Import App Store Metadata to Lokalise

To import data from an existing App Store Connect or Google Play listing into Lokalise, follow these steps:

• Create the app in the App Store Manager

• Create a new package

• Start the import from store mechanism

• Transfer the imported metadata to the App Store Manager

• Export the metadata to an Excel file

• Create a new project in Lokalise

• Import the file into Lokalise

App Store Manager setup

Create a new app in the App Store Manager via search (if already published) or manually enter the app information.

Create a new app

Open the app you just created and create a new package.

Create a new app package

Assign a suitable name and then switch to edit the app description.

Name the package

Select the "Import/Import from Playstore" (Android) or "Import/Import from App Store" (Apple) function in the upper right corner.

Enter the appropriate permissions. The setup of the permissions for the respective store.

You can find tutorials here: Google Play Console and App Store Connect.

Import from store function

Start importing the metadata from the store and wait for it to finish.

Once the process is completed, click "OK" and add all metadata to your package in the following dialog.

Select imported metadata

With this, we have imported all the existing metadata of an existing app into the App Store Manager. Now we can easily export the metadata to create it in Lokalise and import it again.

Export metadata to file

Select the function "Export/ Export as XSLT" and save the metadata in an Excel file locally.

Export metadate to file

The generated file contains all maintained languages and keys (titles, descriptions, and so on).

App Store metadata Excel export

Lokalise setup

Now switch to Localise and create a new project there. Assign a name and choose an initial target language.

Lokalise project setup

Create the project and then switch to the "Upload" tab.

Upload tab in Lokalise

Import to Lokalise

Select the Excel file you created in the App Store Manager in the upload tab.

Localise directly shows all recognized languages and keys/values in it.

Hit "Apply" and then "Import files."

Import preview

Lokalise then starts to import the information accordingly and displays all keys and languages in the editor view.

Imported app store metadata

The two languages selected during the Lokalise project creation can be removed, as these are usually empty (provided no further adjustments have been made).

This completes the export of the app metadata from the respective store and the import into Lokalise.

Summary

With a few steps, you can import app metadata from App Store Connect and Google Play Console into Lokalise using App Store Manager.

In Lokalise, the corresponding texts can be further edited using collaborative tools.

When the editing is complete, the adapted translated metadata can be easily and quickly published in the stores again using Lokalise export, App Store Manager import, and upload.