diff --git a/translations/CMakeLists.txt b/translations/CMakeLists.txt
index 86cdab294..51f9aae73 100644
--- a/translations/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/translations/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -27,23 +27,34 @@ qt_create_translation(TRS ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src ${${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}_TRS} O
 #ensure that the targets are built always
 add_custom_target(app_translations ALL DEPENDS ${TRS})
 
-# install our translations
-install(FILES ${TRS} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_I18N_DIR})
+if (NOT APPLE)
+  # install our translations
+  install(FILES ${TRS} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_I18N_DIR})
+elseif(APPLE)
+  #when making the bundle copy our translation into the bundle
+  set(BUNDLE_TR_DIR $<TARGET_BUNDLE_CONTENT_DIR:${CMAKE_PROJECT_PROPER_NAME}>/MacOS/translations)
 
-if(APPLE)
-  # find the qt translation files not deployed by macdeployqt
+  # find the qt translation files needed to copy into the bundle
   get_target_property(lupdate_executable Qt6::lupdate IMPORTED_LOCATION)
   get_filename_component(_qt_bin_dir "${lupdate_executable}" DIRECTORY)
   file(REAL_PATH "${_qt_bin_dir}/../" QT_ROOT_DIR)
   find_file(_QT_QM_FILE NAMES qtbase_en.qm PATHS ${QT_ROOT_DIR} PATH_SUFFIXES "translations" "share/qt/translations" REQUIRED)
   get_filename_component(MAC_QT_LANG_PATH "${_QT_QM_FILE}" DIRECTORY)
 
-  # install each lang file and rename to the same name
-  # rename does not work with a list so foreach is used instead
-  install(FILES ${MAC_QT_LANG_PATH}/qtbase_en.qm DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_I18N_DIR} RENAME qt_en.qm)
+  add_custom_command(
+    TARGET app_translations POST_BUILD
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E make_directory ${BUNDLE_TR_DIR}
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/*.qm" ${BUNDLE_TR_DIR}
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different "${MAC_QT_LANG_PATH}/qtbase_en.qm" "${BUNDLE_TR_DIR}/qt_en.qm"
+  )
+
+  # install the other Qt lang files renamed to qt_lang.qm
   foreach(LANG ${${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}_TRS})
     string(REPLACE "${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}_" "" LANG ${LANG})
     string(REPLACE ".ts" "" LANG ${LANG})
-    install(FILES ${MAC_QT_LANG_PATH}/qtbase_${LANG}.qm DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_I18N_DIR} RENAME qt_${LANG}.qm)
+    add_custom_command(
+      TARGET app_translations POST_BUILD
+      COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different "${MAC_QT_LANG_PATH}/qtbase_${LANG}.qm" "${BUNDLE_TR_DIR}/qt_${LANG}.qm"
+    )
   endforeach()
 endif()