How to localize App Store screenshots
To localize App Store screenshots, translate the marketing text overlaid on each screenshot and re-export the image at the same device size for every target locale, then upload it into that locale's own screenshot slot.
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A screenshot is a picture, not a text field the store can substitute on its own. Neither App Store Connect nor Google Play Console retranslates or regenerates an image for you when you add a language: on the App Store, a newly added locale's screenshots default to whatever you already uploaded for your primary language until you replace them, and on Google Play, adding text translations without matching localized graphic assets leaves the graphic assets, screenshots included, showing in the default language. Forvibe's Screenshot Studio translates the overlay text and re-exports each locale's screenshots together, but the underlying requirement doesn't change: every locale needs its own screenshot files, not just its own translated description.
The symptoms of unlocalized or mismatched screenshots
A locale's listing reads fully translated, but every screenshot still shows the primary language's marketing text baked into the image.
Screenshots were translated once, then left alone, so they still show a UI, price, or feature the app replaced several releases ago.
The screenshot headline was translated literally, so text that fit neatly in the original language now overflows or wraps awkwardly inside the same template frame.
Why screenshot localization is a separate job from metadata translation
Screenshots are image files, not text fields, so translating your description never touches them. Both stores update text and images through separate mechanisms, and only App Store Connect pre-fills one of the two.
- Separate content types
- Text fields are typed directly into each locale's field, but screenshots are uploaded image files that neither console edits for you.
- App Store default
- A newly added language's screenshots default to your primary language's images, while the description and keywords do not.
- Google Play default
- Adding text translations without matching graphic assets leaves that language's screenshots showing in your app's default language.
- What translating means
- Translating a screenshot means producing a new image with the words rendered in, not editing a field.
Read the full explanation
App Store Connect and Google Play Console both treat a listing's text fields and its screenshots as separate kinds of content, updated through separate mechanisms. Description, keywords, and the other text fields are typed directly into each locale's own field in the console, so adding a translation is purely a text-entry problem. Screenshots are uploaded image files, and neither console generates or edits one for you. On the App Store, when you add a new language to your app, screenshots for that language default to your primary language's screenshots, while the description and keywords do not, which shows the two kinds of localized content are handled separately, with only one of them arriving pre-filled. On Google Play, the split shows up the other way: you can add text translations for a language without touching its graphic assets, but doing so just leaves that language's screenshots and other graphics displaying in your app's default language regardless of how well the text is translated. Either way, translating the words on a screenshot means producing a new image with those words rendered into it at the right size, not editing a field.
The sequence for translating and re-exporting screenshots per locale
Decide which locales get their own screenshots
Not every locale needs custom screenshots on day one. A locale can keep the primary language's images while its text metadata is already translated, though a shopper will then see mismatched languages on the same product page.
Pull the overlay text out of your existing screenshot templates
List every headline and caption baked into each frame, separately from your app's description and keyword field, since this is a different piece of content living in a different place.
Translate that overlay text for the target locale
Translate it as marketing copy meant to fit a fixed layout, not as a literal sentence-for-sentence swap of the original text, so it still fits the frame once it's rendered back in.
Re-export each frame at the required device sizes
Every screenshot size a store requires needs its own correctly sized file with the translated text rendered in, for every locale you're adding.
Upload the finished images into that locale's own screenshot slot
In App Store Connect, replace the inherited primary-language screenshots under that localization. In Google Play Console, add the localized graphic assets for that language rather than leaving only the text translated.
Or let Forvibe translate and re-export screenshots together
Screenshot Studio translates the overlay text and regenerates every required device size for each locale you choose, then sends each locale straight to App Store Connect. Forvibe's ASO Agent translates the listing text for new markets on its own; the screenshots stay a Screenshot Studio job.
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