Beyond i18next: How Shared Backend Localization Powers Multi-App Translation with AutoLocalise

I was managing 3 React apps (web, mobile, admin) with duplicated translations. Each app had its own JSON files, its own keys, and its own workflow. It was a nightmare.

Every time I updated a translation in the web app, I had to manually update the mobile app and admin app too. Sync issues were weekly. Translators were confused. Developers were frustrated.

After 2 years of this, I switched to a shared backend approach. The transformation was immediate:

• Translation updates: Instant across all apps
• Sync issues: Zero
• Development time on i18n: From 15 hours/week to 1 hour/week
• Translator satisfaction: From 4/10 to 9/10

In this article, I'll show you how shared backend localization works and why it's a game-changer for multi-app projects.

Introduction

Managing localization in a growing app is hard. Managing it across multiple apps or environments? Even harder.

If you've used traditional setups like i18next, you're familiar with this pattern:

• Write your keys
• Maintain per-language JSON files
• Ship them with your app
• Repeat for every app, staging environment, or white-labeled brand

This works… until it doesn’t. Especially when:

• You maintain multiple frontends for web, mobile, or admin
• You support multiple regions or brands
• Your copy updates frequently

AutoLocalise takes a different approach.

It centralizes all translations in a shared backend database. This seemingly small shift unlocks a powerful feature: any app can reuse translations instantly without importing files or repeating keys.

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Traditional i18n: Local Files, Local Scope

Here’s how localization typically works with i18next or similar tools:

project/
├── public/
│   └── locales/
│       ├── en.json
│       └── fr.json

You define keys like this:

{
  "login_button": "Log in",
  "signup_cta": "Create an account"
}

And reference them in your UI:

t("login_button");

This works fine for one app. But imagine:

• A mobile app that also needs the same strings
• A white-labeled admin panel with similar UI
• A landing page needing partial reuse

You’re now duplicating files across apps, managing merge conflicts, and shipping unnecessary keys.

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AutoLocalise: Centralized, Real-Time Translation Layer

AutoLocalise skips translation files altogether.

Instead:

• Developers write plain text in JSX
• The frontend sends that text to the backend
• The backend responds with the appropriate translation
• Results are cached for speed at UI, Redis, and database layers

Critically: all translations are stored and versioned centrally.

This means:

• Any new app using the same backend sees the same translations instantly
• You don’t need to re-upload or re-sync any language files
• Updating the English text updates the translation pipeline across all apps

No keys. No files. Just text.

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Real-World Example: Shared Translations Across Web + Admin + Mobile

Imagine a company with:

• A customer-facing marketing site (React)
• A React Native mobile app
• An internal admin dashboard

All of these apps have shared UI components:

• “Submit”
• “Create account”
• “Payment successful”

With file-based systems, you'd manually copy keys and values between:

• web/en.json
• admin/en.json
• mobile/en.json

With AutoLocalise, all three apps use the same t() hook:

const { t } = useAutoTranslate();
return <Text>{t("Create account")}</Text>;

Behind the scenes, the same backend powers all three. The first app that triggers translation stores the result. All other apps reuse it instantly.

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Technical Benefits

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Developer Experience: Simpler by Default

No translation keys, no setup, no need to define context like:

{
  "dashboard.title": "Welcome to your dashboard"
}

You write:

t("Welcome to your dashboard");

And let AutoLocalise handle:

• Language translation
• Global caching

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The Hidden Superpower: Reuse Without Thinking About It

This feature—shared, real-time translation across all apps—isn’t just convenient. It’s strategic:

• Lower cost: You only pay for translation once per unique phrase
• Higher consistency: Users see identical translations across platforms
• Faster delivery: Teams can build apps in parallel without translation coordination

You don’t have to think about reuse. It just happens.

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Summary

Traditional i18n assumes each app is a silo. AutoLocalise treats your entire platform as a unified experience.

By shifting translations from local files to a central backend, AutoLocalise makes it easy to:

• Share translations across multiple React, React Native, or Expo apps
• Remove translation files from your repo
• Keep translations consistent without syncing or duplication

If you’re building for scale—or already juggling multiple environments—this architecture is worth considering.

You can try it at AutoLocalise.com.