The 6 Best Offline Translators of 2024

Have conversations in any language without access to the internet

By
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Saikat Basu
Writer
  • University of Pune (India)
Saikat has been a technology writer for 12+ years. His writing has appeared at MakeUseOf, OnlineTechTips, GoSkills, and many others.
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Updated on January 5, 2024
Reviewed by
Jerrick Leger
Jerrick Leger headshot
Reviewed by Jerrick Leger
Jerrick Leger is a CompTIA-certified IT Specialist with more than 10 years' experience in technical support and IT fields. He is also a systems administrator for an IT firm in Texas serving small businesses.
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Traveling to other countries has become less intimidating thanks to translator apps with internet-backed AI. Thanks to new capabilities, you can have real-world conversations without the internet when you are on the road. These are the best offline translator apps for Android and iOS devices.

01
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Google Translate: Best Free App for Translations

Google Translate app for iOS
What We Like

  • Translates spoken words in real time.

  • Each update to the app adds new languages.

  • The app is free and there are no in-app purchases.

What We Don't Like

  • No method to correct translations.

  • Many translations don’t take context into consideration.

  • Doesn’t work in China without a VPN.

Google Translate needs no introduction. It became our first pocket translator. Google Translate app works offline and can help you understand 59 spoken languages. Offline translation also gets better with transliteration, which translates and converts the script of one language into another. Make sure you update the app and download the language packs needed to go offline.

If you connect to the web, you can work with more languages and modes. The app covers 108 languages for text translations. You can scribble instead of type, and the app can pick it up with its handwriting recognition features for 96 languages. Image recognition and translating bilingual conversations on the fly make Google Translate one of the necessary apps to install on the phone. 

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02
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Apple’s Translate: Best App for Apple Users

Apple Translate on iOS
What We Like

  • The easy and minimal design.

  • Large split-screen conversation mode with the transcribed and translated conversation. 

  • The attention mode with the full-screen landscape translated text. 

What We Don't Like

  • Only for iOS.

  • Limited to a few offline languages.

Translate is Apple’s in-built translation app for all devices on iOS 14. It allows you to use both voice and text for quick translations between languages. You can translate complete conversations, replay them, and save common phrases in the Favorites.

The Apple-only app supports offline translations after you download the specific language packs. It works offline in 11 languages.

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03
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Microsoft Translator: Best App for Group Translations

Microsoft Translator on iOS
What We Like

  • Free on Windows, Android, and iOS.

  • Live conversation feature that can translate conversations with more than two people and up to 100 people.

  • Chinese pronunciation guide includes support for Pinyin.

What We Don't Like

  • Voice translation is not supported in the offline mode.

You can run Microsoft Translator on the Windows desktop too along with Android and iOS. You can extend it with tools like the Translator for Outlook add-in and read messages in your language of choice across devices. The translator supports more than 70 languages for text translation.

Download language packs and you can then run your translations offline. The neural network can give you translations in the native accent too. Also, China hasn’t blocked other apps from using the Microsoft Translator automatic translation service.

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04
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iTranslate translation app for iOS
What We Like

  • Verb conjugations in different tenses. 

  • Share extensions help translate from any app.

  • Translations in male or female voices.

What We Don't Like

  • The nag screen for full access.

  • Offline voice translation limited to four languages.

iTranslate is a well-rounded translator app with support for 100+ languages and dialects. The only downside is that the app isn’t free. But some of its unique features make it a worthy buy for frequent travelers. You can translate text, websites, or start voice-to-voice conversations in the supported languages. Image recognition and an AR Mode for Real-time Object Translation make the paid subscription worth considering.

The offline mode is also a paid feature, but you can translate between 38 languages without any language-pair restrictions which are 1,300 language-pair combinations.

Another app called iTranslate Converse (only available for iOS) can help you carry out two-way real-time conversations in 38 languages. Though, it supports only English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese (Mandarin) in the offline mode for voice translations. 

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05
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Speak & Translate: Best Freemium App With a Simple Interface

Speak & Translate for iOS
What We Like

  • Apple Watch support.

  • Sync translation history via iCloud.

  • Male and female voice choice is available.

What We Don't Like

  • Only available for iOS.

  • Free version does not have offline mode.

  • Restricted voice translations in the free version.

Speak & Translate has an intuitive interface that uses Apple’s speech recognition technology. It’s only across all iOS devices. You can sync translations across all Apple devices too with iCloud.

The offline mode can translate ten languages that include Mandarin. You will have to subscribe to the Premium version to access the offline mode. Shift to the online mode and Speak & Translate supports 54 languages for voice translation and 117 languages for text translation.

Speak & Translate is a freemium app. The free version runs ads and limits the number of translations per day. 

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06
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Naver Papago: Best App for Sensing Context in Asian Languages

Papago iOS app for Asian Languages
What We Like

  • Simple interface.

  • Focus on Asian languages.

  • Handwriting and website translation.

What We Don't Like

  • Limited languages for now.

  • Not all languages use the smarter context sensitive translations.

Papago offers text, voice, and image translation in only 13 languages for now. As a South Korean company, the app leans towards Asian languages like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian. Other languages like English, Russian, Spanish, Italian, French, and German complete their range.

Papago’s neural machine translation tries to sense context when it comes up with the translated phrases. This differs from the more common word for word translations that can miss the meaning of a conversation. Papago has a robust offline mode to support real-time translations. 

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