Prepare Your Org: Understanding Salesforce ICU Locale Format Changes in Summer ’25

In Summary:

  • Salesforce ICU Locale Rollout: Summer ’25 brings a final push for International Components for Unicode (ICU) locale formats, standardizing date, time, currency, and address displays for global consistency.
  • Prevent Inconsistencies & Errors: Understand the potential for ParseException errors, UI discrepancies, and Apex failures if older components aren’t updated to match ICU formats.
  • Strategic Migration & Expert Support: While no immediate rush, a thorough review of your org’s custom code and integrations is crucial for a smooth transition, with Xenogenix offering expert guidance and testing.

The Salesforce Summer ’25 release is on the horizon, and with it comes a subtle yet potentially impactful update: the continued rollout of ICU (International Components for Unicode) locale formats. Introduced in Winter ’20, these formats are now the default for newer orgs, and Salesforce is making a final push to encourage adoption across the platform.

What are ICU Locale Formats?

ICU is a widely adopted set of libraries providing Unicode support, software internationalisation, and software localisation. In Salesforce, enabling ICU locale formats changes the way dates, times, currencies, and addresses are displayed, aiming for greater international consistency.

Is Your Org Already Using ICU?

The easiest way to check is to navigate to Setup > Company Information and look at the Locale Formats field. If your org was created in Winter ’20 or later, it’s likely already enabled.

The Summer ’25 Push: What You Need to Know

Salesforce is scheduled to attempt enabling ICU formats one last time during the Summer ’25 release for orgs that haven’t yet made the switch. If you want to defer this change, you need to act now:

  1. Go to Setup > User Interface.
  2. Deselect the “Enable ICU locale formats as part of the scheduled rollout” checkbox.

If this final attempt by Salesforce fails, you’ll need to manually enable the feature when you’re ready.

Manual Enablement: Proceed with Caution

You can manually enable ICU formats via Setup > Release Updates. However, even if your components’ API versions aren’t updated to 45.0 or higher, you can still enable it. This is where potential inconsistencies can arise.

  • Inconsistent User Experience: Custom UI components or older Visualforce pages (API version 44.0 or earlier) will continue to use the older JDK (Java Development Kit) locale formats, while standard UI components will display the new ICU formats. This can lead to a confusing and inconsistent experience for your users.

Impact on Managed Packages:

If you rely on managed packages with Apex Classes, Apex Triggers, or Visualforce Pages below version 45.0, only the package owners can update these components. Ensure you check with your package providers for compatibility with ICU formats and install updated versions if necessary.

Technical Deep Dive: Potential Pitfalls

Updating a component’s API version (and having ICU enabled) will make it use ICU. However, neglecting to update others can cause issues:

  • Visualforce Page Errors: Users making inline edits on older Visualforce pages might encounter “ParseException: Invalid Date and Time” errors due to differing date/time format expectations (e.g., dd-mm-yyyy vs. mm-dd-yyyy).
  • UI Format Discrepancies: Users will see different formats for dates, times, currencies, and addresses across different UI elements depending on their API version.
  • Apex Process Failures: Apex code that relies on specific date string formats from the JDK might fail when encountering dates in the new ICU format. This is particularly relevant for integrations where date formats are passed as strings from external systems.

Long-Term Implications:

While no immediate issues are anticipated for orgs that don’t enable ICU after Summer ’25, Salesforce is analysing the long-term implications of remaining on JDK formats. We currently don’t know what these implications might be.

Should You Enable ICU? Our Recommendation

There’s no immediate rush to enable ICU locale formats after the Summer ’25 release if you haven’t already. However, if you choose to do so, a thorough review of your codebase is crucial to identify and address any potential compatibility issues, especially with custom components and integrations.

Next Steps with Xenogenix:

Navigating this transition requires careful planning and execution. Xenogenix can help:

  • Assess your org’s readiness for ICU.
  • Identify potential compatibility issues in your Apex code, Visualforce pages, and integrations.
  • Develop a comprehensive testing and migration strategy.
  • Provide expert guidance and support throughout the enablement process.

Don’t let the Summer ’25 ICU update cause unexpected disruptions. Contact Xenogenix today for a consultation to ensure a smooth and successful transition.