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App Store Connect locale codes
Apple does not accept bare language codes for every language. Using zh where zh-Hans is expected is a silent failure.
Last checked 28 July 2026 against Apple and Google's published specifications.
Use the resolved variant, not the language subtag: zh-Hans not zh, pt-BR not pt. Some languages genuinely are bare — ja, ko, it, hi, ar.
Common storefront locales
| Code | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| en-US | English (U.S.) | The usual base locale. |
| es-ES | Spanish (Spain) | Distinct from Latin American Spanish. |
| es-MX | Spanish (Mexico) | Covers the Latin American storefronts. |
| fr-FR | French | Bare fr is not used. |
| de-DE | German | Bare de is not used. |
| ja | Japanese | Genuinely bare — no region variant. |
| zh-Hans | Chinese (Simplified) | Script subtag, not a region. Mainland China. |
| zh-Hant | Chinese (Traditional) | Taiwan, Hong Kong. |
| pt-BR | Portuguese (Brazil) | Separate from Portugal's pt-PT. |
| ko | Korean | Genuinely bare. |
| it | Italian | Genuinely bare. |
| hi | Hindi | Genuinely bare. |
| ar | Arabic | Right-to-left. See below. |
Why the variants are not interchangeable
zh-Hans and zh-Hant differ by script, not region — Simplified versus Traditional characters. A reader in Taiwan cannot comfortably read Simplified, so shipping one where the other belongs is worse than shipping English.
pt-BR and pt-PT differ in vocabulary and spelling enough that Brazilian users notice European Portuguese immediately. Same for es-ES against es-MX.
Directory naming for fastlane
fastlane deliver keys its screenshot folders off these exact strings:
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
| screenshots/en-US/ | Base English set |
| screenshots/zh-Hans/ | Simplified Chinese set |
| screenshots/pt-BR/ | Brazilian Portuguese set |
A misnamed directory does not error — it is skipped. The upload reports success and that language quietly ships with no localized screenshots at all. This is the most common way localization silently fails.
Arabic and right-to-left
ar needs more than a translated string. Text direction reverses, which moves punctuation to the opposite end of the line, and a caption mixing Arabic with a Latin product name will place the trailing period on the wrong side unless the text is rendered with dir="rtl". Translating the words without handling direction produces captions that read as broken to a native speaker.
Adding a localization to App Store Connect is not the same as translating your screenshots. Apple will happily show your English screenshots under a French listing. The store never warns you — it just serves the base-locale assets.
Build these at the exact size
AppFrame3D exports at every dimension on this page — with 3D device framing, preview video and captions in 13 languages. Free to start.
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