Distribute Your App Internationally
When you create a new app, it is set to be available in all marketplaces by default. If desired (and especially if your APK supports localization), you can localize the store listing (the descriptions and image assets) of your app in other marketplaces to provide a better experience in those marketplaces.
- Localization Options Supported by the Appstore
- Localization Options Supported by Fire TV and Tablets
- How Marketplaces Map to Countries/Regions and Languages
- Fire Device Availability in Marketplaces
- Coding Practices for Localizing Your APK
- How to Localize Your App in the Appstore
- More Information About Localization
Localization Options Supported by the Appstore
When distributing your app internationally, you can decide which countries and regions to target with a localized app experience in the Appstore. The "Appstore" refers to your app's store listing on the website or in the device's store display.
Users who view your app in an Amazon marketplace that corresponds with one of these languages will see the localized version of your app's description and image assets. If the user's country or region is outside of a supported Amazon marketplace, English is used by default.
The Appstore supports the following localizations for store listings:
- German
- English (Australia)
- English (U.S.)
- English (India)
- Spanish
- French
- Italian
- Japanese
- Portuguese (Brazil)
Note that these localizations refer to your app's storefront page in the Appstore (where your app is presented to users to download), not localizations that your APK can support on actual devices. You can localize your APK is as many languages as you want. When users install the APK on their device, the language strings that get used in your APK depend on the language settings of the user's device.
Localization Options Supported by Fire TV and Tablets
Fire TV allows users to set the following language preferences on the device:
- English (United States)
- English (United Kingdom)
- English (Canada)
- English (Australia)
- English (India)
- Español (Mexico)
- Español (España)
- Français (Canada)
- Français (France)
- Deutsch (Deutschland)
- Deutsch (Österreich)
- Italiano (Italia)
- Português (Brasil)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
Fire tablets allow users to set the following language preferences:
- Deutsch (Deutschland)
- English (United States)
- English (United Kingdom)
- Español
- Français
- Italiano
- Simplified Chinese
- Português (Brasil)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
Setting these languages on the device switches the UI strings for Fire TV or Fire tablet to that language. If your APK supports that language, your app will load those language strings as well. (If a user switches to Japanese but your app supports only English, English strings will be displayed in your app while Japanese strings are displayed in Fire TV's general UI.)
Suppose that in addition to supporting English, you localize your APK (following standard Android localization practices) to also support Japanese and German. You also localize your app's descriptions and image assets (referred to as your app's "metadata" because they're outside your app) in the Appstore with Japanese and German localizations.
When users in Japan download your app (from the amazon.co.jp marketplace), they see the Japanese descriptions and image assets in the Appstore. Then when users load the app on a Fire device, they see the Japanese strings in your app's UI by default (assuming their device's language is set to Japanese).
When users in Germany download your app (from the amazon.de marketplace), they see the German descriptions and image assets in the Appstore, but when they load your app, they see the German strings in your app's UI by default (assuming their device's language is set to German).
In each case, you have just one app in the Appstore and one APK that you've uploaded. (You don't need separate apps or separate APKs for the different localizations and marketplaces.) All metrics for your app (ratings, downloads, etc.) are rolled up into a unified display.
How Marketplaces Map to Countries/Regions and Languages
The following image shows the various Amazon marketplaces and the countries/regions and languages they're associated with.
A marketplace isn't always synonymous with a country. Marketplaces are language-specific. For example, the amazon.de marketplace (German) is also used for Austria and Switzerland; the amazon.fr marketplace (French) is also used for Belgium and Luxembourg.
| Global Area | Marketplace | Language | Countries Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Americas | Amazon.com | English (US) | United States and other countries and territories |
| Amazon.ca | English, French | Canada | |
| Amazon.mx | Spanish | Mexico | |
| Amazon.com.br | Portuguese | Brazil | |
| Europe | Amazon.co.uk | English (UK) | United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey |
| Amazon.de | German | Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland | |
| Amazon.fr | French | France metropolitan, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium | |
| Amazon.it | Italian | Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Switzerland | |
| Amazon.es | Spanish | Spain, Andorra, Portugal | |
| Asia-Pacific | Amazon.co.jp | Japanese | Japan |
| Amazon.in | English (India) | India | |
| Amazon.com.au | English (Australian) | Australia, New Zealand, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard & McDonald Islands, Norfolk Island, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau |
For additional reference, see Countries & Territories Eligible to Shop for Apps in Other Amazon Marketplaces.
Fire Device Availability in Marketplaces
Not all types of Fire TV or Fire tablet devices are available in all marketplaces. For many countries, Fire TV Stick Basic Edition is the only version of Fire TV available.
The Device Support section of the App Information tab prevents you from selecting Fire devices that aren't supported in any of the countries or regions you targeted on the Availability & Pricing tab. If you targeted multiple countries, it's possible you picked a Fire device that's supported in some of your target countries but not others. In this case, the Appstore has logic to exclude displaying your app on that device in the marketplaces where it isn't supported.
Fire TV availability in marketplaces
The following table lists the availability of each Fire TV device by marketplace. Devices are listed by release date.
Fire tablet availability in marketplaces
The following table lists the availability of each Fire tablet device by marketplace. Devices are listed by release date.
Coding Practices for Localizing Your APK
For details on coding your app to support various localizations, follow standard Android localization practices as outlined in the following topics:
How to Localize Your App in the Appstore
When you submit your app into the Appstore, the Developer Console allows you to provide localized descriptions and image assets for your app. Note the following options as you submit your app. Each option is explained in the sections below.
- Restricting app availability
- Setting prices for other marketplaces
- Providing localized descriptions
- Provide localized image assets
- Indicate your APK's supported languages
Restricting app availability
By default, when you submit your app, it becomes available in every marketplace. But if you only want your app to be available, say, in Japan (perhaps because your app only supports Japanese), you can select Japan as the only available country for your app.
You can restrict the availability of your app to specific countries and regions on the Availability & Pricing tab. Next to Where would you like this app to be available?, click Only in selected countries and regions and select the countries and regions where you want your app to be available.
Your customers can only see your app if they have selected the applicable Country of Residence (COR) in their Amazon.com account Country/Regions Settings.
Setting prices for other marketplaces
If you charge for your app, the Availability & Pricing tab also lets you set prices in each marketplace. By default, Amazon will calculate the list price used to calculate royalties for sales of your app in foreign currencies based on recent exchange rates. However, you can change the list prices as desired.
For example, an app that sells for $2.99 in USD becomes ₤1.96 Pounds in Great Britain.
You might want to change the list prices to end in .99, .49, or other common values in each marketplace. The Appstore calculates these other list prices proportional to the amazon.com list price, so the auto-generated list prices for other marketplaces might end in oddly specific prices.
Providing localized descriptions
The Description tab allows you to describe your app title, description, feature bullets, etc., and acts as the storefront copy for your app in the Appstore. To provide localized descriptions of your app, click the Add localized descriptions button and select the language you want. You'll see the following dialog box to select the localizations:
After you select the localizations you want to support, the submission console adds tabs for each language. Note that if you don't provide a localized description, the English (U.S.) description will be displayed instead.
Provide localized image assets
The Images & Multimedia tab lets you upload your app logo, background image, screenshots, and other image assets that are used to promote your app within the Appstore.
To provide localized image assets, click the Add Localized Media button and select the language you want. Language tabs will appear so you can upload you localized image assets. Note that you don't have to wait for the assets to load before you switch to other tabs and select images to upload. (Learn more about asynchronous uploading.)
Indicate your APK's supported languages
The Other Information tab provides a "Language Support" section with various language checkboxes you can select.
This "Language Support" section adds these supported languages to the device's app details page in the Appstore, letting users know which languages your app supports. The section does not impact any Appstore logic in regards to localization. (The device app details page refers to the app details page that appears on a mobile device, such as a Fire TV or Fire tablet, rather than the amazon.com website details page.)
Note that the Language Support selection here doesn't influence whether your app becomes available in other, localized Appstore marketplaces. Any localization interfaces in your APK must be handled by your APK itself, not through settings in the Appstore submission process.
For example, if you select Tagalog as a supported language in your app, on the device's Appstore details page, a Supported Languages section appears letting users know that Tagalog is supported in your app. When a user launches your app, whether Tagalog appears as the default language in your app depends on how you've coded your APK and whether the user's device settings have selected Tagalog as a preferred language. The Appstore won't deliver a Tagalog localized experience to users by default because Tagalog is not a language preference option for Fire TV or Fire tablet. But you might provide a way within your app for users to select such a language.
More Information About Localization
For more information on localization, see these posts:
- Selling Your Apps Internationally on Amazon
- International Localization
- Resources for International Locales
Last updated: Jan 25, 2023