Localizing App Store screenshots is a solved problem — but everyone still does it in Figma. Why?

Every time I ship an app update, I watch other indie makers on X post their new screenshots — and they're English only. Beautiful screenshots, English text, shipping to 40 markets.

The maths of App Store localization are well-known: ~60% of app revenue comes from non-English markets, localized screenshots convert 2-3× better than English-only ones in a given locale, and metadata translation alone leaves most of that money on the table.

The tools exist. Figma has plugins. AppScreens, AppLaunchpad, ButterKit all have some flavor of translation. So the problem should be solved.

But looking at the App Store today, 80%+ of indie apps in any given non-English market still show English screenshots. Even in categories where localized competitors exist.

So my honest question to this community:

If you ship internationally but DON'T localize your screenshots — what's stopping you?

• Not sure translation quality is good enough?

• Design time it takes to rebuild in every language?

• Can't be bothered because the ROI isn't obvious?

• Tools don't handle RTL / CJK / German text overflow well?

• Something else?

Genuine curiosity — building a tool in this space (Shotlingo, launching next Thursday) and the "why don't people just do this" gap is the biggest unknown.