A unique app with great design won’t be enough to earn top spot in the app stores. To make your users around the world happy and loyal to your products, you’ll need to adjust the user interface to your target market. Below you can find 3 steps that will help you on the way to your multilingual app.

1. Make your app store description irresistible

No matter how great your app is, it will be useless if no one gets to see it. One way to achieve a high number of downloads is to make sure your mobile app description captivates your users. App store description could be the very first thing your users look at before they decide to download your product. So, convince them with clear and flawless descriptions in their native language. Also, try to find out what types of text are more suitable for users in your target countries: Do you need to list the benefits and features of your app? Or maybe your users will prefer funny descriptions and word puns?

This is how not to do it: the Polish version of Pou has many untranslated strings left in English

2. Check every single text string

Before publishing your app in the language of your users, double check if all strings in your app are translated. Run extra tests to verify if every menu item, button, slider or image displays only translated text and there are no original strings in any part of the app. Leaving untranslated strings in your app may do more harm than good and even force your users to abandon the app. In case of any updates remember to add extra translation to your app in all language versions too.

3. Verify your app code

Before you can start prepping for a multilingual app release, make sure your app code will support new languages. Using the right language encoding, eliminating any string dependencies or hard-coded strings will help to ensure smooth localisation and translation process. In some languages your app texts will be longer or shorter, so make sure you can easily change the user interface, such as buttons or menu lists to adapt the size to the new layout. The architecture of your app needs to be flexible enough to handle any changes required to create a multilingual product.

Your great design and unique story can be relevant on all markets and in all languages. But first you’ll need to make sure your app is ready to support new languages and then adjust every single item to your target audience.

What do you think are other steps that can help to achieve a great multilingual app?

P.S. Please share your love and vote for Beyond the Words in the Top Language Lovers 2016 competition here.

Dorota Pawlak

Dorota helps digital brands infuse their content with a local touch. She is a localization consultant, translator specialized in IT, prompt engineer, and a book author. Dorota teaches online courses on localization, writes for her blog and a Medium publication. She also runs a Small Biz AI, a Substack newsletter for freelancers and small business owners ready to discover handy AI tools.