Your IPhone’s Camera Has a Hidden Translator.

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I recently traveled through Europe, visiting several countries where I spoke languages ​​I didn’t understand. So, to understand menus, signs, and packaging, I needed to translate the text back into English. You might think this requires a special translator, but in fact, all you need is one thing: your iPhone camera.

I, like everyone else in my group, have an iPhone, so I assumed we all knew about this trick. To my surprise, however, no one in my group knew about it. So I’m here to make your next trip abroad a little easier.

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Translate text using your iPhone’s camera

The next time you need to translate text right in front of you, instead of using Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, or even Apple’s Translate app, simply open the Camera app. Point the camera at the text in the center of the viewfinder and let your iPhone “think” for a moment. If everything is successful, a yellow frame will appear around the text, and a new button will appear in the lower-right corner of the viewfinder (or the upper-right corner if you’re holding your iPhone in landscape orientation).

Tap this button, and iOS will cut out the selected text and zoom in to make it more visible. Now tap the “Translate” button that appears in the bottom left corner (or top left in landscape orientation), wait a moment, and voila: the text will be replaced with your desired language. As you might have guessed, it’s English for me, but the feature will translate into any system language installed on your iPhone.

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For many apps, this translation is sufficient. But that’s not all. If you need to share the translated text, tap it to open the Translate mini-window. Here, you can copy the translation and paste it anywhere. You can also enable speech-to-speech for the translation or the original text in iOS, add the translation to your favorites, or open the translation in the Translate app.

This hidden feature is part of the larger iPhone feature “Live Text,” which uses optical character recognition (OCR) to recognize text in images. Live Text lets you highlight text both in images and in the camera viewfinder for easy copying and pasting. Starting with iOS 16, it also lets you translate this text directly in the camera. Because the app is powered by the Translate app, it supports all languages ​​supported by the app, including:

What do you think at the moment?

  • Arab

  • Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)

  • Chinese (Mandarin, Traditional)

  • Dutch

  • English (United Kingdom)

  • French

  • German

  • Hindi

  • Indonesian

  • Italian

  • Japanese

  • Korean

  • Polish

  • Portuguese (Brazil)

  • Russian

  • Spanish (Spain)

  • Thai

  • Turkish

  • Ukrainian

  • Vietnamese

If this feature isn’t working for you, it’s likely not enabled. To check, go to Settings > Camera and make sure “Show detected text” is enabled.

Other translation methods on iPhone

This isn’t the only way to translate text from other languages ​​on your iPhone. As mentioned, iOS has a built-in Translate app, which also has a camera feature. But iOS 26 introduces a new translation feature that works seamlessly right on your iPhone: Live Translate .

As the name suggests, Live Translate lets you translate conversations in real time. This works in text messages, as well as during FaceTime and phone calls when communicating with someone in another language. If you have compatible AirPods, you can even use this feature in person : you’ll hear the translation of their words, and the person you’re speaking to will see the translation of your words on your iPhone’s display.

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