language versions of app

[greenhoney]

I am developing an app that will be available in various languages (spanish, english, german).
is it necessary to publish three different version (for each language) of the app or is there a way to upload only one app to the app store and the app detects the language of the user automatically and offers the right language?
what’s best practice for that?
Thanks!

[alexy]

Originally Posted by greenhoney

I am developing an app that will be available in various languages (spanish, english, german).
is it necessary to publish three different version (for each language) of the app or is there a way to upload only one app to the app store and the app detects the language of the user automatically and offers the right language?
what’s best practice for that?
Thanks!

I use localized based strings for this, for eg:
fr french
en english
de German
gr greek

You essentially define a key/value pair in these files, and from the code, you do something like:

labelHeading.text = NSLocalizedString(@"headingSettings", "Settings");

In this case, I'd have an entry of (in my en file):
"headingSettings" = "Settings";

It gets a bit more complicated with .xib files, but I find altering the controls (UILabel, etc) by code is better than having multiple localized .xib

Note, the sample app "International Mountains" might help you with a solid example of Localization

[greenhoney]

Thank you!

Will there exist only one app in the App store if you use lacalized based strings?

If yes, I guess the publisher has to upload three versions of meta infos for the different languages (eg description of app, screen shots). And then eg the spanish app store shows the meta info (description of app, screen shots) in spanish, the german app store show meta info in german and so on.
Is this correct?

Or can the publisher only upload the meta info in one language, eg in english? (in this case in the spanish store the user will see the meta info also in english)

(with description in the three languages)

Originally Posted by alexy

I use localized based strings for this, for eg:
fr french
en english
de German
gr greek

You essentially define a key/value pair in these files, and from the code, you do something like:

labelHeading.text = NSLocalizedString(@"headingSettings", "Settings");

In this case, I'd have an entry of (in my en file):
"headingSettings" = "Settings";

It gets a bit more complicated with .xib files, but I find altering the controls (UILabel, etc) by code is better than having multiple localized .xib

Note, the sample app "International Mountains" might help you with a solid example of Localization

[kjnoren]

Originally Posted by greenhoney

I am developing an app that will be available in various languages (spanish, english, german).
is it necessary to publish three different version (for each language) of the app or is there a way to upload only one app to the app store and the app detects the language of the user automatically and offers the right language?
what’s best practice for that?
Thanks!

Only one version of the app is needed - it can contain several different language folders, and switch between them with a restart of the app.

The XCode documentation contains plenty of documentation on localization and will easily get you started.

[alexy]

Originally Posted by greenhoney

Thank you!

Will there exist only one app in the App store if you use lacalized based strings?

If yes, I guess the publisher has to upload three versions of meta infos for the different languages (eg description of app, screen shots). And then eg the spanish app store shows the meta info (description of app, screen shots) in spanish, the german app store show meta info in german and so on.
Is this correct?

Or can the publisher only upload the meta info in one language, eg in english? (in this case in the spanish store the user will see the meta info also in english)

(with description in the three languages)

Correct, as kjnoren points out, only 1 app is needed.

The switching happens at run time depending on your Settings:
Settings > General > International > Region Format
Settings > General > International > Language..

This works for both iPhone/iPod and Simulator.

Tip: Do the Region Format first as you get booted out of settings when changing Language.

Yes, you'll also need separate screenshots (like I do in my game Deal or Not) which will be language and country based but itunesconnect supports this (under the Localization section).