Android

Last updated: October 29, 2026

Learn how to localize your Android app with SimpleLocalize using translations in strings.xml files. This guide will help you to get started with SimpleLocalize and translation editor in a few minutes.

Installation

SimpleLocalize CLI is a command line tool that helps you to integrate localization into your development workflow. It can be used to upload and download translations from SimpleLocalize.

curl -s https://get.simplelocalize.io/2.12/install | bash
curl -s https://get.simplelocalize.io/2.12/install | bash

Upload source translations

In this step, you will upload your strings.xml files to SimpleLocalize. Thanks to the command-line tool, you can upload multiple files at once from any directory.

simplelocalize upload \ --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \ --uploadPath ./resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml \ --uploadFormat android-strings
simplelocalize upload \
        --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \
        --uploadPath ./resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml \
        --uploadFormat android-strings

You may also want to upload only one file for a specific language. To do that, you can use the --languageKey option with the language key from the Languages tab.

$ simplelocalize upload \
        --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \
        --languageKey en \
        --uploadFormat android-strings \
        --uploadPath ./values/strings.xml

Extract translation keys (optional)

If you don't have translation keys in your strings.xml files, you can use the extract command to generate them automatically. CLI can find translation key usages in .java and .kt files. Translation keys will be automatically uploaded to the translation editor.

$ simplelocalize extract \ --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \ --projectType google/android \ --searchDir ./src
$ simplelocalize extract \
        --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \
        --projectType google/android \
        --searchDir ./src

Translate your Android app

Now you can translate your Android application strings using the translation editor and save changes.

If you want to translate your app in multiple languages fast, you can add new languages in the Languages tab and use the auto-translation feature to speed up the process.

Download translations

Once you finish the translation, you can download the translated strings.xml files using the download command. CLI will download the files to the resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml files, where {lang} is the language code set in Languages tab.

simplelocalize download \ --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \ --downloadFormat android-strings \ --downloadPath ./resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml
simplelocalize download \
        --apiKey YOUR_API_KEY \
        --downloadFormat android-strings \
        --downloadPath ./resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml

Mapping for default values directory

If you would like to support the strings.xml translations in default ./resources/values/strings.xml directory, you can use the mappings.lang field in the configuration file:

# simplelocalize.yaml
mappings:
  lang:
    - languageKey: "en"
      placeholder: ""
    - languageKey: "fr"
      placeholder: "-fr"
    - languageKey: "de"
      placeholder: "-de"
    - languageKey: "pl"
      placeholder: "-pl"

and adjust the downloadPath and uploadPath with:

./resources/values{lang}/strings.xml # removed '-'

Now, the default translations will be placed in resources/values/strings.xml file, and the other translations will be placed in resources/values-{lang}/strings.xml.

./res/values/strings.xml
./res/values-fr/strings.xml
./res/values-de/strings.xml
./res/values-pl/strings.xml

Sync translations with GitHub App

Instead of running the CLI, you can connect your repository with SimpleLocalize GitHub App to upload strings.xml files on every push and get translated files back in a pull request. Add simplelocalize-github.yml to the root of your repository and use language-paths for the default values directory:

# simplelocalize-github.yml
upload:
  files:
    - path: "app/src/main/res/values-{lang}/strings.xml"
      format: "android-strings"
      options:
        - "UPDATE_TRANSLATIONS"
      language-paths:
        en: "app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml"

download:
  files:
    - path: "app/src/main/res/values-{lang}/strings.xml"
      format: "android-strings"
      language-paths:
        en: "app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml"

Add a language-paths entry for every language whose directory name differs from its language key in SimpleLocalize, e.g., pt-BR: "app/src/main/res/values-pt-rBR/strings.xml". Learn more about language-specific paths.

Resources