Google adds Tap on Translate layer to any Android app
1 min read 13 May 2016, 03:06 PM ISTThe latest update now lets users translate text in any app without leaving it, but it is only on Android phones at present
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Google has been working on making its apps better and more user-friendly. The latest update to their Translate app for Android devices adds a new feature which allows users to Translate text in apps of day to use and users don’t even have to leave that app or separately open the Google Translate app for it. It works with all 103 languages supported by Translate.
How to use it
To enable Tap to Translate go to the Google Translate App, select settings and enable Tap to translate. This will activate the translate tool which works with practically all Google or non-Google apps on your smartphone. So every time you copy text in an app, an icon will pop up on the right hand side of the screen. Tap on it and it will open a translation window within that app. This means the app will be running in the background full-time. So even if you don’t have to translate something, and you copy a text in a doc file or a Facebook page, the translate icon will pop up.
Is it any good?
To translate select the language of the text or simply select detect the langue on its own option. The interesting part is that Translate not only detected the language by itself but even got the translation right most of the time. So when we opened web articles in French on Chrome browser and selected a whole sentence, the translate icon identified it as French and immediately translated it correctly. Similar, it detected a sentence in Hindi and translated it accurately.
Unfortunately, the offline mode of Google Translate, which cover 52 languages including Hindi, is not covered by Tap on Translate yet. One needs seamless access to Internet for it to work.
Will it work with my phone?
Google is rolling out this update for Android phones at the moment, and is available on the Google Play Store. No word yet on when the iPhone version will get the update.
