How live translation works here
You pick the two languages once. From then on the app listens, works out which language each sentence is in and translates in that direction — you never tell it who is speaking. The translation is spoken aloud and shown as on-screen captions, so you can follow along in a noisy street or a silent waiting room.
- Push-to-talk — hold a button while you speak, release, and the translation plays. Full control in meetings.
- Auto-listen — the microphone stays open and each turn is translated hands-free, so nobody touches the phone between sentences.
- Captions — every turn appears as text in both languages, and there is a silent mode where nothing is spoken aloud at all.
Translate a live conversation, face to face
Conversation mode is built for two people sharing one phone. Hand one earbud to the other speaker and keep the other — each of you hears only your own language. You can also send each speaker's audio to a different output, so one person hears the phone speaker and the other hears headphones.
Translate live between two phones
For distance or a group, open a remote room and share a short code or link. Up to six people join, each picks their own language, and everyone hears or reads the others translated. Rooms can be scheduled ahead of time, and there is a free direct-call mode when both of you speak the same language and only want captions.
More than speech
The same account also translates documents and web pages — upload a PDF, a photo of a menu or a sign, or paste a URL, and you see the price before anything is translated. See document translation.
Why no app store download?
Installing an app is friction at exactly the wrong moment — at a taxi rank, in a pharmacy. A browser app opens from a link in a second, works identically on Android and iPhone, and can still sit on your home screen like any installed app. It also means your conversation partner never has to install anything to join a remote room.
Common questions
- Is there a live translation app?
- Yes. Universal Translator translates speech as it happens: it detects which of your two chosen languages is being spoken and reads the translation back aloud in the other, within a second or two of each sentence ending.
- Is there a live translation app for Android?
- Yes — and it does not need installing. Universal Translator runs in Chrome or any modern Android browser and can be added to the home screen like a regular app.
- Is there a live translator app for iPhone?
- Yes. Open it in Safari on your iPhone, allow the microphone, and it translates live. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like an installed app.
- Is there an app that can live translate someone talking?
- That is the core use case. Solo mode listens to the person in front of you — a waiter, a colleague, an announcement — and shows and reads the translation in your language. Conversation mode handles both directions.
- Is there an app to translate live conversations?
- Yes. Conversation mode is a two-way push-to-talk (or hands-free auto-listen) setup: each speaker talks, the app detects the language and speaks the translation back in the other one. For people in different places, remote rooms translate between two phones or a group of up to six.
- Do I have to install anything?
- No. It runs entirely in the browser, with free translations every day and paid passes only if you need more.
- Which languages are supported?
- 47 spoken languages for live voice translation, with the interface itself available in 25 languages.
Start translating live
Pick two languages and start a conversation — free translations every day, no install. See also using ordinary earbuds as translation earbuds, the best translation app for travel, pricing and the FAQ.