How Anbox Cloud streamlines localization testing

Wherever users are based, they expect apps to just work, whether in Japanese, Arabic, or Spanish. But anyone who’s touched localization knows it’s more than translation. Real quality comes from testing how your app behaves across languages, layouts, and regions – and doing it fast.

If you’re shipping apps for automotive or gaming, localization gets complex fast. It’s never just about translation: you’re adapting to different layouts, alphabet types, interaction models, and hardware quirks. You’re aiming for pixel-perfect across every region, while teams are spread across time zones and builds keep coming.

Anbox Cloud cuts through all of that: enabling real-time, browser-based localization testing at scale. No APK sharing. No device juggling. Enabling you to localize at speed, and at scale.

A consistent experience, everywhere

Let’s examine a common use case: an automotive Tier 1 supplier building in-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) apps for multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). One app, many markets. Each with different languages, reading directions, and screen resolutions. The traditional approach to testing means emailing builds to local quality assurance (QA) teams, or trying to simulate every scenario in-house. If you’ve experienced this approach first hand, then you’ll know it is both fragile and slow.

With Anbox Cloud, all you have to do is launch a container with the right locale in seconds. Your team (in Berlin, Tokyo, or Washington) gets a secure URL, opens their browser, and tests live. No flashing. No setup delays. No exposure of early builds or IP.

Because it runs in the cloud, you control access, enforce authentication, and test in real-time, without sending binaries halfway across the world.

Localization QA at scale: the gaming angle

Now let’s switch to mobile gaming, where localization isn’t just a checkbox: it’s revenue. A game that looks fine in English can break in Turkish, or wrap badly in Finnish. Fonts, line breaks, layout shifts, it all matters. And you don’t want to hear about it from your players.

Global studios know the pain: you need to test across devices, screen densities, and locales. And you need it to be fast, so your players don’t end up furious.

With Anbox Cloud, you can spin up multiple configurations in parallel, simulate different regions, and let your QA team jump into live sessions: no APK installs, no physical devices, just a browser and a link.

Test your UI flow. Click through quests. Break things early.

Why it matters

In a world where users bounce in seconds, localized quality is a differentiator. A misaligned button or clipped string may seem minor, but users notice. And they judge.

In automotive, UI glitches aren’t just annoying, they’re a risk. In gaming, they represent potential lost revenue.

Anbox Cloud brings everything together: faster feedback, real-time testing, and zero APK distribution. Everything runs in the cloud. Everything stays under your control.

Automation that scales with you

Localization QA isn’t just a manual task. With the right tooling, it becomes part of your CI: fast, repeatable, and invisible when it works.

Canonical provides an official GitHub Action to spin up Anbox Cloud dynamically in your pipeline. That means you can launch full Android containers, connect via ADB, and run tests automatically, all from a GitHub workflow. No emulators: just Android, on demand.

Spin up a fresh Android container, connect to it using anbox-connect, and run your UI tests across configurations and locales. The same amc CLI that developers use locally works inside your runner, letting you orchestrate test flows, parallelize across devices, or gate PRs on localization correctness.

Each Android container is accurately replicated, so every test starts from a known baseline. This means that you can also run simultaneous sessions in parallel without sacrificing performance.

Get started today

Whether you’re localizing a safety-critical IVI interface or pushing a mobile game to 30 markets, Anbox Cloud helps you test, adapt, and scale.

And here’s the best part: Anbox Cloud is included in Ubuntu Pro, which is free for personal use and up to five machines. With GitHub integration and built-in automation, your QA process stays in sync with your development pace.

Want to get hands-on? Check out our official documentation, or get started with the Anbox Cloud Appliance. 

Curious to know how Anbox Cloud fits into your pipeline? Talk to us.

Further reading

Official documentation
Anbox Cloud Appliance

Android is a trademark of Google LLC. Anbox Cloud uses assets available through the Android Open Source Project.