You can translate a photo or sign in real time by opening Google Translate on your phone, tapping the camera icon, and pointing your phone at the text. The translation appears on screen instantly. For documents, you can also upload a photo from your camera roll.
Whether you're traveling abroad, received a letter in another language, or need to read a menu at a new restaurant, your phone can translate almost any text it sees — instantly and for free. You don't need to type anything out by hand.
Here's how to do it on both iPhone and Android.
Download Google Translate (if you don't have it)
Google Translate is free and available on both iPhone and Android. If you don't already have it:
- iPhone: Open the App Store and search "Google Translate"
- Android: Open the Google Play Store and search "Google Translate"
Download and open it. You don't need to create an account — you can use the camera translation feature without signing in.
iPhone users: You may already have camera translation built into your phone. On iPhone XS or newer with iOS 16 or later, open the Camera app, point it at text in another language, tap the yellow text icon, and tap Translate. This works without any extra app.
Open the camera translation feature
In Google Translate:
- Set the language you're translating from (or leave it on "Detect language" to let the app figure it out automatically)
- Set the language you're translating to — for example, English
- Tap the camera icon in the bottom row of options
Your phone's camera will open inside Google Translate.
Point your camera at the text
Hold your phone so the text you want to translate is visible in the viewfinder. The translation appears overlaid on the screen in real time — the foreign-language text gets replaced with your language, right on top of the original.
This works on:
- Restaurant menus
- Street signs
- Product labels and packaging
- Instructions or manuals
- Handwritten notes (with varying accuracy)
If the text is moving around or the translation flickers, hold the phone steadier or tap the pause button (a circle or freeze icon) to lock the image so you can read it comfortably.
Translate a photo or document from your camera roll
If you already have a photo — a scanned document, a photo you took earlier, a screenshot — you can translate it without taking a new picture.
In Google Translate with the camera open:
- Tap the small photo/gallery icon (usually in the bottom corner of the camera view)
- Select the photo from your camera roll
- Google Translate will scan the text in the image and show you the translation
For longer documents with multiple paragraphs, the translation appears section by section.
Google Lens (also free, built into Android and available as part of the Google app on iPhone) works the same way and sometimes handles multi-column documents better. Try both and see which gives cleaner results for your specific document.
Save or share the translation
Once you have the translation:
- Screenshot the screen if you want to save it — press the side button and volume-up button (iPhone) or power and volume-down (Android)
- In Google Translate, you can also tap the translation text to copy it and paste it into a message or note
- For documents you import via gallery, the app usually shows the full translated text in a scrollable view you can read comfortably
For multi-page documents — like a full contract or a medical report — it's worth uploading each page as a separate photo, or considering a dedicated PDF translation service if you need the full formatted document.
Use offline translation when traveling
If you're going abroad and won't always have Wi-Fi, download a language pack before you go.
In Google Translate:
- Tap the three-line menu (top left)
- Tap Downloaded languages
- Find the language you need and tap the download arrow
Once downloaded, the camera translation feature works offline for that language. This is especially useful in countries where roaming data is expensive.
A word about important documents
Camera translation is great for everyday use — menus, signs, labels, casual letters. For important official documents (legal contracts, medical forms, immigration paperwork), the translation may miss nuance or specialized terminology. Always have a professional translator or a fluent speaker review anything where an error could have real consequences.
What to try next
If you have a full PDF document you want to ask questions about in plain English — like a contract or instruction manual — uploading it to ChatGPT is a powerful next step. And if you're new to using AI tools on your phone in general, getting started with the ChatGPT app covers the basics.
