Android: localization strings not changing

Question

I have an app that can be used in either the default Locale (english) or French.

I am using Android's per-app's language feature to allow the user to change the language in the app itself.

Below in my code:

Settings.kt (This is how the language is applied in settings)

AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales(
                if(it.lowercase() == KEYWORD_LOCALE_DEFAULT){
                    Log.i(TAG, "Setting default locale")

                    LocaleListCompat.getEmptyLocaleList()
                }else{
                    Log.i(TAG, "Setting locale: $it")
                    LocaleListCompat.forLanguageTags(it)
                }
            )

I am then adding a log in the MainActivity to check if it's working

MainActivity.kt

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

    Log.i(
        TAG, "Starting app with local system ${
            getSystemService(
                LocaleManager::class.java
            ).applicationLocales
        }"
    )
    Log.i(
        TAG, "Starting app with app compat ${
            AppCompatDelegate.getApplicationLocales()
        }"
    )

As expected, it is logging fine as below:

Starting app with local system []
Starting app with app compat []

// After changing settings
Starting app with local system [fr]
Starting app with app compat [fr]

This issue is the strings are not changing in the app.

I have defined 3 strings file as shown below but the strings are not working

strings.xml (fr)

<string name="headline_home_primary">Change to French Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_secondary">Change to French Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_tertiary">Change to French Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_quaternary">Change to French Test</string>

strings.xml

<string name="headline_home_primary">Change to Engl Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_secondary">Change to English Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_tertiary">Change to English Test</string>
<string name="headline_home_quaternary">Change to English Test</string>

I am using Jetpack Compose for my UI and the below are my settings

minSdk 29
targetSdk 33

Also i ran the app on the following devices:

Emulator

Pixel 5 (API 30)
Pixel 7 (API 33)

Physical

Pixel 7 (Android 13 - API 33)

Nothing works. Can someone please help out?

Can you try this way for localisation implementation https://stackoverflow.com/a/9173571/5696047 — jayesh gurudayalani, Jan 31 '23 at 10:56
Your code works fine on my test project. I tried with Activity and AppCompatActivity (API 33). can you let me know what API level does have your device ? — bongo, Jan 31 '23 at 11:14
I am using AppCompatActivity with `minSdk 29` and `targetSdk 33` — Mervin Hemaraju, Jan 31 '23 at 11:17
I've tried both on my emulator (API 33) and Pixel 7 (Android 13 - API 33) — Mervin Hemaraju, Jan 31 '23 at 11:29
I double-checked on my side again with different min and targetSdk, and works ok. Maybe there are some issues with the translations themselves? Can you share the content of string.xml for "fr" — bongo, Jan 31 '23 at 12:38
I've udpated the question with the strings as well as test configs — Mervin Hemaraju, Jan 31 '23 at 12:46
The translations work only if I deploy it on the play store. If I run directly from android studio it doesn't work. Any idea why ? — Mervin Hemaraju, Feb 05 '23 at 05:31

Android: localization strings not changing

0 Answers0