How to fix "Please save new locales before uploading screenshots or previews" in App Store Connect

How to fix it

1. 1

   Save the version page, then reload

   The banner sits in the Previews and Screenshots section, but the Save it asks for is the page-level button at the top right of the version page. Click it even when nothing looks edited, then reload the page and upload again.

   It costs ten seconds, and it is the only fix here that needs no diagnosis.

2. 2

   Find the language that was added but never saved

   Open the language menu at the top right of the version page and walk through each language. Apple's steps for adding a language end with entering its metadata and clicking Save. A language that stopped short of that is the most direct reading of "new locales".

   Apple keeps two sets of localized fields, each with its own Save:

   • The version page: description and keywords for that language, per platform.
   • App Information: the app name and privacy policy URL for that language.

   Apple also notes that a localization added from the version section is added to the shared metadata under App Information and to your other platforms. A language you added while editing the iOS version can therefore show up on the macOS version, where it still needs its own description and keywords.

3. 3

   Upload once, on the primary language, when the images are the same

   You may not need a per-language upload at all. Apple states that screenshots for a new language default to those of the primary language, and that if your app's interface is the same across device sizes and localizations, you provide only the highest resolution screenshots required.

   Upload the set on the primary language. The other languages pick it up. Open a specific language in Media Manager only when its screenshots actually differ, for example when the captions are translated into that language.

4. 4

   One language and nothing to save: wait before rebuilding anything

   On an app with a single language there may be no new locale to find. A developer on the Apple Developer Forums hit this message on a macOS update with only en-US configured, after creating the new version from the Distribution page. By the next day the screenshot had appeared in the draft submission with no change on their side, and the update went through.

   Leave the languages alone while you wait. Removing a language and adding it back creates exactly the unsaved new locale the message is about. Reload later that day and again the next morning before changing anything.