Set Locale programmatically

For people still looking for this answer, since configuration.locale was deprecated from API 24, you can now use:

configuration.setLocale(locale);

Take in consideration that the minSkdVersion for this method is API 17.

Full example code:

@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
private void setLocale(Locale locale){
    SharedPrefUtils.saveLocale(locale); // optional - Helper method to save the selected language to SharedPreferences in case you might need to attach to activity context (you will need to code this)
    Resources resources = getResources();
    Configuration configuration = resources.getConfiguration();
    DisplayMetrics displayMetrics = resources.getDisplayMetrics();
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1){
        configuration.setLocale(locale);
    } else{
        configuration.locale=locale;
    }
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > Build.VERSION_CODES.N){
        getApplicationContext().createConfigurationContext(configuration);
    } else {
        resources.updateConfiguration(configuration,displayMetrics);
    }
}

Don't forget that, if you change the locale with a running Activity, you will need to restart it for the changes to take effect.

EDIT 11th MAY 2018

As from @CookieMonster's post, you might have problems keeping the locale change in higher API versions. If so, add the following code to your Base Activity (BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity / other activities) so that you update the context locale on every Activity creation:

@Override
protected void attachBaseContext(Context base) {
     super.attachBaseContext(updateBaseContextLocale(base));
}

private Context updateBaseContextLocale(Context context) {
    String language = SharedPrefUtils.getSavedLanguage(); // Helper method to get saved language from SharedPreferences
    Locale locale = new Locale(language);
    Locale.setDefault(locale);

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
        return updateResourcesLocale(context, locale);
    }

    return updateResourcesLocaleLegacy(context, locale);
}

@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.N_MR1)
private Context updateResourcesLocale(Context context, Locale locale) {
    Configuration configuration = new Configuration(context.getResources().getConfiguration());
    configuration.setLocale(locale);
    return context.createConfigurationContext(configuration);
}

@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
private Context updateResourcesLocaleLegacy(Context context, Locale locale) {
    Resources resources = context.getResources();
    Configuration configuration = resources.getConfiguration();
    configuration.locale = locale;
    resources.updateConfiguration(configuration, resources.getDisplayMetrics());
    return context;
}

If you use this, don't forget to save the language to SharedPreferences when you set the locale with setLocale(locale)

EDIT 7th APRIL 2020

You might be experiencing issues in Android 6 and 7, and this happens due to an issue in the androidx libraries while handling the night mode. For this you will also need to override applyOverrideConfiguration in your base activity and update the configuration's locale in case a fresh new locale one is created.

Sample code:

@Override
public void applyOverrideConfiguration(Configuration overrideConfiguration) {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= Build.VERSION_CODES.N_MR1) {
        // update overrideConfiguration with your locale  
        setLocale(overrideConfiguration) // you will need to implement this
    }
    super.applyOverrideConfiguration(overrideConfiguration);
} 

Hope this help(in onResume):

Locale locale = new Locale("ru");
Locale.setDefault(locale);
Configuration config = getBaseContext().getResources().getConfiguration();
config.locale = locale;
getBaseContext().getResources().updateConfiguration(config,
      getBaseContext().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());