will have to be fixed manually. Editable text layers or dynamically generated app strings are a considerably better option.

Technical and engineering limits

Many technical issues arise due to missing or improper internationalization. Incorrectly formatted dates, times, numbers, and currencies, as well as absent or malfunctioning ICU syntax (which supports a variety of gender and plural forms), are quite noticeable and will make the final product look like a machine translation.

No RTL and Unicode support might result in mirroring and alignment errors, as well as functional issues for Asian, Middle Eastern, or Indic scripts.

Contextual & cultural nuances

UI strings are often brief and may consist of only one word, which is rather confusing when several translation options are possible. For instance, “Start” could refer to either a button, which typically requires an infinitive, or a call to action, which typically requires an imperative verb. Adding screenshots or clear descriptions to UI strings can help avoid mistranslations.

Cultural nuances, like jokes or idioms, might be easily overlooked when you’re deeply immersed in culture. But sometimes even a small detail that seems insignificant to you can frustrate the target audience. For this reason, the best practice would be to work with linguists who are also native speakers. They will ensure your content is idiomatic, perfectly suited to the expectations and sensibilities of the locals.

Game Dialogue and Story Content

In an overall creative task of localizing games, translating dialogue and story content is one of the most creative parts, often leaning into the transcreation side.

Consistency. To immerse players in your game world, the names of characters, key items, abilities, and locations have to be consistent throughout the game. Otherwise, players’ experience might be poor, as they will be frustrated or even unable to solve puzzles or complete quests due to discrepancies. Ensure translators have relevant and cohesive glossaries.

Lack of context. As translators often don’t have access to the game itself, it might be challenging to understand what characters are talking, or the timeline of plot events. Usually, linguists search for relevant information across game fans’ websites, look up walkthroughs and previous games in the series, or just ask questions directly. To ensure localization quality and accuracy, share information like character descriptions, dialogue lists, screenshots, developer comments, or demos, and answer emerging questions.

Voice-over. If you choose to localize your game fully, voice-over will add more nuance to the process. Rendering dialogues into another language often requires lip-syncing to match the characters’ mouth movements. As languages’ structures can be vastly different, getting a translation that also lip-syncs perfectly is no small feat.

Gender and formality. Many languages differentiate between formal and informal forms of address and conjugate verbs depending on a speaker’s gender. Keep in mind that knowing details such as characters’ gender, age, and rank might be of paramount importance for translators.

Challenges of localizing mobile apps & games

When developing a mobile app or a game, it is vital to keep in mind the differences between Android and iOS devices. This aspect is just as important for handling your product’s localization.

First of all, your desired language might not be supported: carefully check language lists for Android and iOS. To give another example, iOS app localization might be trickier in comparison to Android app localization, since neatly packed and precise design demands stricter character limits and solutions to text expansion issues.

Another important localization effort unique to apps and games is app store submission. It’s important to take into account that in the App Store, you can’t submit your app or game without fully localizing its metadata. At the same time, the Play Store allows localization only into some languages. But when it comes to localization itself, just translating existing keywords might not always work. Users search for words or word combinations that are typical of their market and culture, and they probably won’t coincide with yours. It’s best to research what keywords are already common and use them.

Last but not least, providing proper internationalization. Engineers must ensure that a game or an application will be easily adapted to various languages without repeatedly altering the code. It includes enabling various plural and gender forms, time and date formats, support for double-byte languages (such as Japanese) and right-to-left languages (such as Hebrew), etc.

Localization testing in mobile apps & games

In mobile game and app localization, testing is as important as any other step of the workflow. Effective checks ensure a seamless experience for users and gamers across all your target markets with accurate and culturally appropriate translations. This is also backed up by surveys: nearly 80% of players recommend the game when they are satisfied with its localization.

QA teams do localization testing on several different levels:

• Linguistic testing—ensures translations are generally and contextually accurate
• Functional testing—designed for verifying that the game functions properly in different languages and regions
• Cultural testing—checks that the content is culturally appropriate and non-offensive
• Cosmetic testing—needed to catch issues like truncated text, broken/overlapping UI elements, or untranslated strings
• Compliance testing—ensures a game or an app meets local regulations and standards

After all the necessary checks, you might need to go through retesting to make sure your product is ready to launch. How many rounds of retesting are needed depends on the number of language assets to translate, game size, languages to check, and many more. However, investing in qualified game or app localization testing services might significantly speed up the process.

Best languages to localize mobile apps & games into

Companies often focus on languages with the largest number of speakers and the most revenue. While that approach is not wrong, there are many more factors to consider, including how large your player base is or what niche your app fills in for the local customers, and whether the chosen market actually has strong enough purchasing power.

But first, analyze your data. What countries do you receive the most traffic from? How many languages do you need to localize into for a given country: one or more? How do your competitors’ results compare to yours? What markets prefer mobile to desktop or console? For mobile games, don’t forget to look into community engagement: active player bases might help you to decide which markets are worth expanding into.

Your app branding or the topics explored in your game have a certain effect on your native or primary audience, but will the message, imagery, and examples translate well to other cultures? This is something you should also consider when deciding to go global. French and Japanese cultures, for example, have vast differences and might require heavy adaptation. It includes tailoring the content to cultural needs, like changing dishes or holiday names to local ones.

To add more structure to your localization planning, consider a tier-based approach.

The principle is simple: start with Tier 1, then expand to Tier 2, and then you might consider tapping into Tier 3.

To spark ideas for your international growth, here are the top 10 languages for localization in 2026.

English. The language of technology, business, and entertainment across the globe. It remains the default language for many platforms and is a must-have for global content strategy.

Mandarin Chinese. This language is a key to one of the world’s largest and rapidly growing markets. With it, you’ll get access to consumers not only in Mainland China, but also in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Spanish. It is the main language in Spain, the countries of Latin America, and significant parts of the United States. Its importance is critical for e-commerce and media.

Arabic. With around 380 million native speakers, it is the primary language when expanding into MENA markets (Middle Eastern and North African).

French. Important for international compliance, it is also a key to audiences in Europe, Africa, and Canada.

German. One of the main languages of technology and innovation, which represents a market with high purchasing power.

Brazilian Portuguese. Language of the largest market in Latin America. Indispensable for fintech, gaming, and e-commerce.

Hindi. This language provides access to a massive market with rapid economic growth and a great demographic potential.

Japanese. A premium, revenue-driven market with high consumer engagement. It is a top priority for app stores, gaming, and electronics.

Ukrainian. Since 2022, high-quality localization has become a standing priority for local consumers. This language is also recognized as an important language for the growing tech sector.