Language setting opens Android app-info instead of switching language

Category: Bugs Priority: P2 Severity: major Area: android Reports: 2 Status: Open

Summary: Two Android users report that the in-app interface-language option is effectively broken: tapping it does not switch the language, it redirects to the Android system app-info screen for Qaf, where they cannot find any language option. Karim (Arabic speaker) tried repeatedly with Abdellatif's guidance and confirmed the settings entry only bounces him to the phone's "app info" page with no language choice available, leaving him unable to switch the UI to Arabic. This looks like the app delegates language switching to Android's per-app language settings (Settings.ACTION_APP_LOCALE_SETTINGS-style intent), which on devices/OS versions without per-app language support lands on the generic app-info screen with no locale picker. For an app whose core audience is Arabic-speaking, being unable to switch to Arabic is a significant onboarding blocker.

What users say

Karim Bouhmi bouhmikarim@gmail.com — 2026-08-21, Arabic, `1a0242d5cd7c0ab1` — Abdellatif replied: yes

Cannot change the app interface language to Arabic. Abdellatif asked whether he tried from settings; Karim confirmed yes, but it redirects him to the phone's app-information screen, and (per the ongoing exchange) no language option is found there.

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته .لا استطيع تغيير لغة الواجهة الى العربية

Peace be upon you. I cannot change the interface language to Arabic.

Follow-up (2026-08-23), after being asked if he tried the settings:

نعم .و لكن تحولني الى معلومات عن التطبيق التي نجدها في اعدادات الهاتف

Yes. But it redirects me to the app information that we find in the phone settings.

Mahmoud Khodier byakuyaxgara@gmail.com — 2026-08-13, English, `19ffc7c5194c0dbb` — Abdellatif replied: yes

First item of a two-bug report (subject "Bugs"): the language setting opens the Android system app-info menu instead of switching the app language. (His second bug — back button not exiting the app with the keyboard left open — is tracked in android-back-button-exit.md.) Abdellatif thanked him and said he'd forward it to the team.

Changing the language in the settings menu does not work; it opens the Android settings info menu instead.

Details / repro

Repro: open Qaf settings → tap the language option → instead of a language picker, the Android system app-info screen for Qaf opens; users find no language option there.
Reproduced independently by two users on Android (device models/OS versions not stated in the emails).
Karim's goal was switching the interface to Arabic; the thread was still unresolved as of 2026-08-23 (Abdellatif's last question: "و لا يوجد فيها اختيار للغة؟" — "and there's no language choice in there?").
Hypothesis for engineering: the app fires the per-app locale settings intent; on OEM builds/Android versions lacking a per-app language section this falls back to plain app info. An in-app locale picker (e.g. AppCompatDelegate.setApplicationLocales) would avoid the dependency on the system screen.

Threads

1a0242d5cd7c0ab1 — Karim Bouhmi (Arabic): cannot switch interface to Arabic; setting redirects to phone app-info page
19ffc7c5194c0dbb — Mahmoud Khodier: language setting opens Android settings info menu instead of switching