How to Localize your (i/watch/mac)OS Bundle Display Name

Localizing your app display name is actually a very simple task, so let’s just get right into it.

Set up Localization

First, make sure you set up localization for another language (Note, this is not all that is required to completely localize an app, just the display name). Select your project in the project navigator, go to Localizations, then select a language to localize your display name for as pictured below.

Select language for localization

Create a Strings File

Next, you have to create a Strings file that will contain the localized name to be used in your project. Go to File > New > File, select your OS target, go to Resources, and select the Strings file template as shown below.

Create a Strings File

Select the template, enter InfoPlist into the name field, and create the file.

Adding Localized Strings

Once you have created your strings file, open it and select all of the languages you would like to localize for in the inspector. In your base language file, add the following:

/* Localized Bundle Display Name */
"CFBundleDisplayName" = "Your_Localized_Name_In_Native_Language";

Then, enter the same in every other language file, swapping in your translated name in the place of your native name as so:

/* Localized Bundle Display Name */
"CFBundleDisplayName" = "Localized_Name_In_Other_Language";

When you are done, each file should look like the following:

Localized InfoPlist.strings files

Add Localization Keys to Info.plist

The last thing you have to do is add the necessary keys to your Info.plist file to enable your app to read and swap in your localized display name when appropriate. The first key you will add is the “bundle display name” key, it will look like so:

Bundle display name = $(PRODUCT_NAME)

You also have to add the “application has localized display name” key and set it to yes, which will look like the following:

Application has localized display name = YES

These keys in Info.plist will look like the following:

Keys for localization in Info.plist

Thats all there is to it! Your app name will now be displayed in all languages that you localize to.

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