WhatsApp Finally Lets You Translate Messages Without Leaving the App

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WhatsApp now lets users translate messages privately without leaving the app. Available for iPhone and Android with gradual rollout.

If you've ever received a WhatsApp message in a language you don't understand, your days of copy-pasting text into Google Translate are over. WhatsApp announced Tuesday that it's rolling out built-in message translation for iPhone and Android users, bringing the long-awaited feature to its massive base of 3 billion users worldwide.

The functionality is as simple as it can be. See a message in another language? Just long-press it and tap "Translate." That's it. You can pick which language to translate from and to, then download that language pack so it works even when you're offline. The feature works everywhere—one-on-one chats, group conversations, even those Channel updates you follow.

Your Chats Stay Private

What sets WhatsApp apart from the pack is how it handles these translations. Everything happens right on your phone. The messages never leave your device for translation, which means Meta can't see what you're translating. It's the same end-to-end encryption WhatsApp users have come to expect, just with a multilingual twist.

"With more than 3 billion users in over 180 countries, we're always working to keep our users closely connected, no matter where they are in the world," WhatsApp wrote in its announcement blog post. The company acknowledged that "sometimes language can be a barrier to getting things done or expressing how you truly feel."

iPhone Users Get More Languages (For Now)

There's a catch, though—not all WhatsApp users are getting the same experience. If you're on an iPhone, you're in luck with 19 languages available right out of the gate. That includes everything from Arabic to Vietnamese, with Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and plenty of European languages in between.

Android users? You're starting with just six: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic. But here's where Android actually wins: you can turn on automatic translation for entire conversations. Once you flip that switch, every new message in that chat gets translated automatically. No more long-pressing every single message in a multilingual group chat.

Playing Catch-Up with Apple

The timing here is interesting. Apple rolled out Live Translation for its Messages app just a few months ago with iOS 26. Now WhatsApp is making its move, and it's clear the race is on to make language barriers a thing of the past in messaging apps.

For WhatsApp, this is huge. The app dominates in countries like India, Brazil, and Indonesia, where multilingual conversations are just part of daily life. Business owners talking to international clients, families spread across different countries, travelers trying to communicate with locals—they've all been waiting for this.

What's Missing?

Before you get too excited, there are some gaps. WhatsApp Web users are out of luck for now—no translation there yet. The same goes for the desktop apps on Windows and Mac. WhatsApp hasn't said when these platforms will get the feature, which is frustrating if you're someone who types long messages on a keyboard.

The company promises more languages are coming to both platforms, but they're keeping quiet about which ones and when. It's a gradual rollout starting Tuesday, so don't panic if you don't see the feature immediately.

WhatsApp's translation feature might not be revolutionary—other apps have done this before. But when you're talking about an app used by nearly half the world's internet users, even small features become big deals. The rollout starts this week, and while it's not perfect, it's a solid start.