Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Microsoft wins the race against Google to offline translation on iOS

By

microsoft translator multiple languages
Microsoft
You’ve likely experienced interacting with someone who doesn’t speak the same language as you at least once in your life — things can get real awkward real quick. In today’s increasingly global society, these interactions are going to become more common, and unless you speak multiple languages, the best way to communicate may be to use translation apps on your phone.

Most of these apps, however, work online only. Except the Microsoft Translator app, that is. As of today, Microsoft Translator is able to translate both text and images whether you have an internet connection or not. Unfortunately, automatic speech translation does not work in the offline version of the app.

Recommended Videos

The update means that Microsoft has beat out everyone — including Google — to offline translation on iOS. Google has long been a champion of translation, first with its Translate desktop service, then with its translation apps. Of course, Microsoft didn’t beat Google on Google’s home turf — both Microsoft’s Translator app and Google Translate already work offline on Android. When Microsoft launched the feature on Android, it was catching up with Google. Now it’s Google’s turn to play catch up on iOS.

Related

The app supports 43 languages, but if you want to translate offline you’ll need to download the appropriate libraries before losing your Internet connection. So, if you’re planning a trip to France, you may want to download the library for French before you leave. While it took a while to bring offline translation to the iOS app, Microsoft is launching with way more languages than the Android version — at launch the Android version only had nine languages. Microsoft says it’s planning to update the Android app to support the new library of languages.

Hopefully, Google will update its iOS translate app in the near future to compete with Microsoft on iPhones. In the meantime, you can download the Microsoft Translate app on the iOS App Store.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Why you should buy the iPhone 15 Pro instead of the iPhone 15 Pro Max
Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pro with Chopper and BD-1 droids around it.

Apple releases multiple iPhones every year, offering folks choice in terms of size and features. In 2024, the iPhone 15 lineup includes four distinct models.

The regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are great for those who don’t need a telephoto lens and don’t care about the Action button or the 1TB of storage. But anyone who wants a more “pro” experience has the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Read more
iPhone SE 4: news, rumored price, release date, and more
The Apple iPhone SE (2022) and Apple iPhone SE (2020) together.

While the spotlight always seems to be on Apple’s mainline iPhones, the iPhone SE is a great pick for those who are on a budget. If you want an iPhone that doesn't break the bank, the SE is the way to go.

The original iPhone SE came out in 2016, and then Apple revamped it in 2020 and 2022 by giving it some more modern hardware. The iPhone SE tends to get updated every two or so years rather than annually like the traditional iPhone. This means  that we should see a new iPhone SE 4 this year, but it’s not so cut-and-dried with this particular model.

Read more
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more