Change app language in android 5.0 doesn't work

Question

I'm using this code below to change my app language on button click (changing from french to english for example), it's works fine on android 4.0 + but on 5.0 it doesn't.

Locale localeEn = new Locale("en_US");
Locale.setDefault(localeEn);
Configuration configEn = new Configuration();
configEn.locale = localeEn;
getApplicationContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(configEn, null);
this.recreate();

Any clues why please?

edit : this is my manifest ( with android:configChanges )

<activity
            android:name=".activities.LoginActivity"
            android:configChanges="orientation|locale"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait"/>

You need to use your activity context and not your application context. — Duda, Oct 21 '15 at 15:03
Does this answer your question? [Change app language programmatically in Android](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2900023/change-app-language-programmatically-in-android) — Heitor Paceli, Feb 17 '22 at 02:21
Per-app language feature was just added to the latest Android API 33, that is still on Developer preview. See my answer at https://stackoverflow.com/a/71151685/5038317 — Heitor Paceli, Feb 17 '22 at 02:33

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 11 '15 at 16:48

13

Try to change from this:

Locale localeEn = new Locale("en_US");
Locale.setDefault(localeEn);

to this

String language = "en";
String country = "US";
Locale locale = new Locale(language , country);

answered Aug 11 '15 at 16:48

Jorge Casariego

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score 4 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:19

My solution, that i got from Udhay, works when user changes the language in actionbar and app "refreshes" with selected language. I am using android 6.0.

There is no need to add locale to androidManifest.

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

    Locale locale = null;
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.action_en:
            locale = new Locale("en_US");
            Toast.makeText(this, "English", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            break;
        case R.id.action_is:
            locale = new Locale("is", "IS");
                    Toast.makeText(this, "Íslanska", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            break;

    }

    Resources res = getResources();
    DisplayMetrics dm = res.getDisplayMetrics();
    Configuration conf = res.getConfiguration();
    conf.locale = locale;
    res.updateConfiguration(conf, dm);
    Intent refresh = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);
    startActivity(refresh);
    finish();
    return true;
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 20 '18 at 12:55

1

Have you added android:configChanges="locale" in AndroidManifest.xml? I think the problem is in your AndroidManifest.xml file.

You can see example change locale on my github repository.

edited Feb 20 '18 at 12:55

germi

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answered Aug 11 '15 at 15:47

mlevytskiy

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score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '16 at 10:57

1

My solution was changing the locale before activity's

setContentView(R.layout.layout_main);

edited May 23 '16 at 10:57

gofr1

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answered May 23 '16 at 10:38

Zohar

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Change app language in android 5.0 doesn't work

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