Getting current device language in iOS?

I'd like to show the current language that the device UI is using. What code would I use?

I want this as an NSString in fully spelled out format. (Not @"en_US")

EDIT: For those driving on by, there are a ton of useful comments here, as the answer has evolved with new iOS releases.

The solutions provided will actually return the current region of the device - not the currently selected language. These are often one and the same. However, if I am in North America and I set my language to Japanese, my region will still be English (United States). In order to retrieve the currently selected language, you can do:

NSString * language = [[NSLocale preferredLanguages] firstObject];

This will return a two letter code for the currently selected language. "en" for English, "es" for Spanish, "de" for German, etc. For more examples, please see this Wikipedia entry (in particular, the 639-1 column):

List of ISO 639-1 codes

Then it's a simple matter of converting the two letter codes to the string you would like to display. So if it's "en", display "English".

EDIT

Worth to quote the header information from NSLocale.h:

+ (NSArray *)preferredLanguages NS_AVAILABLE(10_5, 2_0); // note that this list does not indicate what language the app is actually running in; the [NSBundle mainBundle] object determines that at launch and knows that information

People interested in app language take a look at @mindvision's answer

The selected answer returns the current device language, but not the actual language used in the app. If you don't provide a localization in your app for the user's preferred language, the first localization available, ordered by the user's preferred order, is used.

To discover the current language selected within your localizations use

[[NSBundle mainBundle] preferredLocalizations];

Example:

NSString *language = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] preferredLocalizations] objectAtIndex:0];

Swift:

let language = NSBundle.mainBundle().preferredLocalizations.first as NSString

Solution for iOS 9:

NSString *language = [[NSLocale preferredLanguages] objectAtIndex:0];

language = "en-US"

NSDictionary *languageDic = [NSLocale componentsFromLocaleIdentifier:language];

languageDic will have the needed components

NSString *countryCode = [languageDic objectForKey:@"kCFLocaleCountryCodeKey"];

countryCode = "US"

NSString *languageCode = [languageDic objectForKey:@"kCFLocaleLanguageCodeKey"];

languageCode = "en"

This will probably give you what you want:

NSLocale *locale = [NSLocale currentLocale];

NSString *language = [locale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier 
                                         value:[locale localeIdentifier]];

It will show the name of the language, in the language itself. For example:

Français (France)
English (United States)

The accepted, and the other answers all don't take into account that the preferred language can be another language than the device language.

The device language is the language in which operating system elements and Apple apps are presented.

The preferred language is the language the user would like to have apps localized in. Apple only provides a limited set of translations. If the preferred language is one language Apple translated their apps to, it will also be the device language. However if the user prefers a language for which Apple doesn't provide translations the device and preferred languages won't match. The device language will not be on first position in the preferred languages list.

The following function will go through the preferred languages list and check if there is a translation in the Apple frameworks. The first language to have a translation is the device language. The function will return its language code.

func deviceLanguage() -> String? {
    let systemBundle: NSBundle = NSBundle(forClass: UIView.self)
    let englishLocale: NSLocale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: "en")
    
    let preferredLanguages: [String] = NSLocale.preferredLanguages()
    
    for language: String in preferredLanguages {
        let languageComponents: [String : String] = NSLocale.componentsFromLocaleIdentifier(language)
        
        guard let languageCode: String = languageComponents[NSLocaleLanguageCode] else {
            continue
        }
        
        // ex: es_MX.lproj, zh_CN.lproj
        if let countryCode: String = languageComponents[NSLocaleCountryCode] {
            if systemBundle.pathForResource("\(languageCode)_\(countryCode)", ofType: "lproj") != nil {
                // returns language and country code because it appears that the actual language is coded within the country code aswell
                // for example: zh_CN probably mandarin, zh_HK probably cantonese
                return language
            }
        }
        
        // ex: English.lproj, German.lproj
        if let languageName: String = englishLocale.displayNameForKey(NSLocaleIdentifier, value: languageCode) {
            if systemBundle.pathForResource(languageName, ofType: "lproj") != nil {
                return languageCode
            }
        }
        
        // ex: pt.lproj, hu.lproj
        if systemBundle.pathForResource(languageCode, ofType: "lproj") != nil {
            return languageCode
        }
    }
    
    return nil
}

This works if the preferred language list is:

1. Afrikaans (iOS is not translated into Afrikaans)
2. Spanish (Device Language)

The preferred language list can be edited in: Settings.app -> General -> Language & Region -> Preferred Language Order

---

You can than use the device language code and translate it into the language name. The following lines will print the device language in the device language. For example "Español" if the device is set to spanish.

if let deviceLanguageCode: String = deviceLanguage() {
    let printOutputLanguageCode: String = deviceLanguageCode
    let printOutputLocale: NSLocale = NSLocale(localeIdentifier: printOutputLanguageCode)

    if let deviceLanguageName: String = printOutputLocale.displayNameForKey(NSLocaleIdentifier, value: deviceLanguageCode) {
        // keep in mind that for some localizations this will print a language and a country
        // see deviceLanguage() implementation above
        print(deviceLanguageName)
    }
} 

iOS13, Swift 5+, WWDC2019 https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/403/

Users can select the preferred language of an app independently from the OS language.

You can use these:

    // Returns a list of the user's preferred languages.
    // Maybe more than (or none of) your app supports!
    Locale.preferredLanguages

    // a subset of this bundle's localizations, re-ordered into the preferred order
    // for this process's current execution environment; the main bundle's preferred localizations
    // indicate the language (of text) the user is most likely seeing in the UI
    Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations



    // The current running app language
    Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations.first

    // list of language names this bundle appears to be localized to
    Bundle.main.localizations

i use this

    NSArray *arr = [NSLocale preferredLanguages];
for (NSString *lan in arr) {
    NSLog(@"%@: %@ %@",lan, [NSLocale canonicalLanguageIdentifierFromString:lan], [[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:lan] displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:lan]);
}

ignore memory leak..

and result is

2013-03-02 20:01:57.457 xx[12334:907] zh-Hans: zh-Hans 中文（简体中文）
2013-03-02 20:01:57.460 xx[12334:907] en: en English
2013-03-02 20:01:57.462 xx[12334:907] ja: ja 日本語
2013-03-02 20:01:57.465 xx[12334:907] fr: fr français
2013-03-02 20:01:57.468 xx[12334:907] de: de Deutsch
2013-03-02 20:01:57.472 xx[12334:907] nl: nl Nederlands
2013-03-02 20:01:57.477 xx[12334:907] it: it italiano
2013-03-02 20:01:57.481 xx[12334:907] es: es español

Translating language codes such as en_US into English (United States) is a built in feature of NSLocale and NSLocale does not care where you get the language codes from. So there really is no reason to implement your own translation as the accepted answer suggests.

// Example code - try changing the language codes and see what happens
NSLocale *locale = [[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en"];
NSString *l1 = [locale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:@"en"];
NSString *l2 = [locale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:@"de"];
NSString *l3 = [locale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:@"sv"];
NSLog(@"%@, %@, %@", l1, l2, l3);

Prints: English, German, Swedish

Even there's a better way to get current device language. Let's try it by below code -

NSLog(@"Current Language - %@", [[NSLocale preferredLanguages] firstObject]);

Suggested by Abizern on here

You can use the displayNameForKey:value: method of NSLocale:

// get a French locale instance
NSLocale *frLocale = [[[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"fr_FR"] autorelease];

// use it to get translated display names of fr_FR and en_US
NSLog(@"%@", [frLocale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:@"fr_FR"]);
NSLog(@"%@", [frLocale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:@"en_US"]);

This will print out:

français (France)
anglais (États-Unis)

If you specify the same locale identifier for the initWithLocaleIdentifier: and also the displayNameForKey:value: method, then it will give you the native name of the language. I've discovered that if you remove the country code and use just fr and en, that it will also omit the country from the display name (on Mac OS X at least, not sure about iOS).

I tried to found out the right solution for myself. When I use Locale.preferredLanguages.first was returned the preferred language from your app settings.

If you want get to know language from user device settings, you should the use string below:

Swift 3

let currentDeviceLanguage = Locale.current.languageCode
// Will return the optional String

To unwrap and use look at the line below:

if let currentDeviceLanguage = Locale.current.languageCode {
    print("currentLanguage", currentDeviceLanguage)

    // For example
    if currentDeviceLanguage == "he" {
        UIView.appearance().semanticContentAttribute = .forceRightToLeft
    } else {
        UIView.appearance().semanticContentAttribute = .forceLeftToRight
    }
}

Swift

To get current language of device

NSLocale.preferredLanguages()[0] as String

To get application language

NSBundle.mainBundle().preferredLocalizations[0] as NSString

Note:

It fetches the language that you have given in CFBundleDevelopmentRegion of info.plist

if CFBundleAllowMixedLocalizations is true in info.plist then first item of CFBundleLocalizations in info.plist is returned

For getting user device current language use the following it code it worked for me.

NSString * myString = [[NSLocale preferredlanguage]objectAtIndex:0];

If you're looking for preferred language code ("en", "de", "es" ...), and localized preferred language name (for current locale), here's a simple extension in Swift:

extension Locale {
    static var preferredLanguageIdentifier: String {
        let id = Locale.preferredLanguages.first!
        let comps = Locale.components(fromIdentifier: id)
        return comps.values.first!
    }

    static var preferredLanguageLocalizedString: String {
        let id = Locale.preferredLanguages.first!
        return Locale.current.localizedString(forLanguageCode: id)!
    }
}

For MonoTouch C# developers use:

NSLocale.PreferredLanguages.FirstOrDefault() ?? "en"

Note: I know this was an iOS question, but as I am a MonoTouch developer, the answer on this page led me in the right direction and I thought I'd share the results.

In Swift:

let languageCode = NSLocale.currentLocale().objectForKey(NSLocaleLanguageCode) as? String

Swift 3

let locale = Locale.current
let code = (locale as NSLocale).object(forKey: NSLocale.Key.countryCode) as! String?
print(code!)

Simple Swift 3 function:

@discardableResult
func getLanguageISO() -> String {
    let locale = Locale.current
    guard let languageCode = locale.languageCode,
          let regionCode = locale.regionCode else {
        return "de_DE"
    }
    return languageCode + "_" + regionCode
}

-(NSString *)returnPreferredLanguage { //as written text

NSUserDefaults * defaults = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
NSArray *preferredLanguages = [defaults objectForKey:@"AppleLanguages"];
NSString *preferredLanguageCode = [preferredLanguages objectAtIndex:0]; //preferred device language code
NSLocale *enLocale = [[NSLocale alloc] initWithLocaleIdentifier:@"en"]; //language name will be in English (or whatever)
NSString *languageName = [enLocale displayNameForKey:NSLocaleIdentifier value:preferredLanguageCode]; //name of language, eg. "French"
return languageName;

}

If you want to get only language here is my suggested answer:

NSString *langplusreg = [[NSLocale preferredLanguages] objectAtIndex:0];
NSString * langonly = [[langplusreg componentsSeparatedByString:@"-"] 
objectAtIndex:0];

In my case i just wanted only Locale language not locale region.

Output: If your Locale language is Japanese and locale region is Japan then:

langplusreg = ja-JP

langonly = ja

Obviously, the solutions relying, for example, on

[[NSLocale preferredLanguages] objectAtIndex:0]

usually work fine and return the current device language.

But it could be misleading in some cases :

If the app in which you want to get this value has already changed the language, for example with this kind of code :

NSString *lg = @"en"; // or anything like @"en", @"fr", etc.
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] 
    setObject:[NSArray arrayWithObjects:lg, nil]  
    forKey:@"AppleLanguages"]

In this case, [NSLocale preferredLanguages] actually returns the preferred language set (and used) in this particular app, not the current device language !

And... in this case the only way to properly get the actual current device language (and not that previously set in the app), is to firstly clear the key @"appleLanguages" in NSUserDefaults, like this :

[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults]removeObjectForKey:@"AppleLanguages"];

Then, [NSLocale preferredLanguages] now returns the correct value.

Hope this help.

In Swift 4.2 and Xcode 10.1

let language = NSLocale.preferredLanguages[0]
debugPrint(language)//en

In Swift 5.x

let langStr = Locale.current.languageCode
debugPrint(langStr ?? "") //en  el

@amir response in Swift :

// Get language prefered by user
let langageRegion = NSLocale.preferredLanguages().first!
let languageDic = NSLocale.componentsFromLocaleIdentifier(langageRegion)
let language = languageDic[NSLocaleLanguageCode]

SWIFT-4

 // To get device default selected language. It will print like short name of zone. For english, en or spain, es.

let language = Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations.first! as NSString
print("device language",language)

I actually misread the original question, thought it asked for the "app UI" language (that's what I had googled for), not the "device UI", in which case the best answers would be the ones using preferredLocalizations, but those answers still give you a code, there is one more step to get a nice string to display. So, while the "device UI" language is already answered, if you want to display a nice string for which of the UI languages you support is currently in use, obviously the simplest solution is:

NSLocalizedString(@"currentLanguage", @"")

Where in every one of your UI localizations you have specified it exactly the way you want it shown. E.g. in the en version of your .strings file you'd have:

"currentLanguage"="English";

in your fr version of the .strings file you'd have:

"currentLanguage"="Francais";

etc. No messing with codes etc, you make your own strings to nicely match your UI.

According to Apple documentation

NSUserDefaults* defs = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
NSArray* languages = [defs objectForKey:@"AppleLanguages"];
NSString* preferredLang = [languages objectAtIndex:0];

Two letters format. Apple uses the ISO standard ISO-3166.

NSString *localeCountryCode = [[NSLocale autoupdatingCurrentLocale] objectForKey:NSLocaleCountryCode];

For Swift 3:

NSLocale.preferredLanguages[0] as String

As of iOS 9, if you just want the language code without country code, you'll want this sort of helper function - since the language will contain the country code.

// gets the language code without country code in uppercase format, i.e. EN or DE
NSString* GetLanguageCode()
{
    static dispatch_once_t onceToken;
    static NSString* lang;
    dispatch_once(&onceToken, ^
    {
        lang = [[[NSLocale preferredLanguages] objectAtIndex:0] uppercaseString];
        NSRegularExpression* regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"^[A-Za-z]+" options:0 error:nil];
        NSTextCheckingResult* match = [regex firstMatchInString:lang options:0 range:NSMakeRange(0, lang.length)];
        if (match.range.location != NSNotFound)
        {
            lang = [lang substringToIndex:match.range.length];
        }
    });
    return lang;
}

Updated answer for Swift 4

let language = Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations.first

For Swift 3.0 below code can be used to answer your question:

 let language = Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations.first! as NSString

In Swift, there is a way simpler answer to get the current app language:

Locale(identifier: Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations[0]).languageCode!

It could be switched over like this for example:

let supportUrl: URL = {
    switch Locale(identifier: Bundle.main.preferredLocalizations[0]).languageCode {
    case "de":
        return Constants.supportUrlGerman

    default:
        return Constants.supportUrlEnglish
    }
}

I hope this helps!