diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7e3574779..e6a9cbde8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -470,6 +470,7 @@ if(APPLE)
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/FFmpeg
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/freeimage/FreeImage/Source
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/freetype/include
+                            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/gettext/gettext-runtime/intl
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/libgit2/include
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/pugixml/src
                             ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/SDL)
@@ -541,6 +542,7 @@ if(APPLE)
                          ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libfreeimage.a
                          ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libfreetype.6.dylib
                          ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libgit2.1.7.dylib
+                         ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libintl.8.dylib
                          ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libpugixml.a
                          ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/libSDL2-2.0.0.dylib)
 elseif(WIN32)
diff --git a/es-app/CMakeLists.txt b/es-app/CMakeLists.txt
index befea500f..2a333e781 100644
--- a/es-app/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/es-app/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -236,6 +236,8 @@ elseif(APPLE)
         PERMISSIONS ${APPLE_DYLIB_PERMISSIONS} DESTINATION ../MacOS)
     install(FILES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libgit2.1.7.dylib
         PERMISSIONS ${APPLE_DYLIB_PERMISSIONS} DESTINATION ../MacOS)
+    install(FILES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libintl.8.dylib
+        PERMISSIONS ${APPLE_DYLIB_PERMISSIONS} DESTINATION ../MacOS)
     install(FILES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libjpeg.62.dylib
         PERMISSIONS ${APPLE_DYLIB_PERMISSIONS} DESTINATION ../MacOS)
     install(FILES ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/libopenjp2.7.dylib
diff --git a/locale/CMakeLists.txt b/locale/CMakeLists.txt
index 24d333e6a..0c0985449 100644
--- a/locale/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/locale/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,11 @@
 
 add_custom_target(locale ALL COMMENT "Compiling localization message catalogs")
 
-find_program(MSGFMT_BINARY msgfmt)
+if(APPLE)
+    set(MSGFMT_BINARY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/local_install/bin/msgfmt)
+else()
+    find_program(MSGFMT_BINARY msgfmt)
+endif()
 
 if(NOT MSGFMT_BINARY)
     message (FATAL_ERROR "Couldn't find msgfmt binary")
diff --git a/tools/macOS_dependencies_build.sh b/tools/macOS_dependencies_build.sh
index 60a9e52da..b6a985172 100755
--- a/tools/macOS_dependencies_build.sh
+++ b/tools/macOS_dependencies_build.sh
@@ -33,6 +33,26 @@ echo "Building all dependencies in the ./external directory...\n"
 
 export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(pwd)/../local_install/lib/pkgconfig
 
+echo "Building gettext"
+
+if [ ! -d gettext ]; then
+  echo "gettext directory is missing, aborting."
+  exit
+fi
+
+cd gettext
+
+./configure --prefix=$(pwd)/../local_install
+make clean
+make -j${JOBS}
+
+cd gettext-runtime/intl/.libs
+install_name_tool -id "@rpath/libintl.8.dylib" libintl.8.dylib
+cp libintl.8.dylib ../../../../../
+cd ../../../
+make install
+cd ..
+
 echo "Building libpng"
 
 if [ ! -d libpng ]; then
diff --git a/tools/macOS_dependencies_setup.sh b/tools/macOS_dependencies_setup.sh
index cb04aef79..864e1499b 100755
--- a/tools/macOS_dependencies_setup.sh
+++ b/tools/macOS_dependencies_setup.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,19 @@ cd external
 rm -rf local_install
 mkdir local_install
 
+echo "Setting up gettext"
+rm -rf gettext*
+curl -LO https://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gettext/gettext-0.22.5.tar.gz
+tar xvzf gettext-0.22.5.tar.gz
+
+if [ ! -d gettext-0.22.5 ]; then
+  echo "gettext directory is missing, aborting."
+  exit
+fi
+
+mv gettext-0.22.5 gettext
+rm gettext-0.22.5.tar.gz
+
 echo "Setting up libpng"
 rm -rf libpng code
 git clone https://git.code.sf.net/p/libpng/code.git