Shipshot guide
A checklist for localized app screenshots
This is the mechanical sweep that happens after translation is approved and before anything is exported. It is not about wording quality — that review has already happened. It is about catching the specific, boring failures that survive a good translation and reach the store anyway.
Hunt for leftover source-language text
The most common defect in a localized set is an English caption still sitting in one frame of one language, usually a frame that was added late or edited after translation. Go language by language and read every frame, including the ones you believe were not touched. Frames added after the translation round are the usual culprits.
- Read every frame in every locale rather than sampling.
- Pay particular attention to frames added or edited after translation.
- Check small text, badges, and secondary labels, not just headlines.
Check clipping, overlap, and truncation
Look for text running past its container, colliding with the product screen, disappearing behind a device frame, or ending in an ellipsis that was not intended. This is where expansion damage shows up. Check the longest caption in each language specifically, because that is the one that breaks first.
- Identify the longest caption in each language and inspect it first.
- Look for collisions between caption text and the product screen.
- Confirm no text is cut off at a container edge or behind a frame.
Verify formats that change by locale
Dates, times, currencies, decimal separators, units, and phone number formats all appear inside product screens and inside captions, and all of them can be wrong in a way that reads as careless to a local visitor. A screen showing a dollar amount to a European audience undercuts the impression that the app was made for them.
- Check dates, currencies, and separators inside the product screens.
- Confirm any number quoted in a caption matches the screen behind it.
- Verify units and formats match local convention rather than the source locale.
Confirm the set is complete for every target
Finally, count. Each locale should have every frame, at every target, in the right order, with matching file names. A missing frame in one language is easy to create and easy to miss, and it produces a listing where one market gets a weaker argument than everyone else.
- Count frames per locale per target and confirm the totals match.
- Confirm the frame order is identical across locales.
- Check the exported file names identify locale and order unambiguously.
Review checklist
Questions to ask before handoff
Where does leftover source text usually hide?
In frames added or edited after the translation round, and in small secondary labels rather than headlines.
Which caption should I check first in each language?
The longest one. It fails first, and if it fits cleanly the shorter ones usually do too.
Does frame order need to match across locales?
Keep it matching unless you have a deliberate reason to differ. An accidental reorder means one market receives a different argument than you designed.
