How to get the current locale (API level 24)?

Question

I was doing this way:

context.getResources().getConfiguration().locale

Configuration.locale is deprecated if target is 24. So I made this change:

context.getResources().getConfiguration().getLocales().get(0)

Now it says that it's only for minSdkVersion 24, so I cannot use it because my min target is lower.

What's the right method?

Solution 1

Check which version you're running on and fallback to the deprecated solution:

Locale locale;
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
    locale = context.getResources().getConfiguration().getLocales().get(0);
} else {
    locale = context.getResources().getConfiguration().locale;
}

Solution 2

You could use Locale.getDefault(), which is the Java standard way of getting the current Locale.

Solution 3

In Configuration.java, there is:

/**
 * ...
 * @deprecated Do not set or read this directly. Use {@link #getLocales()} and
 * {@link #setLocales(LocaleList)}. If only the primary locale is needed,
 * <code>getLocales().get(0)</code> is now the preferred accessor.
 */
@Deprecated public Locale locale;
...
configOut.mLocaleList = LocaleList.forLanguageTags(localesStr);
configOut.locale = configOut.mLocaleList.get(0);

So basically using locale basically returns the primary locale the user sets. The accept answer does exactly the same as reading locale directly.

However this locale isn't necessarily the one used when getting resources. It might be the user's secondary locale if the primary locale isn't available.

Here's a more correct version:

Resources resources = context.getResources();
Locale locale = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N
        ? resources.getConfiguration().getLocales()
            .getFirstMatch(resources.getAssets().getLocales())
        : resources.getConfiguration().locale;

Solution 4

Here's a one-liner that uses the ConfigurationCompat class:

ConfigurationCompat.getLocales(context.getResources().getConfiguration()).get(0)

View more solutions

Comments

[Peter Serwylo]

This will only return the locale specified in the system settings. Many apps have their own language selector functionality. If that is the case, then the answer from @Egor is preferred.

[Byte Welder]

If you select the locale manually, you should call Locale.setDefault()

[Byte Welder]

This is very important, because otherwise Java libraries won't pick up the correct Locale correctly.

[LanDenLabs]

Peter states that some apps have their own language selector. If they do, they should call Locale.setDefault as Ken states. So once again this solution will work. This should be the preferred answer.

[Victor]

Thanks for this, it should be the accepted answer: Minimal and without warnings.