Google Translate
Free translation by typing, speaking, drawing or pointing your camera, with offline packs for travel
by Google LLC · listed Oct 19, 2026
Quick verdict
A must-have for most phones, especially before a trip abroad. Treat its output as a helpful guide rather than a polished translation.
Best for Travellers and anyone who needs quick, free translation of text, speech or signs in many languages
Reviewed by AppsPicks on Oct 19, 2026. How we review
Google Translate review
Google Translate turns text, speech, handwriting and images from one language into another. It covers well over 100 languages, though not every feature works for every language. It suits travellers, students, people living abroad, and anyone who regularly runs into text they cannot read.
Day to day, it works as a toolkit. You can type or paste text, talk into it, or sketch characters you cannot type. You can also hold your camera up to a menu or sign and watch the translation appear over it. Conversation mode lets two people take turns speaking. Transcribe keeps translating a speaker in near real time, which helps in lectures or tours. Downloading offline packs before a trip means the basics still work without signal. On Android, Tap to Translate lets you translate copied text without leaving the app you are in.
Why we picked it: It is free, has no ads or in-app purchases, works on both platforms, and the camera and offline features cover most of what a traveller needs.
Watch out for: Quality varies a lot between language pairs. Idioms, formal writing and less common languages can come out stiff or wrong, so do not rely on it for legal or medical text.
What we like
- Completely free with no in-app purchases
- Live camera translation for signs, menus and labels
- Offline language packs for travel without data
- Conversation and transcribe modes for spoken exchanges
- Phrasebook syncs with the desktop version when signed in
What could be better
- Accuracy drops for idioms, nuance and less common languages
- Feature support differs from language to language
- Offline translations are less polished than online ones
- Typed and spoken text goes to Google's servers when online
Questions about Google Translate
Is Google Translate free?
Yes. The app costs nothing and has no in-app purchases or subscription.
Does it work offline?
Yes, for languages that have a downloadable offline pack. Download the packs you need before you travel. Offline results are usually a bit rougher than online ones.
Which platforms is it on?
It is available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store and for Android on Google Play. There is also a web version, and your phrasebook can sync with it.
What about privacy?
When you are online, the text, voice and images you translate are processed by Google. Avoid feeding it sensitive documents, and check Google's privacy settings if this matters to you.
Are there alternatives?
DeepL is often preferred for natural-sounding European language text. Microsoft Translator and Apple's built-in Translate app are other free options.
From the developer: how Google Translate describes itself
Translate between up to 249 languages. Feature support varies by language: • Text: Translate between languages by typing • Offline: Translate with no internet connection • Instant camera translation: Translate text in images instantly by just pointing your camera • Photos: Translate text in taken or imported photos • Dictation: Translate spoken words and phrases • Conversations: Translate bilingual conversations on the fly • Transcribe: Continuously translate someone speaking a different language in near real-time • Handwriting: Draw text characters instead of typing • Phrasebook: Star and save translated words and phrases for future reference
Permissions notice: • Microphone for speech translation • Camera for translating text via the camera • Photos for importing photos from your library
Translations between the following languages are supported: Abkhaz, Acehnese, Acholi, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alur, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Avar, Awadhi, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Balinese, Baluchi, Bambara, Baoulé, Bashkir, Basque, Batak Karo, Batak Simalungun, Batak Toba, Belarusian, Bemba, Bengali, Betawi, Bhojpuri, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Bulgarian, Buryat, Cantonese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chechen, Chichewa, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Chuukese, Chuvash, Corsican, Crimean Tatar (Cyrillic), Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dhivehi, Dinka, Dogri, Dombe, Dutch, Dyula, Dzongkha, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Ewe, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, Fon, French, French (Canada), Frisian, Friulian, Fulani, Ga, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Guarani, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hakha Chin, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hiligaynon, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Hunsrik, Iban, Icelandic, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Inuktut (Latin), Inuktut (Syllabics), Irish, Italian, Jamaican Patois, Japanese, Javanese, Jingpo, Kalaallisut, Kannada, Kanuri, Kapampangan, Kazakh, Khasi, Khmer, Kiga, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kituba, Kokborok, Komi, Konkani, Korean, Krio, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Kurdish (Sorani), Kyrgyz, Lao, Latgalian, Latin, Latvian, Ligurian, Limburgish, Lingala, Lithuanian, Lombard, Luganda, Luo, Luxembourgish, Macedonian, Madurese, Maithili, Makassar, Malagasy, Malay, Malay (Jawi), Malayalam, Maltese, Mam, Manx, Maori, Marathi, Marshallese, Marwadi, Mauritian Creole, Meadow Mari, Meiteilon (Manipuri), Minang, Mizo, Mongolian, Myanmar (Burmese), Nahuatl (Eastern Huasteca), Ndau, Ndebele (South), Nepalbhasa (Newari), Nepali, NKo, Norwegian, Nuer, Occitan, Odia (Oriya), Oromo, Ossetian, Pangasinan, Papiamento, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Punjabi (Gurmukhi), Punjabi (Shahmukhi), Quechua, Qʼeqchiʼ, Romani, Romanian, Rundi, Russian, Sami (North), Samoan, Sango, Sanskrit, Santali (Latin), Santali (Ol Chiki), Scots Gaelic, Sepedi, Serbian, Sesotho, Seychellois Creole, Shan, Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Sindhi, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Susu, Swahili, Swati, Swedish, Tahitian, Tajik, Tamazight, Tamazight (Tifinagh), Tamil, Tatar, Telugu, Tetum, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Tiv, Tok Pisin, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tulu, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Twi, Udmurt, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Venda, Venetian, Vietnamese, Waray, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yakut, Yiddish, Yoruba, Yucatec Maya, Zapotec, Zulu
Text from the app store listing, quoted for reference. Our own take is above.
Reviews (0)
Be the first to review.