Translator for iOS FAQs

Do I need to have an account to use the Translator app or conversation feature?

• No, the Microsoft Translator app doesn’t require you to be authenticated (e.g., with a user ID and password).

Do you have pronunciations for translations?

Pronunciations is only available for languages supporting transliteration. If available:

• On the main screen, select your 2 languages.
• Talk or type in the text to translate.
• Tap the translation card and view how the translated words are pronounced.

Does the speech translation feature collect data?

• By default, the speech translation data is not collected. Data is collected only if you consent to contribute voice clips. You can enable/disable data collection in the settings.

How can I translate webpages?

To translate web pages, the Microsoft Translator service is now integrated into the Edge browser. The option is to either download the Microsoft Edge browser app or use the Edge browser to translate webpages.

How to save a translation

• On the main screen, you will see a star icon on the top-right section of each translation card.
• Tap the star icon to favorite the translation.
• All your favorite translations are saved in “Favorite” section.
• On the main screen, click the menu icon on top-left corner.
• Go to “Favorite” section and view all your saved translations.

How to translate messages in your apps such as text, WhatsApp and Facebook

There are 2 options:

Copy and paste method – to translate a message you received in another application or to send a translated message.

• Find the message you want to translate.
• Tap-and-hold the text.
• Tap Copy.
• Go to the Microsoft Translator app and tap the keyboard.
• Select the languages you want to translate from and translate to.
• Tap-and-hold on “Type to Translate”.
• Tap Paste and your translation will appear.

Or Microsoft Translator is integrated into the Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard.

How to translate speech

• On the main screen, select any two languages.
• Depending on the selected languages, you may see a microphone with stars or 2 microphones or one microphone disabled.
• If you see a microphone with stars, it means you can speak in any of the 2 languages selected, and the app will auto-detect your spoken language and translate it to the other language. Tap the microphone and start speaking. This microphone with stars remains on for the duration of the conversation. Tap “end” to close the conversation.
• If you see 2 microphone icons, press the microphone icon closest to the language which you want to translate from. This microphone requires your attention to tap whenever you speak.
• If you see one microphone disabled, it means that speech translation is not supported by that language.

How to translate text

• On the main screen, select any two languages and tap the keyboard icon on the bottom-right corner.
• When you enter the text translation screen, toggle between the 2 selected languages, and type the text for which the language is marked with a green bubble.
• Press enter on your keyboard and view the translation.

Can I change the voice of the audio playback?

For some languages, audio playback is available. When available, you may be given the option to change the voice used to hear the speech translation:

• Tap the name of the target language to open the language picker.
• Tap the voice icon of a target language to see the voice options available.
• Under “Voice for Translation Playback”, tap the arrow to view available voice options.

What data is collected if I give consent to contribute voice clips from my device to Microsoft?

Voice clips of 20 seconds are collected by the Microsoft’s Speech service, please check this page for more details.

Troubleshooting speech translations

• Check the Languages page to see if a language supports speech functionality.
• Speech translation feature works only while online.
• Speak clearly, ideally without background noise.
• Translator better recognizes speakers of the languages’ native tongue.
• Translator works best when translating full sentences.

Why can’t I listen to the audio of a translation?

Some languages have text to speech audio output, allowing you to hear the translated text by tapping the speaker icon. Languages that have text-to-speech capabilities will be represented by a speaker icon below the translation. Please find the list of languages that support text to speech on our Languages page.

What languages are supported by Microsoft Translator?

View our list of languages supported for both speech and text translation.

Translating audio from movies, video clips, or external media

The Microsoft Translator app does not support translation of external media sources or files, such as movies or video clips.

Translation mistakes

The translation system is constantly learning, making corrections, and improving its output. In some instances, it can create errors, especially when the phrase lacks context. Visit our machine translation page to learn more about how it works.

To report obvious translation errors, send us feedback and include:

• the ‘from’ language text input
• the ‘to’ language text translation output
• the expected translation output

Is the Microsoft Translator app free?

The Microsoft Translator App is free of charge.

If you’re interested in using the Microsoft Translator API for business, visit our business site.

Speech translation languages: what is available for which feature?

Visit our languages page for complete list of languages and features in the app.

Why do I need to use a headset to use this product?

A headset provides a close-talking microphone that produces a higher quality of recognition for the user’s speech and is less likely to pick up noise from your environment.

Using a headset, a lapel microphone or a bluetooth microphone will result in the best quality of speech recognition and therefore have improved translations compared to a laptop or a PC’s default microphone.