Translate App Store Screenshots to Arabic

An Arabic reader scans from the right edge, so a caption anchored top-left in English feels misplaced. Apple's guidance is to match alignment to the interface direction: text you left-align in a left-to-right layout should be right-aligned in the RTL version (Apple HIG: Right to left (opens in a new tab)).

Direction also applies to what the screenshot shows. The same guidance separates elements that must flip from those that must stay put, and a store screenshot usually contains both.

In practice, arrows, progress bars and step order flip, while your logo, photos and digit order stay as they are. The RTL screenshot guide covers the full element-by-element list shared by Arabic and Hebrew; the sections below focus on what is specific to Arabic.

If the app itself supports RTL, capture fresh device screenshots in Arabic rather than trying to mirror English captures. That way the in-app UI already has the correct layout, and translation only touches the words.

There is no single answer. The W3C Arabic layout requirements note that European digits (0–9) are used in western Arabic-speaking countries such as Algeria and Morocco, while Arabic-Indic digits (٠–٩) appear in eastern ones such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq (ALREQ §6.1.2 (opens in a new tab)).

Pick one style per set and apply it to captions, prices, ratings and dates alike. Mixing ١٢ (12 in Arabic-Indic digits) in a headline with 12 in the UI beneath it is an easy inconsistency to miss. Whatever the style, a number such as a price or phone number keeps its digit order (Apple HIG (opens in a new tab)).

Arabic runs right to left, but embedded Latin words and numbers still run left to right, and the Unicode bidirectional algorithm decides how the pieces are ordered (ALREQ (opens in a new tab)). A caption like "Export to PDF in 3 steps" can end up with "PDF" or the "3" at an unexpected end of the line once translated.

• Keep brand names in their original Latin form rather than transliterating them, unless your market team has an established Arabic spelling.
• Avoid starting or ending a caption with a Latin word or a number; those positions are where reordering is most visible.
• Watch punctuation next to Latin words: a trailing period or question mark can jump to the wrong side.

Arabic is cursive: most letters join their neighbours and change shape by position in the word. ALREQ warns that moving joined characters closer or further apart gives poor results, so letter-spacing (tracking) that looks stylish in English will split Arabic words (ALREQ §4.3.7.1 (opens in a new tab)). Fonts without Arabic shaping show isolated, disconnected letters.

Arabic has no capital letters, so an all-caps English headline style has nothing to map to; set captions in a heavier weight instead. Arabic words are also hard to abbreviate without losing meaning (W3C: text size in translation (opens in a new tab)), so shorten the idea, not the word.

StoreLocale's ar target covers both layers of a screenshot. Detected UI strings and caption layers are translated for free, and each screenshot is repainted with the Arabic UI text at 1, 2 or 4 credits for the Standard, Pro or Ultra tier. The export ZIP holds PNGs in an ar folder, which you upload manually to ar-SA and ar.

StoreLocale does not mirror slide layouts for you. Caption alignment is a layer setting shared by every language, so either center captions for the whole project or keep right-to-left languages in a separate project with right-aligned captions. The editor's caption fonts are Latin typefaces, so Arabic captions use a fallback font; confirm the letters connect in the exported file.

1. Letters join correctly everywhere; no isolated forms inside words and no letter-spacing on Arabic text.
2. Captions are right-aligned (or deliberately centered) and read naturally, not as a literal rendering of the English.
3. One numeral style is used across captions, UI, prices and ratings, and digits within each number are in the right order.
4. Brand names, product names and numbers sit where expected in mixed-direction lines, with punctuation on the correct side.
5. Arrows, progress indicators and step order point right to left; logos, photos and checkmarks are unchanged.
6. Justified lines are stretched with kashida (letter extension) and word spacing, never with letter-spacing (ALREQ §7.2 (opens in a new tab)).