Xamarin form “default language only” on play store

Question

I have an app written in Xamarin Form in two languages ​​(Italian and English) and use the resources (.resx files). When I load the APK on the play store he tells me: "Localisations : default language only".

Why not list the two languages ​​?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I believe that the information you see there is based on whether native localization resources were found in the APK. These would be strings files created following this system: https://developer.xamarin.com/guides/android/advanced_topics/localization/

When you use RESX files in Xamarin Forms to perform localization, it will still work but those native resource folders will not be there. But when the app is installed on a device with the language set to Italian, then it should work.

You might be able to trick the Play Store by adding a values-it folder under the resources folder in your Android project, and place an empty string resources file there:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
</resources>

But again, I think this is probably not necessary as your app should still work. When I've done this for apps in the past, it has worked just fine. And when I go look at the APK details on the Play Store dev portal it shows "default + 77 languages" supported, even though I only provided English plus a small number of others.