Why Localizing Your App Is Worth It

Most indie developers ship their apps in English and call it done. That's understandable—you're focused on building, not translating.

But there are over 200 million iPhone users in non-English speaking countries. Many of them won't download an app that isn't in their language.

The Numbers#

75% of users prefer apps in their native language, even for simple tasks.[1] This isn't about ability—many can read English. It's about preference and trust.

40% of users won't buy products in another language.[1] For a paid app or in-app purchase, that's a significant portion of potential revenue you're not capturing.

128% more downloads on average in the first week after adding native language support.[2] Localized apps consistently outperform their English-only versions in non-English markets.

Markets Worth Knowing About#

Japan#

67 million iPhone users—the highest iOS market share of any major country at nearly 70%.[3] Japanese users also have the highest per-capita app spending in the world.[4] But they expect Japanese. Not machine-translated Japanese. Real, natural Japanese.

Germany#

27 million iPhone users and Europe's largest app market.[5] German users are tech-savvy and willing to pay for quality apps. Many speak English but still prefer German apps.

France#

19 million iPhone users—and only 39% of French people speak English.[6] French keywords consistently get higher search popularity in the App Store than their English equivalents.[7] If you want French users, you need French localization.

Brazil and Mexico#

Brazil has 27 million iPhone users, Mexico has 21 million.[8] Spanish and Portuguese open up a large market that's still growing. Brazil is projected to overtake the US in total app downloads by 2027.[9]

South Korea#

12 million iPhone users. iOS market share recently exceeded 25% for the first time.[10] Korean users spend over five hours per day on mobile apps. Like Japan, they expect native Korean.

The ROI#

Localization used to be expensive. Professional translation runs $0.10-0.25 per word. For a typical app with 500 strings, that's $500-1,250 per language.

AI translation has changed this. You can now translate your entire app in minutes instead of weeks, at a fraction of the cost. The quality is good enough that you're editing, not starting from scratch.

Studies show companies investing in localization see 20-30% revenue growth.[11] Every $1 spent on localization generates roughly $25 in revenue.[12]

For an indie developer, adding German and Japanese could meaningfully grow your user base.

Which Languages First?#

If you're starting from scratch:

Getting Started#

XCStrings Translator makes it straightforward to translate your .xcstrings files. Pick a language, run AI translation, review the output, save. Your translations stay in your repo, ready to commit.

You don't need to localize into ten languages at once. Start with one. See what happens.