iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey Introduce System-Wide Translation, Translate App Expands to iPad

Apple today announced that iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey feature system-wide translation, allowing users to translate text by simply selecting it and tapping or right clicking on the Translate option that appears.

iphone ipad mac system wide translate
iPhone, iPad, and Mac users can also translate selected text in photos as part of a new Live Text feature in the latest software versions.

Apple also announced that the Translate app is available on the iPad starting with iPadOS 15, after launching on the iPhone last year. On both iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, a new Auto Translate feature lets users translate speech without tapping the microphone button in a conversation, and selecting languages is now easier with convenient drop‑down menus.

translate app ipados
For a more detailed overview of new iOS 15 features, read our announcement coverage.

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Top Rated Comments

Lerenard3000 Avatar
53 months ago
Airpods should be able to instant translate anything into any language that would be life changing.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheDailyApple Avatar
53 months ago

Airpods should be able to instant translate anything into any language that would be life changing.
And simulate the speaker’s voice too, right?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
53 months ago
With image OCR, text translation, and local speech recognition it really feels like we are getting close to having the Universal Translator from Star Trek.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnyb098 Avatar
53 months ago
So glad they decided to bring the lusted over translate app over to iPad instead of calculator or weather

/sarcasm
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theorist9 Avatar
53 months ago

I consider Mojave a stability release, it was rock solid for me from day one. Even High Sierra was a hot mess for the the first month or two. (In my experience)
I understand many found Mojave stable, but I don't know if it was designed specifically with a focus on "under the hood" improvements. If you go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_version_history and search for "hood", you'll find only two OS's that (at least unofficially) are identified as focusing on the latter: Snow Leopard and and High Sierra.

Likely the reason I didn't have the teething pains you did with HS is because I nearly always wait unit about x.3 or x.4 before installing a new OS. That's not just to allow time for Apple time to straighten out their issues; it's to allow for the app developers to do this as well.

What have you found about the performance of Big Sur vs. Catalina? I know there were a lot of complaints about Catalina, but maybe all the significant issues were fixed by 10.15.7.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kc9hzn Avatar
53 months ago

With image OCR, text translation, and local speech recognition it really feels like we are getting close to having the Universal Translator from Star Trek.
And what’s more, (with the possible exception of translation, some of that may be cloud based) it’s all done on the phone itself, so it can be used offline. It’s pretty dang impressive what Apple has been able to pull off in the AI space, especially with its privacy stance (whereas Google can just throw more computing clusters at any AI problem it encounters).
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)