How to translate a picture on your phone

On an iPhone, open the photo, tap the Live Text button, then tap Translate. On Android, open the Google Translate app, tap Camera, and either point it at the text or pick a saved picture. Both are free and built for reading a sign, a menu or a screenshot. If what you need is a translated copy of the picture itself, to post, print or send, that is a different job, covered in the last section.

Pick the method that matches what you are doing

How to translate a picture on iPhone

A photo you already took: Live Text in Photos

Apple documents these steps in Copy and translate text from photos on your iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the photo in Photos. A paused video or an image on a web page works too.
2. Tap the Live Text button (the text-recognition icon).
3. Tap Translate. You may need to tap Continue and pick the language to translate into, or tap Change Language.

Apple lists iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later. Live Text is not available in every language and region, so if the button does not appear, check Apple's feature availability page linked from that article.

Text in front of you: the Camera app

The iPhone User Guide describes Live Text in the Camera app: open Camera, frame the text, wait for the yellow frame around detected text, tap the Detect Text button, then touch and hold the text and choose Translate. It works on the text in the camera frame, which suits a quick read.

The Translate app's camera

Apple's Translate app has its own camera mode (Apple guide):

• Live: open Translate, tap Camera and hold the phone so the text is on screen. The translation updates as you move. Tap the Take Picture button to freeze the image, then zoom in on the overlaid translation, or tap a translation to copy, save or play it.
• From your library: in the Camera tab, tap the Photo Library button and select a picture. You can then share or save the translated image.

To use it without a connection, go to Settings → Apps → Translate → Languages and download the languages first. Settings → Apps → Translate also has an On-Device Translation setting: Always keeps translations on the phone using the downloaded languages (Apple: Translate settings). These menu names come from Apple's current iOS guide; older iOS versions may label them differently.

Google Translate is also available on iPhone. Its steps are close to the Android ones below; saved pictures are under Gallery.

How to translate a picture on Android

Google Translate app

From Google Translate Help (Android):

1. Open the Translate app and choose the two languages, or tap Detect language for the source.
2. Tap Camera.
3. Then either point the camera at the text and tap the Shutter button, or tap All Images to pick a picture you already have. Google notes that translating through the camera works only with some Android devices; saved images work in the app.
4. After capturing, tap a word to select it and drag the anchors to translate only part of the text. Tap Expand (the down arrow) to see the options, including a Show original text toggle.

For offline use, tap Camera, open the language picker and download the languages. Google notes that small, unclear or stylized text may not translate accurately, which matters for handwritten menus and decorative signs.

Google Lens

In the Google app, tap Google Lens in the search bar, then under "Search with your camera" tap Translate, and pick the languages in the dropdown. Google documents this path in its Lens help page. Lens is handy when you also want to search what you are looking at; if you need to translate offline, the Translate app's camera lets you download languages beforehand.

Korean, Japanese and Chinese: Papago

Papago, from NAVER Corp., is a free app (App Store listing). The listing describes its image translation simply: snap a photo, tap the button, and Papago recognizes and translates the text in the image. It lists 14 languages, including Korean, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) and English. The listing also mentions offline translation for typed text; do not count on it for photos without testing first.

For a full page of Japanese or Korean text you want to keep (a manga page, a letter, a product label), see the Japanese image translator and Korean image translator guides.

Tips for a picture that translates well

• Light: even daylight or room light. Google suggests the camera flash in low light, but glossy menus and laminated signs can reflect it; if they do, turn it off and tilt the phone slightly.
• Angle: hold the phone parallel to the text, so the letters are not distorted.
• Crop: frame only the block you need, close enough that the print is not tiny.
• Source language: if the app shows the language it detected, check it, especially on a sign that mixes two languages.
• Offline: download languages before the trip, on Wi-Fi. Language packs are not something you want to fetch on roaming data.
• Numbers: prices, dosages, dates and times are read like any other text. Compare them with the original.
• Privacy: passports, bank cards and medical papers are not worth sending to any online service. In Apple's Translate app, setting On-Device Translation to Always keeps translations on the phone, using the downloaded languages.

Screenshots follow the same rules. The screenshot translator guide covers app and chat screenshots specifically, and if you are at a desk, see how to translate text in an image on a computer.

When a phone app is not enough: you need the translated picture

Camera apps are built for reading. The translation sits on top of the original photo, which is fine for you but not for a flyer you want to post in a community group, a menu you want to print, or a social image for a different audience. For those, you need a new image in which the translated text replaces the original, in the same layout.

TranslateMyImage generates that new image, designed to follow the original layout, from a phone browser with no app to install:

1. Open the image translator in Safari or Chrome.
2. Tap the upload area and pick the picture (JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB).
3. Leave the source on auto-detect or choose it, then choose the target: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean or Chinese.
4. Tap Translate now. Signed in, you download the new image; without an account, you enter your email address to receive it.
5. Check it against the original before you share it.

Be clear about what this is and is not. The output is generated by an AI image model: it rebuilds the picture with the new text, and it can alter digits, small print or logos, so review every number and name. There is no live camera mode and no offline mode, the uploader takes one picture at a time (batch translation starts with the Pro plan), and you cannot edit the translated text in the browser. Without an account you get 2 translations per 24 hours, with the result sent by email; the free Basic plan gives you 3 credits a month and is for personal use only, and commercial use of translated images starts with the Pro plan.

If the picture is a restaurant menu, the menu translator page shows a real before and after with the issues a reviewer caught. And if you are wondering about AI chat assistants, read Can ChatGPT translate images?