WhatsApp has announced a new translation feature that lets users instantly convert messages into their preferred language without leaving the app.
With more than three billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is making a push to break down language barriers. The feature is rolling out gradually on Android and iOS, with support for one-to-one chats, group conversations and even Channel updates.
How WhatsApp translations work
To translate a message, you simply long-press a chat bubble and tap ‘translate’. You can then select the source and target languages, with translations saved for future use. On Android, there’s also the option to turn on automatic translation for an entire conversation, meaning all incoming texts in that chat will appear in your chosen language by default.
Privacy is a key part of the rollout. WhatsApp says all translations happen locally on your device, rather than on external servers, ensuring the company itself cannot read your conversations.
For now, the feature is available in six languages on Android; English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. On iPhone, WhatsApp is offering broader support at launch with 19+ languages.
Why translations on WhatsApp matter
WhatsApp is the default messaging tool for billions of people, but until now users have had to copy and paste into external translation apps like Google Translate. By baking the feature directly into the chat, WhatsApp makes cross-language communication far more seamless.
It’s easy to see how useful this could be in international families, workplaces or group chats where multiple languages are spoken. It could also be a big deal for businesses that rely on WhatsApp for customer communication, allowing them to handle multilingual queries without additional tools.
Competitors like Telegram and Messenger already have translation options, but WhatsApp’s advantage is its huge scale and focus on privacy.
If you’re setting up WhatsApp on a new device, the best smartphones roundup will help you find the right handset to get the most out of features like this.
Opinion
It might not be the flashiest WhatsApp update we’ve seen, but message translations could turn out to be one of the most useful. By keeping everything on-device, WhatsApp balances convenience with privacy, and that could be what makes the feature stick. For many, this will finally remove the friction of juggling different apps just to have a simple conversation.
