Google Translate Now Available as Default Translation App on iPhone and iPad

[Bustycat]

Can anyone please explain - what does this setting do? Default translation app?
I get it for e.g. maps, then if you click an adress in an sms, it decides which app to open.
But what about translation? If I set this to google translate, then how can I use that? Other than just launching google translate?

E.g. when selecting texts and clicking Translate on Safari, the result will be provided by Google Translate instead.

 

[dialogos]

Can anyone please explain - what does this setting do? Default translation app?
I get it for e.g. maps, then if you click an adress in an sms, it decides which app to open.
But what about translation? If I set this to google translate, then how can I use that? Other than just launching google translate?

You can select a word and translate it using the default app, but it doesn’t translate entire web pages in Safari. At least I didn't manage to get it to work.

I personally have DeepL as the default.

I would personally avoid using Apple Translate as it just sucks, to put it politely.

 

[Edd70]

A comparison table for the translated introduction (British English to traditional Chinese) of my current avatar, provided (also translated) by GPT-4.1.

Aspect	Apple	Google	GPT-4.1
Naturalness	Awful	Decent	Smooth and natural, with a literary touch
***tic/Allure	Weak, robotic	Moderate, rather tame	Intense, provocative, and explicit
Detail Fidelity	Disjointed, many errors	Some omissions, but mostly complete	Almost nothing missing, with intricate detailing
Descriptive Power	Rigid and awkward	Fluent but bland	Exquisitely crafted, highly visual and sensual
Machine-Translation Feel	Obvious	Slightly noticeable	Barely noticeable, nearly feels original
Suitable Scenarios	Not recommended	Fine for pure information	Top choice for advanced ***tica and Taiwan-localized content

Where did this table come from? Your post is reading like GPT is providing this table saying how great GPT is at translating?

 

[MLVC]

My personal little search on MacRumors shows that you might be a big fan of Claude.

Might be because Claude right now is the best for what I need, as explained in the comment you're replying to. Ever thought of that?

 

[mattopotamus]

Having a trip to Italy coming up. I was comparing Apple vs Google translate. So both allow you to download certain languages for offline translating (I wasn't planning to get an Italian cellular plan), but Google seems to require being connected if you want to translate from voice (i.e. not type out what you want to say). Otherwise they seem very comparable assuming the language you need is among Apple's smaller set.
Edit: By the way, I saw that with Verizon I can easily add daily or monthly roaming for $100/mo or $12/day which may be worth it.

I've used the travel pass with verizon. Easy to use and will always use it abroad going forward. As a prepaid customer, I have been shocked that these features are offered. Typically prepaid gets the shaft.

 

[sxbkdljb]

Finally

 

[Student of Life]

Google doesn't "spy" in the way conspiracies claim. It collects data for ads based on your activity, which you can control in privacy settings. Opt out, use incognito, or switch to privacy-focused alternatives. #GooglePrivacy #TechTruth

But of course thats not really applicable when one is downloading an actual google app, thus negating the whole point of the post.

If one prioritizes privacy then Google is not your friend. #Commonsense

 

[Robin Bonathan]

Running 18.5 on my iPhone,
I have google translate as stand alone app.

But I can't change away from apple translate, no option to select alternative.

 

[It’s always something]

Running 18.5 on my iPhone,
I have google translate as stand alone app.

But I can't change away from apple translate, no option to select alternative.

If Google Translate isn’t available as an option, you need to update it. The version that came out yesterday is required. 👍

 

[Bazza1]

And yet here's me - doing my darnedest to de-Googlify my iPhone / internet experience as much as possible.
I guess Apple readying users for insertion of Google into the Siri / Apple Intelligence apps...

 

[adrianlondon]

And yet here's me - doing my darnedest to de-Googlify my iPhone / internet experience as much as possible.
I guess Apple readying users for insertion of Google into the Siri / Apple Intelligence apps...

There are other translation apps. Try DeepL if you want to try something different.

There's no need to install anything Google.

 

[It’s always something]

There are other translation apps. Try DeepL if you want to try something different.

There's no need to install anything Google.

Exactly. In fact there is no reason to do anything if one doesn’t want to. It’s an option, and the default is what you’ve always used up to now.

 

[Robin Bonathan]

If Google Translate isn’t available as an option, you need to update it. The version that came out yesterday is required. 👍

Thank you, that was the problem.

I had to update from app store as not showing as updated in apps.

 

[Mousse]

I NEED GOOGLE MAPS AS DEFAULT. WAAAY BETTER THAN APPLE MAPS

You can set it yourself. If you want it as the default from the factory, get Google to drop a few billion into Apple's war chest. I wonder how much $$$ made Google Translate the default. It's probably a secret, since neither Apple nor Alphabet wants the Gub'ment poking around.🤫

 

[JohnC1959]

You can set it yourself. If you want it as the default from the factory, get Google to drop a few billion into Apple's war chest. I wonder how much $$$ made Google Translate the default. It's probably a secret, since neither Apple nor Alphabet wants the Gub'ment poking around.🤫

my phone in the US still doesn't have maps as one of the apps I can set a default on.

 

[cnnyy20p]

Thank you, the lacks of some language is driving me crazy.

 

[axantas]

I know, speak and write several languages - 8 in fact. Sometimes I use Google Tanslate to crosscheck some translations. I regularly end up with hilarious answers. So: I do avoid to use Google Translate if ever possible...

Fire up your browser, use deepl and you will be astonished about the accuracy of the translation.

 

[JohnC1959]

I know, speak and write several languages - 8 in fact. Sometimes I use Google Tanslate to crosscheck some translations. I regularly end up with hilarious answers. So: I do avoid to use Google Translate if ever possible...

Fire up your browser, use deepl and you will be astonished about the accuracy of the translation.

Thanks for this! By the way, they also have an iPhone app

 

[zsukm007]

Having a trip to Italy coming up. I was comparing Apple vs Google translate. So both allow you to download certain languages for offline translating (I wasn't planning to get an Italian cellular plan), but Google seems to require being connected if you want to translate from voice (i.e. not type out what you want to say). Otherwise they seem very comparable assuming the language you need is among Apple's smaller set.
Edit: By the way, I saw that with Verizon I can easily add daily or monthly roaming for $100/mo or $12/day which may be worth it.

Having a trip to Italy coming up. I was comparing Apple vs Google translate. So both allow you to download certain languages for offline translating (I wasn't planning to get an Italian cellular plan), but Google seems to require being connected if you want to translate from voice (i.e. not type out what you want to say). Otherwise they seem very comparable assuming the language you need is among Apple's smaller set.
Edit: By the way, I saw that with Verizon I can easily add daily or monthly roaming for $100/mo or $12/day which may be worth it.

I just recently got Verizon. Going to Europe for a couple weeks. Was told to upgrade to Unlimited Ultimate temporarily for unlimited service. Cheaper than their daily or international plans.

 

[JohnC1959]

Having a trip to Italy coming up. I was comparing Apple vs Google translate. So both allow you to download certain languages for offline translating (I wasn't planning to get an Italian cellular plan), but Google seems to require being connected if you want to translate from voice (i.e. not type out what you want to say). Otherwise they seem very comparable assuming the language you need is among Apple's smaller set.
Edit: By the way, I saw that with Verizon I can easily add daily or monthly roaming for $100/mo or $12/day which may be worth it.

I just recently got Verizon. Going to Europe for a couple weeks. Was told to upgrade to Unlimited Ultimate temporarily for unlimited service. Cheaper than their daily or international plans.

Thanks for the tip! Doing that would mean just $11 more for the month we're traveling.

And by the way, thanks to another tip on this thread I plan to use the DeepL translator which should translate much better than Apple or Google. Someone else from Italy said they always have a good laugh at how those two translate into Italian.

 

[GlassHollow]

Where is the "off" button for people that don't care about translation?

Clarification: Since I'm multilingual, all I get are prompts to translate a language I already know to English. I was hoping the translate button can go away so my more frequently used buttons on the text selection pop up can show up earlier
On the desktop, Firefox/Edge/Chrome all have the option to turn translation prompts off.

Ask ChatGPT

 

[2301]

DeepL is a very good translator and as the company is located in EU is fully GDPR compliant.

 

[axantas]

Thanks for this! By the way, they also have an iPhone app

To ease access - deepl.com is closer to start with.
BTW: I do use the app

I once did a crazy test: chain-crosschecked a senctence, hopped from language to language - and then back to start. I still got a perfect result.

 

[Mousse]

I know, speak and write several languages - 8 in fact. Sometimes I use Google Tanslate to crosscheck some translations. I regularly end up with hilarious answers. So: I do avoid to use Google Translate if ever possible...

Google Translate is crowd sourced, I believe. You can type in what you consider the correct translation. When there is enough of a consensus, they replace bad translation with the better one. If there has been no better translation entered, Google does a word for word translation, which can end up pretty hilarious. For instance in the early days, Google would translate "không sao đâu" which means "no problem or not a problem", but it would spit out "no star where" which is the literal translation of each word. Up until a year or so ago typing in "trái vú sữa" (star apple), it would say, "left breast milk" which is the word for word translation.