Per-app language preferences

Per-app languages in system settings

In many cases, multilingual users set their system language to one language—such as English—but they want to select other languages for specific apps, such as Dutch, Chinese, or Hindi. To help apps provide a better experience for these users, Android 13 introduces the following features for apps that support multiple languages:

  • System settings: A centralized location where users can select a preferred language for each app.

    You can configure your app to automatically generate the files needed to support per-app language preferences and show up in the system settings. To learn more, see the instructions for enabling automatic per-app language support.

  • Additional APIs: These public APIs, such as the setApplicationLocales and getApplicationLocales methods in LocaleManager, let apps set a different language from the system language at runtime.

    These APIs automatically sync with system settings; therefore, apps that use these APIs to create custom in-app language pickers will ensure their users have a consistent user experience regardless of where they select their language preferences. The public APIs also help you reduce the amount of boilerplate code, they support split APKs, and they support Auto Backup for Apps to store app-level user language settings.

    For backward compatibility with previous Android versions, equivalent APIs are also available in AndroidX. However, the backward compatible APIs work with the AppCompatActivity context, not the application context, for Android 12 (API level 32) and earlier. Access the backward compatible APIs with Appcompat 1.6.0 or higher.

Overview of implementing this feature

The following table shows recommended implementations based on different use cases.

Use case Recommended implementation
Your app doesn't have an in-app language picker
  1. Enable automatic per-app language support to generate a LocaleConfig file and add your app's languages to system settings.
  2. Optionally, if you want to add an in-app language picker: implement one in Compose or use the AndroidX library and opt in to our API implementation to support backward compatibility through autoStoreLocales.
Your app already has an in-app language picker
  1. Enable automatic per-app language support to generate a LocaleConfig file and add your app's languages to system settings.
  2. Migrate your app's custom logic to use Compose or the public APIs to ensure users see a consistent experience.
  3. Handle the following corner cases:
    1. Call AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales the first time your app is run on a device running Android 13.
    2. Call AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales to provide pre-existing user-requested locales to the system for the following cases:

System settings for users

Starting in Android 13, Android includes a centralized location in system settings for setting per-app language preferences. To ensure your app's languages are configurable in system settings on devices running Android 13 or higher, enable automatic per-app language support (recommended) or configure support manually.

Enable automatic per-app language support

This is the recommended way to add per-app language support to your apps, because it doesn't require XML modifications.

Starting with Android Studio Giraffe and AGP 8.1, you can configure your app to support per-app language preferences automatically. Based on your project resources, AGP generates the LocaleConfig file and adds a reference to it in the final manifest file, so you no longer have to do it manually. AGP uses the resources in the res folders of your app modules and any library module dependencies to determine the locales to include in the LocaleConfig file. This means that if you add resources for a new language to your app, you don't have to worry about updating the LocaleConfig file.

Note that the automatic per-app language feature supports apps that run Android 13 (API level 33) or higher. To use the feature, you must set compileSdkVersion to 33 or higher. To configure per-app language preferences for prior versions of Android, you still need to use the APIs and in-app language pickers.

To enable automatic per-app language support, follow these steps:

  1. To turn the feature on, use the generateLocaleConfig setting in the androidResources {} block of the module-level build.gradle.kts file (build.gradle file if you're using Groovy). The feature is off by default.

Kotlin

    android {
      androidResources {
        generateLocaleConfig = true
      }
    }

Groovy

  android {
    androidResources {
      generateLocaleConfig true
    }
  }
  1. Specify a default locale:
    1. In the app module's res folder, create a new file called resources.properties.
    2. In the resources.properties file, set the default locale with the unqualifiedResLocale label. To format the locale names, see How to form locale names.

AGP adds this default locale and any alternative locales you've specified, using values-* directories in the res folder, to the auto-generated LocaleConfig file.

How to form locale names

To form locale names, combine the language code with the optional script and region codes, separating each with a dash:

For example if your default locale is American English:

unqualifiedResLocale=en-US

Use android:localeConfig to add supported languages to system settings

You can manually set up your app to ensure its languages are configurable in system settings on devices running Android 13 or higher. To do this, create a locale_config XML file and add it to your app's manifest using the android:localeConfig attribute. Omitting the android:localeConfig manifest entry signals that users shouldn't be able to set your app's language independent of their system language within their system settings.

To manually add your app's supported languages to a user's system settings:

  1. Create a file called res/xml/locale_config.xml and specify your app's languages, including your app's ultimate fallback locale, which is the locale specified in res/values/strings.xml.

    See How to form locale names for the format requirements. See also the sample locale_config.xml file for a list of the most commonly used locales.

    For example, format the locale_config.xml file like this for an app that supports the following languages:

    • English (United States) as the ultimate fallback locale
    • English (United Kingdom)
    • French
    • Japanese
    • Chinese (Simplified, Macau)
    • Chinese (Traditional, Macau)
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<locale-config xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
   <locale android:name="en-US"/>
   <locale android:name="en-GB"/>
   <locale android:name="fr"/>
   <locale android:name="ja"/>
   <locale android:name="zh-Hans-MO"/>
   <locale android:name="zh-Hant-MO"/>
</locale-config>

  2. In the manifest, add a line pointing to this new file:

    <manifest>
    ...
    <application
        ...
        android:localeConfig="@xml/locale_config">
    </application>
</manifest>

You can dynamically update your app's localeConfig with LocaleManager.setOverrideLocaleConfig to customize the set of languages displayed in the per-app language list in Android Settings. This lets you customize the language list per region, run A/B experiments, and provide updated locales if your app utilizes server-side localization pushes as shown in the following example:

//For setOverrideLocaleConfig
val localeManager = applicationContext
    .getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java)
localeManager.overrideLocaleConfig = LocaleConfig(
LocaleList.forLanguageTags("en-US,ja-JP,zh-Hans-SG")
)

//For getOverrideLocaleConfig
// The app calls the API to get the override LocaleConfig
val overrideLocaleConfig = localeManager.overrideLocaleConfig
// If the returned overrideLocaleConfig isn't equal to NULL, then the app calls the API to get the supported Locales
val supportedLocales = overrideLocaleConfig.supportedLocales()

Additionally, IMEs can now use LocaleManager.getApplicationLocales to know the UI language of the current app to update the keyboard language as shown:

val currentAppLocales: LocaleList = applicationContext.getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java).getApplicationLocales(appPackageName)

Specify supported languages in Gradle

If not already present, specify the same languages using the resourceConfigurations property in your app's module-level build.gradle file:

android {
  ...
  defaultConfig {
    resourceConfigurations += ["en", "en-rGB", "fr", "ja", "b+zh+Hans+MO", "b+zh+Hant+MO"]
  }
}

When the resourceConfigurations property is present, the build system only includes language resources in the APK for these specified languages, preventing translated strings from being included from other libraries that might support languages that your app does not support. For more information, see Specify the languages your app supports.

How users select an app language in system settings

Users can select their preferred language for each app through the system settings. They can access these settings in two different ways:

  • Access through the System settings

    Settings > System > Languages & Input > App Languages > (select an app)

  • Access through Apps settings

    Settings > Apps > (select an app) > Language

Handle in-app language pickers

For apps that already have an in-app language picker or want to use one, use the public APIs instead of custom app logic to handle setting and getting a user's preferred language for your app. If you use the public APIs for your in-app language picker, the device's system settings are automatically updated to match whichever language the user selects through your in-app experience.

Implement using Jetpack Compose

For apps built entirely with Jetpack Compose, the system automatically handles UI updates when the app's locale changes. Calling the API to set a new language triggers a configuration change. Compose reacts by recomposing your UI and automatically resolving any stringResource calls using the new locale.

For backward compatibility with Android 12 (API level 32) and lower, we strongly recommend using the AndroidX support library (AppCompatDelegate) when implementing an in-app language picker. If you use this approach, the activity hosting your Compose UI must extend AppCompatActivity. However, you can also implement the framework APIs directly if you need to.

The following code snippet shows an example of how to read the current app locale and set a new one within a composable function:

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatDelegate
import androidx.compose.material3.Button
import androidx.compose.material3.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.core.os.LocaleListCompat

@Composable
fun LanguageSelector() {
    // Retrieve the currently configured app locale.
    // If no app-specific locale is set, LocaleListCompat.get(0) returns null,
    // so we safely fall back to a default (e.g., "en").
    val appLocales = AppCompatDelegate.getApplicationLocales()
    val currentLocaleTag = appLocales.get(0)?.toLanguageTag() ?: "en"

    // Example UI: A button to toggle between English and Spanish
    Button(
        onClick = {
            val newLanguageTag = if (currentLocaleTag == "en") "es" else "en"
            val localeList = LocaleListCompat.forLanguageTags(newLanguageTag)

            // Setting the locale re-creates the Activity by default,
            // which automatically applies the new configuration to Compose.
            AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales(localeList)
        }
    ) {
        Text(
            text = if (currentLocaleTag == "en") "Switch to Spanish" else "Switch to English"
        )
    }
}

To set a user's preferred language, you would ask the user to select a locale in the language picker, then set that value in the system:

val appLocale: LocaleListCompat = LocaleListCompat.forLanguageTags("xx-YY")
// Call this on the main thread as it may require Activity.restart()
AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales(appLocale)

Note that calling setApplicationLocales recreates your Activity, unless your app handles locale configuration changes by itself.

Use AppCompatDelegate.getApplicationLocales to retrieve the user's preferred locale. The user might have selected their app locale from system settings or from your in-app language picker.

Support Android 12 and lower

To support devices running Android 12 (API level 32) and lower, tell AndroidX to handle locale storage by setting an autoStoreLocales value to true and android:enabled to false in the manifest entry for your app's AppLocalesMetadataHolderService service, as shown in the following code snippet:

<application
  ...
  <service
    android:name="androidx.appcompat.app.AppLocalesMetadataHolderService"
    android:enabled="false"
    android:exported="false">
    <meta-data
      android:name="autoStoreLocales"
      android:value="true" />
  </service>
  ...
</application>

Note that setting an autoStoreLocales value to true causes a blocking read on the main thread and might cause a StrictMode diskRead and diskWrite violation if you are logging thread violations. See AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales for more information.

Custom storage handling

Omitting the manifest entry or setting autoStoreLocales to false signals that you are handling your own storage. In this case, you must provide the stored locales before onCreate in the activity lifecycle and gate calls to AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales in Android 12 (API level 32) or lower.

If your app has a custom locale storage location, we recommend using a one-time handoff between your custom locale storage solution and autoStoreLocales so users continue to enjoy your app in the language they prefer. This is especially applicable in cases when your app is first run after a device has upgraded to Android 13. In this case, you can provide pre-existing, user-requested locales by retrieving the locales from your custom storage and passing the locales into AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales.

Implement using the Android framework APIs

While we strongly recommend that you use the AndroidX support library to implement in-app language pickers, you can also use the setApplicationLocales and getApplicationLocales methods in the Android framework for devices running Android 13.

The following code snippet shows how to set and get the user's preferred language using the LocaleManager system service:

import android.app.LocaleManager
import android.content.Context
import android.os.Build
import android.os.LocaleList
import androidx.annotation.RequiresApi
import java.util.Locale

@RequiresApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU)
fun setAppLanguage(context: Context, languageTag: String) {
    // 1. Retrieve the system service
    val localeManager = context.getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java)

    // 2. Create a LocaleList from the language tag (e.g., "es-ES" or "ja")
    val localeList = LocaleList(Locale.forLanguageTag(languageTag))

    // 3. Set the locale. The system automatically updates the locale and
    // restarts the app, including any necessary configuration updates.
    localeManager.applicationLocales = localeList
}

@RequiresApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU)
fun getAppLanguage(context: Context): String {
    val localeManager = context.getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java)
    val currentLocales = localeManager.applicationLocales

    // Return the primary app locale, or fall back to the system default
    return if (!currentLocales.isEmpty) {
        currentLocales.get(0).toLanguageTag()
    } else {
        Locale.getDefault().toLanguageTag()
    }
}

Additional best practices

Take note of the following best practices.

Consider language when invoking an intent in another app

Language-focused intents might allow you to specify the language you want the invoked app to be in. One example is the EXTRA_LANGUAGE feature from the Speech Recognizer API.

Consider the Accept-Language header for Chrome Custom tab

Consider adding the Accept-Language Header through the Browser.EXTRA_HEADERS to open a web page in your app's language when invoking a Chrome Custom tab.

If you remove per-app language preferences within system settings, reset your app locale to the system locale

If you remove your app's language preferences from system settings (by removing android:localeConfig from your app's AndroidManifest.xml), users can't easily reset their app language back to the system default.

For this reason, if you remove android:localeConfig, consider resetting the app locale to the system locale using LocaleListCompat.getEmptyLocaleList or LocaleList.getEmptyLocaleList as seen in the following code snippet:

// Use the AndroidX APIs to reset to the system locale for backward and forward compatibility
AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales(
  LocaleListCompat.getEmptyLocaleList()
)

// Or use the Framework APIs for Android 13 and above to reset to the system locale
val context = LocalContext.current
context.getSystemService(LocaleManager::class.java)
  .applicationLocales = LocaleList.getEmptyLocaleList()

Sample locale_config.xml file

By default, Android includes system-level translations in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) for a standard set of the most commonly-used locales. The sample locale_config.xml file that's included in this section shows the suggested format for each of these locales. Reference this sample file to help you construct your own locale_config.xml file for the set of languages that your app supports.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<locale-config xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
   <locale android:name="af"/> <!-- Afrikaans -->
   <locale android:name="am"/> <!-- Amharic -->
   <locale android:name="ar"/> <!-- Arabic -->
   <locale android:name="as"/> <!-- Assamese -->
   <locale android:name="az"/> <!-- Azerbaijani -->
   <locale android:name="be"/> <!-- Belarusian -->
   <locale android:name="bg"/> <!-- Bulgarian -->
   <locale android:name="bn"/> <!-- Bengali -->
   <locale android:name="bs"/> <!-- Bosnian -->
   <locale android:name="ca"/> <!-- Catalan -->
   <locale android:name="cs"/> <!-- Czech -->
   <locale android:name="da"/> <!-- Danish -->
   <locale android:name="de"/> <!-- German -->
   <locale android:name="el"/> <!-- Greek -->
   <locale android:name="en-AU"/> <!-- English (Australia) -->
   <locale android:name="en-CA"/> <!-- English (Canada) -->
   <locale android:name="en-GB"/> <!-- English (United Kingdom) -->
   <locale android:name="en-IN"/> <!-- English (India) -->
   <locale android:name="en-US"/> <!-- English (United States) -->
   <locale android:name="es"/> <!-- Spanish (Spain) -->
   <locale android:name="es-US"/> <!-- Spanish (United States) -->
   <locale android:name="et"/> <!-- Estonian -->
   <locale android:name="eu"/> <!-- Basque -->
   <locale android:name="fa"/> <!-- Farsi -->
   <locale android:name="fi"/> <!-- Finnish -->
   <locale android:name="fil"/> <!-- Filipino -->
   <locale android:name="fr"/> <!-- French (France) -->
   <locale android:name="fr-CA"/> <!-- French (Canada) -->
   <locale android:name="gl"/> <!-- Galician -->
   <locale android:name="gu"/> <!-- Gujarati -->
   <locale android:name="hi"/> <!-- Hindi -->
   <locale android:name="hr"/> <!-- Croatian -->
   <locale android:name="hu"/> <!-- Hungarian -->
   <locale android:name="hy"/> <!-- Armenian -->
   <locale android:name="in"/> <!-- Indonesian -->
   <locale android:name="is"/> <!-- Icelandic -->
   <locale android:name="it"/> <!-- Italian -->
   <locale android:name="iw"/> <!-- Hebrew -->
   <locale android:name="ja"/> <!-- Japanese -->
   <locale android:name="ka"/> <!-- Georgian -->
   <locale android:name="kk"/> <!-- Kazakh -->
   <locale android:name="km"/> <!-- Khmer -->
   <locale android:name="kn"/> <!-- Kannada -->
   <locale android:name="ko"/> <!-- Korean -->
   <locale android:name="ky"/> <!-- Kyrgyz -->
   <locale android:name="lo"/> <!-- Lao -->
   <locale android:name="lt"/> <!-- Lithuanian -->
   <locale android:name="lv"/> <!-- Latvian -->
   <locale android:name="mk"/> <!-- Macedonian -->
   <locale android:name="ml"/> <!-- Malayalam -->
   <locale android:name="mn"/> <!-- Mongolian -->
   <locale android:name="mr"/> <!-- Marathi -->
   <locale android:name="ms"/> <!-- Malay -->
   <locale android:name="my"/> <!-- Burmese -->
   <locale android:name="nb"/> <!-- Norwegian -->
   <locale android:name="ne"/> <!-- Nepali -->
   <locale android:name="nl"/> <!-- Dutch -->
   <locale android:name="or"/> <!-- Odia -->
   <locale android:name="pa"/> <!-- Punjabi -->
   <locale android:name="pl"/> <!-- Polish -->
   <locale android:name="pt-BR"/> <!-- Portuguese (Brazil) -->
   <locale android:name="pt-PT"/> <!-- Portuguese (Portugal) -->
   <locale android:name="ro"/> <!-- Romanian -->
   <locale android:name="ru"/> <!-- Russian -->
   <locale android:name="si"/> <!-- Sinhala -->
   <locale android:name="sk"/> <!-- Slovak -->
   <locale android:name="sl"/> <!-- Slovenian -->
   <locale android:name="sq"/> <!-- Albanian -->
   <locale android:name="sr"/> <!-- Serbian (Cyrillic) -->
   <locale android:name="sr-Latn"/> <!-- Serbian (Latin) -->
   <locale android:name="sv"/> <!-- Swedish -->
   <locale android:name="sw"/> <!-- Swahili -->
   <locale android:name="ta"/> <!-- Tamil -->
   <locale android:name="te"/> <!-- Telugu -->
   <locale android:name="th"/> <!-- Thai -->
   <locale android:name="tr"/> <!-- Turkish -->
   <locale android:name="uk"/> <!-- Ukrainian -->
   <locale android:name="ur"/> <!-- Urdu -->
   <locale android:name="uz"/> <!-- Uzbek -->
   <locale android:name="vi"/> <!-- Vietnamese -->
   <locale android:name="zh-Hans"/> <!-- Chinese (Simplified) -->
   <locale android:name="zh-Hant"/> <!-- Chinese (Traditional) -->
   <locale android:name="zu"/> <!-- Zulu -->
</locale-config>

Additional resources

See our code samples, blog articles, and videos for additional information.

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