How do you Translate text on an iPhone?

Did you know your iPhone and iPad can translate text for you from foreign languages? If youve been on international trips, or interacted with anyone who speaks a foreign language, you likely know it can be difficult to communicate with people who arent writing or speaking the same language as you. Apple intends to make this a lot easier with the Translate app, which is native to modern iPhone and iPads. Much like you can translate speech, you can also translate written text too.

The Translate app first arrived with iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 devices to make language translation easy and convenient. At the moment, Apple supports real-time translation for 11 different languages. Although the language selection is pretty limited compared to the likes of Google or Microsoft, its handy to have this feature available directly on your device. Plus, Apple offers offline translation for all the supported languages via the app, and you can use either voice or text to make translations. The same capability also is in Safari to translate webpages, but for our purposes here well focus on inputted text to translate.

Lets review how you can translate text by using the Translate app on iPhone or iPad.

How Use Translate on iPhone & iPad to Translate Text

You need to make sure that your iPhone or iPad is running iOS 14 or later before you will be able to use this feature.

1. Launch the Translate app on your iPhone or iPad. If you cant find the app in your home screen, use Spotlight search to see if its located in your app library.
   
   
   
   
2. By default, English is selected as the language to be translated. Tap the language option on the left to change it.
   
   
   
   
3. Now, simply select a language of your choice and tap on Done to continue.
   
   
   
   
4. Next, to choose the translated language, tap the language option located on the right, as indicated here. Once youre done with the language selection, tap on the Enter text area to continue.
   
   
   
   
5. Now, type in the sentence that needs to be translated and tap on go on your keyboard.
   
   
   
   
6. Youll be able to view the translated text immediately within the app. To play the translated text as audio, tap on the play icon as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   
   
   

Pretty easy and convenient to translate language with Apples Translate app in iOS or iPadOS, wouldnt you say?

From now on, when youre having issues communicating with a foreigner, pull out your phone and open the Translate app for real-time language translations.

While youre traveling, you cannot expect to stay connected to the internet at all times. This is where offline translations come in handy. To access this feature, youll need to download translations for the respective languages from the language selection menu in the app.

Apart from translating your texts, Apples Translate app can also be used to translate speech. It can recognize the language youre speaking into the microphone and convert it to the language that you selected. This makes translation even quicker as it can be used to record exactly what a foreigner is trying to convey.

We hope you were able to use Apples new Translate app to its full potential on your iPhone. Have you been enjoying the new iOS 14/iPadOS 14 update? Whats your favorite feature so far? Do share your valuable thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below.