Twenty languages, and an apology in advance
Version 1.2 of Todo, List, and Note is rolling out, and this one is all about languages. Since launch the apps have been available in English and Swedish — not coincidentally, the two languages I can actually proofread myself. With this update there are eighteen more: Arabic, Chinese (both Simplified and Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish. Twenty languages in total, across all three apps.
Now for the honest part: the eighteen new languages are machine-translated. As a solo developer working evenings and weekends, I cannot justify the cost of professional translators for three apps at this scale — and automated translation has genuinely become good enough that I am willing to bet on it. The bet is simple: decent coverage in twenty languages beats perfect coverage in two. Someone opening My Next: List in Tokyo or São Paulo gets an app in their own language today, instead of an English-only app while I wait for a translation budget that is never going to exist. I wrote a bit more about that reasoning in a recent studio journal entry, if you are curious.
I also want to be upfront about what this means in practice. I can read exactly two of these twenty languages. The other eighteen shipped after automated checks and spot tests, but I cannot personally vouch for every string the way I can for the Swedish ones. Somewhere in there, a button label or a settings explanation probably reads a little oddly — maybe even unintentionally funny. If you run into one of those, I am sorry. It is not carelessness; it is a trade-off made with open eyes, and one I intend to keep improving on.
This is also where you can genuinely help. If a phrase in your language feels off — wrong tone, awkward wording, or just plain wrong — I would love to hear about it, and suggestions for better wording are very welcome. The easiest ways are the Support page or the feedback option in each app's settings, and corrections go straight into the next update. Native speakers pointing at one bad string at a time is honestly the best localization review an app family like this could ask for.
As usual, the release is written up on the What's New page. If My Next now works a little better for you — or for someone you know who never quite got along with it in English — that is exactly what this release was for.