Language and time zone
Choose your language and region and your time zone, and see where each is used.
On this page
Two fields in Your details on the Profile page describe where you are: Language and region and Time zone. They are saved together with your name, username and bio, using Save details. See Name, username and bio.
Language and region#
The field says Pick a language, or type any language tag such as en-GB. The picker lists common languages and regional variants by name in the language the page is shown in (in English, for example French (Canada)), and shows the tag beside each. You can search by the name or by the tag.
- Open Profile.
- Select Language and region and type part of a name or a tag.
- Choose an entry from the list. To use a tag the list does not show, type it and choose Use followed by the tag.
- Select Save details.
If what you type is not a well-formed language tag, the field says Not a language tag. Pick one from the list or type a tag such as en-GB. and does not change. A tag is written in its standard capitalisation, so fr-ca is stored as fr-CA.
The button Use this device's language fills the field with the language your browser reports.
Time zone#
The field says Search by city or zone name such as Asia/Kolkata. Each entry is a standard zone name with its current offset from UTC beside it, for example UTC+05:30. You can search by the city as well as the zone name, so typing Kolkata or New York finds it. The button Use this device's time zone fills the field from your browser. If nothing matches, the list says No time zone matches.
Where they are used#
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Account pages (time zone). Times shown in your account, such as when a session started or a passkey was last used, use your time zone. If none is set, they use the time zone of the browser you are viewing them in.
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Applications. An application that asks for the
profilescope can receive your language and your time zone as thelocaleandzoneinfoclaims. See Name, username and bio for what that scope releases. -
The interface. If you save English, French or Spanish, the sign-in pages and your account area are shown in that language the next time a page loads, and identity's emails to you are written in it. A regional tag such as
fr-CAshows French. A language identity has no translation for, for example German, is still saved and still sent to applications, but the pages stay in the language your browser asks for, or English. See Languages for how identity chooses a language and what always stays in English, such as this documentation.
Rules and limits#
- A language must be a well-formed language tag of at most 35 characters. The server checks it again and answers That locale is not valid. if it is not.
- A time zone must be a name the platform recognises, of at most 64 characters. Otherwise the answer is That timezone is not valid.
- You can replace a language or a time zone but not clear it. Saving with an empty field leaves the stored value as it was.