Set Locale programmatically

Question

My app supports 3  soon 4  languages  Since several locales are quite similar I d like to give the user the option to change locale in my application  for instance an Italian person might prefer Spanish over English   Is there a way for the user to select among the locales that are available for the application and then change what locale is used  I don t see it as a problem to set locale for each Activity since it is a simple task to perform in a base class

User · Answer

Put this code in your activity    if  id  R id uz                LocaleHelper setLocale MainActivity this  mLanguageCode              It is required to recreate the activity to reflect the change in UI          recreate            return true            if  id    R id ru             LocaleHelper setLocale MainActivity this  mLanguageCode              It is required to recreate the activity to reflect the change in UI          recreate

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Hope this help in onResume    Locale locale   new Locale  ru    Locale setDefault locale   Configuration config   getBaseContext   getResources   getConfiguration    config locale   locale  getBaseContext   getResources   updateConfiguration config        getBaseContext   getResources   getDisplayMetrics

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For those who tried everything but not not working  Please check that if you set darkmode with AppCompatDelegate setDefaultNightMode and the system is not dark  then Configuration setLocale will not work above Andorid 7 0   Add this code in your every activity to solve this issue   override fun applyOverrideConfiguration overrideConfiguration  Configuration       if  overrideConfiguration    null        val uiMode   overrideConfiguration uiMode     overrideConfiguration setTo baseContext resources configuration      overrideConfiguration uiMode   uiMode       super applyOverrideConfiguration overrideConfiguration

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Valid for API16 to API28 Just place this method some where  Context newContext   context   Locale locale   new Locale languageCode   Locale setDefault locale    Resources resources   context getResources    Configuration config   new Configuration resources getConfiguration      if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES JELLY BEAN MR1        config setLocale locale       newContext   context createConfigurationContext config     else       config locale   locale      resources updateConfiguration config  resources getDisplayMetrics        return newContext   Insert this code in all your activitys using       Override     protected void attachBaseContext Context base            super attachBaseContext localeUpdateResources base   quot  lt -- language code -- gt  quot            or call localeUpdateResources on fragments  adapters  etc  where you need the new context  Credits  Yaroslav Berezanskyi

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Call this method on BaseActivity - gt  onCreate    and BaseFragment - gt  OnCreateView   Tested on API 22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29   uptodate version fun Context updateLang         val resources   resources     val config   Configuration resources configuration      config setLocale PreferenceManager this  getAppLanguage       language from preference     val dm   resources displayMetrics     createConfigurationContext config      resources updateConfiguration config  dm

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There is a super simple way   in BaseActivity  Activity or Fragment override attachBaseContext   override fun attachBaseContext context  Context        super attachBaseContext context changeLocale  tr        extension  fun Context changeLocale language String   Context       val locale   Locale language      Locale setDefault locale      val config   this resources configuration     config setLocale locale      return createConfigurationContext config

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I had a problem with setting locale programmatically with devices  that has Android OS N and higher  For me the solution was writing this code in my base activity    if you don t have a base activity then you should make these changes in all of your activities    Override protected void attachBaseContext Context base        super attachBaseContext updateBaseContextLocale base       private Context updateBaseContextLocale Context context        String language   SharedPref getInstance   getSavedLanguage        Locale locale   new Locale language       Locale setDefault locale        if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES N            return updateResourcesLocale context  locale              return updateResourcesLocaleLegacy context  locale       TargetApi Build VERSION CODES N  private Context updateResourcesLocale Context context  Locale locale        Configuration configuration   context getResources   getConfiguration        configuration setLocale locale       return context createConfigurationContext configuration       SuppressWarnings  deprecation   private Context updateResourcesLocaleLegacy Context context  Locale locale        Resources resources   context getResources        Configuration configuration   resources getConfiguration        configuration locale   locale      resources updateConfiguration configuration  resources getDisplayMetrics         return context      note that here it is not enough to call   createConfigurationContext configuration    you also need to get the context that this method returns and then to set this context in the attachBaseContext method

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I found the androidx appcompat appcompat 1 1 0 bug can also be fixed by simply calling getResources   in applyOverrideConfiguration     Override public void applyOverrideConfiguration Configuration cfgOverride      if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES LOLLIPOP  amp  amp        Build VERSION SDK INT  lt  Build VERSION CODES O           add this to fix androidx appcompat appcompat 1 1 0 bug        which happens on Android 6 x   7 x     getResources           super applyOverrideConfiguration cfgOverride

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As of 2020 language management become easy  All you have to do is   Call to Activity applyOverrideConfiguration And call to Locale setDefault  You must call those from the activity constructor since you can call to applyOverrideConfiguration only once  and the system calls it pretty early  And watch out from app-bundles  Google will split your APK by language resources automatically when using app-bundles  Check out the new API and the workaround here   I created a helper class to help you with it  In my implementation G app is the application context  Also  I need to access resources from the app context so I use the Res class for it  this one is optional  but I provide its code as well  Usage public BaseActivity        LanguageUtility init this      public void changeLanguage Local local          you must recreat your activity after you call this     LanguageUtillity setDefaultLanguage local  this      Source code public class LanguageUtility        private static Configuration configuration       public static void setDefaultLanguage Locale locale  Context context            Locale setDefault locale            context getSharedPreferences  quot LocaleSettings quot   Context MODE PRIVATE                   edit                    putString  quot language quot   locale getLanguage                     putString  quot country quot   locale getCountry                     putString  quot variant quot   locale getVariant                     apply             configuration   createConfiguration context           Res updateContext                          Used to update your app context in case you cache it              public static Context createConfigurationContext Context context            return context createConfigurationContext getConfiguration context               public static void init Activity activity            activity applyOverrideConfiguration LanguageUtility getConfiguration G app               you can t access sharedPrefferences from activity constructor             with activity context  so I used the app context          Locale setDefault getLocale G app                NotNull     private static Configuration getConfiguration Context context            if  configuration    null                configuration   createConfiguration context                     return configuration              NotNull     private static Configuration createConfiguration Context context            Locale locale   getLocale context           Configuration configuration   new Configuration            configuration setLocale locale           LanguageUtility configuration   configuration          return configuration              NotNull     private static Locale getLocale Context context            Locale aDefault   Locale getDefault            SharedPreferences preferences                   context getSharedPreferences  quot LocaleSettings quot   Context MODE PRIVATE           String language   preferences getString  quot language quot   aDefault getLanguage             String country   preferences getString  quot country quot   aDefault getCountry             String variant   preferences getString  quot variant quot   aDefault getVariant             return new Locale language  country  variant            An optional Res class  public class Res         SuppressLint  quot StaticFieldLeak quot       public static Context appLocalContext   LanguageUtility createConfigurationContext G app        public static void updateContext             appLocalContext   LanguageUtility createConfigurationContext G app              public static String getString  StringRes int id  Object    formatArgs            return appLocalContext getResources   getString id  formatArgs              public static int getColor  ColorRes int id            return G app getColor id

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For people still looking for this answer  since configuration locale was deprecated from API 24  you can now use   configuration setLocale locale     Take in consideration that the minSkdVersion for this method is API 17   Full example code    SuppressWarnings  deprecation   private void setLocale Locale locale       SharedPrefUtils saveLocale locale      optional - Helper method to save the selected language to SharedPreferences in case you might need to attach to activity context  you will need to code this      Resources resources   getResources        Configuration configuration   resources getConfiguration        DisplayMetrics displayMetrics   resources getDisplayMetrics        if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES JELLY BEAN MR1           configuration setLocale locale         else          configuration locale locale            if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt  Build VERSION CODES N           getApplicationContext   createConfigurationContext configuration         else           resources updateConfiguration configuration displayMetrics             Don t forget that  if you change the locale with a running Activity  you will need to restart it for the changes to take effect   EDIT 11th MAY 2018  As from  CookieMonster s post  you might have problems keeping the locale change in higher API versions  If so  add the following code to your Base Activity so that you update the context locale on every Activity creation    Override protected void attachBaseContext Context base         super attachBaseContext updateBaseContextLocale base       private Context updateBaseContextLocale Context context        String language   SharedPrefUtils getSavedLanguage       Helper method to get saved language from SharedPreferences     Locale locale   new Locale language       Locale setDefault locale        if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt  Build VERSION CODES N            return updateResourcesLocale context  locale              return updateResourcesLocaleLegacy context  locale       TargetApi Build VERSION CODES N MR1  private Context updateResourcesLocale Context context  Locale locale        Configuration configuration   new Configuration context getResources   getConfiguration        configuration setLocale locale       return context createConfigurationContext configuration       SuppressWarnings  deprecation   private Context updateResourcesLocaleLegacy Context context  Locale locale        Resources resources   context getResources        Configuration configuration   resources getConfiguration        configuration locale   locale      resources updateConfiguration configuration  resources getDisplayMetrics         return context      If you use this  don t forget to save the language to SharedPreferences when you set the locale with setLocate locale   EDIT 7th APRIL 2020  You might be experiencing issues in Android 6 and 7  and this happens due to an issue in the androidx libraries while handling the night mode  For this you will also need to override applyOverrideConfiguration in your base activity and update the configuration s locale in case a fresh new locale one is created   Sample code     Override public void applyOverrideConfiguration Configuration overrideConfiguration        if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES LOLLIPOP  amp  amp  Build VERSION SDK INT  lt   Build VERSION CODES N MR1               update overrideConfiguration with your locale           setLocale overrideConfiguration     you will need to implement this           super applyOverrideConfiguration overrideConfiguration

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As no answer is complete for the current way to solve this problem  I try to give instructions for a complete solution  Please comment if something is missing or could be done better   General information  First  there exist some libraries that want to solve the problem but they all seem outdated or are missing some features    https   github com delight-im Android-Languages   Outdated  see issues  When selecting a language in the UI  it always shows all languages  hardcoded in the library   not only those where translations exist  https   github com akexorcist Android-LocalizationActivity   Seems quite sophisticated and might use a similar approach as shown below    Further I think writing a library might not be a good easy way to solve this problem because there is not very much to do  and what has to be done is rather changing existing code than using something completely decoupled  Therefore I composed the following instructions that should be complete   My solution is mainly based on https   github com gunhansancar ChangeLanguageExample  as already linked to by localhost   It is the best code I found to orientate at  Some remarks    As necessary  it provides different implementations to change locale for Android N  and above  and below It uses a method updateViews   in each Activity to manually update all strings after changing locale  using the usual getString id   which is not necessary in the approach shown below It only supports languages and not complete locales  which also include region  country  and variant codes    I changed it a bit  decoupling the part which persists the chosen locale  as one might want to do that separately  as suggested below    Solution  The solution consists of the following two steps    Permanently change the locale to be used by the app Make the app use the custom locale set  without restarting   Step 1  Change the locale  Use the class LocaleHelper  based on gunhansancar s LocaleHelper    Add a ListPreference in a PreferenceFragment with the available languages  has to be maintained when languages should be added later      import android annotation TargetApi  import android content Context  import android content SharedPreferences  import android content res Configuration  import android content res Resources  import android os Build  import android preference PreferenceManager   import java util Locale   import mypackage SettingsFragment          Manages setting of the app s locale      public class LocaleHelper        public static Context onAttach Context context            String locale   getPersistedLocale context           return setLocale context  locale              public static String getPersistedLocale Context context            SharedPreferences preferences   PreferenceManager getDefaultSharedPreferences context           return preferences getString SettingsFragment KEY PREF LANGUAGE                             Set the app s locale to the one specified by the given String                 param context         param localeSpec a locale specification as used for Android resources  NOTE  does not                          support country and variant codes so far   the special string  system  sets                          the locale to the locale specified in system settings         return             public static Context setLocale Context context  String localeSpec            Locale locale          if  localeSpec equals  system                  if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES N                    locale   Resources getSystem   getConfiguration   getLocales   get 0                 else                     noinspection deprecation                 locale   Resources getSystem   getConfiguration   locale                          else               locale   new Locale localeSpec                     Locale setDefault locale           if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES N                return updateResources context  locale             else               return updateResourcesLegacy context  locale                         TargetApi Build VERSION CODES N      private static Context updateResources Context context  Locale locale            Configuration configuration   context getResources   getConfiguration            configuration setLocale locale           configuration setLayoutDirection locale            return context createConfigurationContext configuration               SuppressWarnings  deprecation       private static Context updateResourcesLegacy Context context  Locale locale            Resources resources   context getResources             Configuration configuration   resources getConfiguration            configuration locale   locale          if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES JELLY BEAN MR1                configuration setLayoutDirection locale                      resources updateConfiguration configuration  resources getDisplayMetrics              return context            Create a SettingsFragment like the following   import android content SharedPreferences  import android os Bundle  import android preference PreferenceFragment  import android preference PreferenceManager  import android view LayoutInflater  import android view View  import android view ViewGroup   import mypackage LocaleHelper  import mypackage R          Fragment containing the app s main settings      public class SettingsFragment extends PreferenceFragment implements SharedPreferences OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener       public static final String KEY PREF LANGUAGE    pref key language        public SettingsFragment                Required empty public constructor             Override     public void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           addPreferencesFromResource R xml preferences               Override     public View onCreateView LayoutInflater inflater  ViewGroup container  Bundle savedInstanceState            View view   inflater inflate R layout fragment settings  container  false           return view              Override     public void onSharedPreferenceChanged SharedPreferences sharedPreferences  String key            switch  key                case KEY PREF LANGUAGE                  LocaleHelper setLocale getContext    PreferenceManager getDefaultSharedPreferences getContext    getString key                        getActivity   recreate       necessary here because this Activity is currently running and thus a recreate   in onResume   would be too late                 break                        Override     public void onResume             super onResume               documentation requires that a reference to the listener is kept as long as it may be called  which is the case as it can only be called from this Fragment         getPreferenceScreen   getSharedPreferences   registerOnSharedPreferenceChangeListener this               Override     public void onPause             super onPause            getPreferenceScreen   getSharedPreferences   unregisterOnSharedPreferenceChangeListener this             Create a resource locales xml listing all locales with available translations in the following way  list of locale codes     lt  -- Lists available locales used for setting the locale manually       For now only language codes  locale codes without country and variant  are supported       Has to be in sync with  settings language values  in strings xml  the entries must correspond     -- gt   lt resources gt       lt string name  system locale  translatable  false  gt system lt  string gt       lt string name  default locale  translatable  false  gt  lt  string gt       lt string-array name  locales  gt           lt item gt  string system locale lt  item gt   lt  -- system setting -- gt           lt item gt  string default locale lt  item gt   lt  -- default locale -- gt           lt item gt de lt  item gt       lt  string-array gt   lt  resources gt    In your PreferenceScreen you can use the following section to let the user select the available languages    lt PreferenceScreen xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  gt       lt PreferenceCategory         android title   string preferences category general  gt           lt ListPreference             android key  pref key language              android title   string preferences language              android dialogTitle   string preferences language              android entries   array settings language values              android entryValues   array locales              android defaultValue   string system locale              android summary   s  gt           lt  ListPreference gt       lt  PreferenceCategory gt   lt  PreferenceScreen gt    which uses the following strings from strings xml    lt string name  preferences category general  gt General lt  string gt   lt string name  preferences language  gt Language lt  string gt   lt  -- NOTE  Has to correspond to array  locales  in locales xml  elements in same orderwith  -- gt   lt string-array name  settings language values  gt       lt item gt Default  System setting  lt  item gt       lt item gt English lt  item gt       lt item gt German lt  item gt   lt  string-array gt    Step 2  Make the app use the custom locale  Now setup each Activity to use the custom locale set  The easiest way to accomplish this is to have a common base class for all activities with the following code  where the important code is in attachBaseContext Context base  and onResume      import android content Context  import android content Intent  import android content pm PackageInfo  import android content pm PackageManager  import android os Bundle  import android support annotation Nullable  import android support v7 app AppCompatActivity  import android view Menu  import android view MenuInflater  import android view MenuItem   import mypackage LocaleHelper  import mypackage R            link AppCompatActivity  with main menu in the action bar  Automatically recreates    the activity when the locale has changed      public class MenuAppCompatActivity extends AppCompatActivity       private String initialLocale        Override     protected void onCreate  Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState            super onCreate savedInstanceState           initialLocale   LocaleHelper getPersistedLocale this               Override     public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu            MenuInflater inflater   getMenuInflater            inflater inflate R menu menu  menu           return true              Override     public boolean onOptionsItemSelected MenuItem item            switch  item getItemId                  case R id menu settings                  Intent intent   new Intent this  SettingsActivity class                   startActivity intent                   return true              default                  return super onOptionsItemSelected item                         Override     protected void attachBaseContext Context base            super attachBaseContext LocaleHelper onAttach base                Override     protected void onResume             super onResume            if  initialLocale    null  amp  amp   initialLocale equals LocaleHelper getPersistedLocale this                  recreate                        What it does is   Override attachBaseContext Context base  to use the locale previously persisted with LocaleHelper Detect a change of the locale and recreate the Activity to update its strings   Notes on this solution   Recreating an Activity does not update the title of the ActionBar  as already observed here  https   github com gunhansancar ChangeLanguageExample issues 1     This can be achieved by simply having a setTitle R string mytitle  in the onCreate   method of each activity   It lets the user chose the system default locale  as well as the default locale of the app  which can be named  in this case  English    Only language codes  no region  country  and variant codes  like fr-rCA  are supported so far  To support full locale specifications  a parser similar to that in the Android-Languages library can be used  which supports region but no variant codes     If someone finds or has written a good parser  add a comment so I can include it in the solution

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Add a helper class with the following method   public class LanguageHelper       public static final void setAppLocale String language  Activity activity             if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES JELLY BEAN MR1                Resources resources   activity getResources                Configuration configuration   resources getConfiguration                configuration setLocale new Locale language                activity getApplicationContext   createConfigurationContext configuration             else               Locale locale   new Locale language               Locale setDefault locale               Configuration config   activity getResources   getConfiguration                config locale   locale              activity getResources   updateConfiguration config                      activity getResources   getDisplayMetrics                          And call it in your startup activity  like MainActivity java   public void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState                LanguageHelper setAppLocale  fa   this

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simple and easy  Locale locale   new Locale  en    US    Resources res   getResources    DisplayMetrics dm   res getDisplayMetrics    Configuration conf   res getConfiguration    conf locale   locale  res updateConfiguration conf  dm     where  en  is language code and  US  is country code

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SuppressWarnings  deprecation   public static void forceLocale Context context  String localeCode        String localeCodeLowerCase   localeCode toLowerCase         Resources resources   context getApplicationContext   getResources        Configuration overrideConfiguration   resources getConfiguration        Locale overrideLocale   new Locale localeCodeLowerCase        if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES JELLY BEAN MR1            overrideConfiguration setLocale overrideLocale         else           overrideConfiguration locale   overrideLocale             if  Build VERSION SDK INT  gt   Build VERSION CODES N            context getApplicationContext   createConfigurationContext overrideConfiguration         else           resources updateConfiguration overrideConfiguration  null             Just use this helper method to force specific locale   UDPATE 22 AUG 2017  Better use this approach

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Requests the system to update the list of system locales     Note that the system looks halted for a while during the Locale migration     so the caller need to take care of it      public static void updateLocales LocaleList locales        try           final IActivityManager am   ActivityManager getService            final Configuration config   am getConfiguration             config setLocales locales           config userSetLocale   true           am updatePersistentConfiguration config         catch  RemoteException e               Intentionally left blank

[android] Set Locale programmatically

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