Review score: 68 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.3★ · 83,096 ratings
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The category benchmark for coverage: 100+ languages, text, camera, voice, conversation mode, and offline packs. Free. Recent version issues include camera freezing and the conversation mode cutting people off mid-sentence.
Praised
The camera translates text on images instantly without tapping a button. Offline language packs work without internet, which is critical when traveling. Language coverage is the widest in the category.
Complaints
Conversation mode is too aggressive about starting: recognition fires automatically and layers the translation over the other person while they are still speaking. The camera sometimes freezes and switches to photo mode instead of staying in real-time.
Best for: Anyone who needs a free translator with the broadest language coverage and offline capability. Especially travelers reading signs and menus through the camera.
Review score: 68 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 7,265 ratings
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A strong text translator with an AI mode for complex sentences. Built-in dictionary with word saving and flashcard review. Photo translation is unreliable and noticeably lags behind the text mode. Known issue: the app mutes background music with no way to turn that off. Entering Chinese via pinyin breaks the keyboard layout. AI mode sometimes auto-switches back to fast mode.
Praised
Word study built right into the translator: save, review, and remember words without switching to another app.
Complaints
Photo translation has no auto-detect and produces unpredictable results. Chinese character input via pinyin is technically broken.
Best for: Russian-speaking users learning a language who want to translate and save words to a personal vocabulary list in one place.
Review score: 67 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.8★ · 13,275 ratings
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The best text translator in this batch for accuracy, which users with professional language knowledge confirm. Camera works but is slow (about 5 seconds per frame). Voice synthesis sounds dated. The app stopped remembering the language pair between sessions after one update.
Praised
Translation accuracy when handling nuance: alternative phrasings, gender agreement, and register are all taken into account.
Complaints
After every launch the app resets the language pair to the default and does not remember your preference.
Best for: People who translate carefully and care about precise wording rather than speed.
Rank 4. Review score: 62 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.8★ · 158,245 ratings
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A key tool in the category. Free, compact (around 20 MB), and no subscription required. Supports group conversations via QR code. Recent updates have hurt voice mode stability.
Praised: Group conversation mode: multiple participants join via QR code and each see the translation in their own language in real time. Free with no usage limits.
Complaints: After recent updates, voice recognition started mixing up languages and dropping words. There is a 1,000-character cap on text input, and the app does not tell you until you hit it.
Best for: Anyone who needs a reliable free translator without subscriptions, especially for group meetings or business travel where translation into multiple languages is needed at once.
Rank 5. Review score: 62 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 9,265 ratings
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Works as an overlay translator directly over WhatsApp and Instagram without switching apps. Built-in grammar check with multiple suggestions. Word list and personal dictionary mode. Weak spots: long messages get cut off, no full-screen support on iPad.
Praised: Overlay mode: translate text in any app without copying or leaving. Multiple translation engines in a single interface.
Complaints: Long texts do not display in full. Grammar check does not show a correction when there is only one error.
Best for: Users who message in social apps in a foreign language and want to translate right inside the chat without switching apps.
Rank 6. Review score: 55 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 32,735 ratings
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A specialized app for live two-way speech translation. Niche, but with a loyal audience. Main issue: voice stops working at the slightest background noise or pause.
Praised: Two-way conversation mode enables a real dialogue: each person speaks into the phone, the app auto-detects the language, and reads the translation aloud. Users praise accuracy on supported languages.
Complaints: Voice recognition cuts out on any pause longer than half a second and requires louder, slower speech than natural conversation. In the free version, ads interrupt translation in the middle of someone speaking.
Best for: People who need a tool for a live face-to-face conversation with someone in a foreign language and are willing to hold the phone between them and take turns speaking.
Rank 7. Review score: 55 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 20,373 ratings
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A dedicated Spanish-English translator with an offline mode. Handles standard Spanish well, but regional dialects (especially rural Mexican Spanish) produce errors. Offline is only available in the paid version, which the name implies otherwise.
Praised: The offline dictionary works without internet, which is critical when traveling. Shows example sentences in context, not just a bare translation.
Complaints: Voice input does not recognize informal speech or regional variants. Offline is in the app name but only available behind a paywall.
Best for: A traveler to Spanish-speaking countries who needs an offline dictionary with context examples rather than a live conversation mode.
Rank 8. Review score: 55 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 8,433 ratings
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The main feature is showing multiple translation engines side by side (including DeepL), so you can compare results and pick the best one. Users working in Korean note it gets the right translation in cases where Google misses it. Tagalog is weak. Ads are aggressive in the free version and sometimes keep showing up even with a subscription.
Praised: Side-by-side output from multiple translation engines on one screen. Unique among competitors in this price range.
Complaints: Tagalog and some less common languages translate poorly. Ads keep interrupting even after paying for a subscription.
Best for: Users working with Korean, Chinese, or other languages where cross-checking multiple engines matters.
Rank 9. Review score: 52 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 525,135 ratings
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A full-featured translator with text, voice, and a keyboard extension. Covers over 100 languages. Relevant for the category.
Praised: The built-in keyboard lets you translate right inside WhatsApp and other messengers without switching apps. Listening to pronunciation helps you both understand and reproduce a word.
Complaints: Translation quality is inconsistent across languages: Italian works better than French, and Greek transliteration contains errors. Voice translation occasionally produces wrong phrases without any warning.
Best for: Travelers and people who regularly message with foreign contacts and want to translate without leaving the chat.
Rank 10. Review score: 48 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 12,363 ratings
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An app originally sold as a one-time purchase now requires a subscription to access the same features. Voice translation works but cuts off recording after one or two words when there is any background noise. Only one voice option (female), no choice. The most frustrating scenario: losing previously purchased access after an update.
Praised: Voice translation launches with a single button tap and no extra steps when the environment is quiet.
Complaints: Recording cuts off within a second at any background sound and cannot capture full sentences.
Best for: Users in a quiet environment who need a simple voice translator without a camera.
Rank 11. Review score: 44 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 74,479 ratings
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A specialized product for translating live phone calls and video calls in real time. A unique mechanic for the category. Monetization is dual-layer: a subscription plus per-minute credits, which confuses users.
Praised: Translation during a live phone call works: both sides hear the translation in real time without switching apps. Supports video calls through WhatsApp.
Complaints: The dual monetization creates confusion: after subscribing, users discover that call minutes still draw from a separate credit pool. It is not a bug but an intentional model, yet it reads as a bait-and-switch.
Best for: People who regularly call family or business partners in another language and want to hear the translation right in the call without a third screen.
Rank 12. Review score: 44 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 8,805 ratings
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Voice translation works for live communication: users report using it on the job to understand Spanish-speaking coworkers. Camera is unreliable and sometimes produces nonsensical output. Japanese is inaccurate according to native speakers. Language flags are sometimes wrong (Tagalog shows the East Timor flag).
Praised: Voice mode with real recognition that is accurate enough for a working conversation in Spanish.
Complaints: Camera translation is unstable. Accuracy for Japanese and several Asian languages is low according to native speakers.
Best for: People relocating to or working in a Spanish-speaking environment who need a quick voice bridge.
Rank 13. Review score: 42 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 16,283 ratings
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A live translator with a continuous conversation mode where users confirm it genuinely does not require a button press after every phrase. That is rare among competitors. But there is a hidden paywall: $59 for real-time mode on top of the base subscription.
Praised: Conversation mode with no manual trigger: both people speak in turn, the app detects pauses and switches languages on its own. Users share a pair of earbuds.
Complaints: Live mode costs an extra $59 on top of the main subscription, and this is not disclosed before purchase. Keyboard translation is slow (up to 30 seconds). No offline support.
Best for: A traveler who needs a hands-free conversation mode with no button-pressing and is willing to pay twice for it.
Rank 14. Review score: 40 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 257,287 ratings
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A text and speech translator for live communication that has been around for over ten years. Basic accuracy is decent, but stability is a concern.
Praised: One-phone conversation mode works well for real exchanges: users report that complex two-way conversations felt natural. Supports less common languages like Swahili.
Complaints: The app frequently opens to a white screen and can take up to two minutes to load. Voice recognition is inconsistent: sometimes it picks up nothing, and sometimes it plays back translation at an unnaturally high speed.
Best for: People who regularly communicate with speakers of one specific foreign language and value voice mode, and are willing to tolerate an unstable launch.
Rank 15. Review score: 40 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 9,044 ratings
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A basic translator with voice input. Real users apply it for communicating with Spanish-speaking coworkers on the job. Conversation mode occasionally produces errors that confuse the other person. The app is unstable and sometimes rebuilds itself from scratch, requiring a reinstall. Language settings do not persist.
Praised: Voice input works for basic on-the-spot communication.
Complaints: Conversation mode has lag and errors in Spanish that confuse the other person. Language pair settings do not save between sessions.
Best for: Occasional travel and brief work conversations with Spanish-speaking coworkers.
Rank 16. Review score: 38 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 20,411 ratings
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A translator keyboard that plugs into any app and translates as you type. A genuinely useful idea. But the $10-per-week price kills any goodwill: it is more expensive than most premium translators on the market.
Praised: The built-in keyboard works in any messenger without switching apps. Translation right in the input field is a mechanic without a real equivalent among most competitors.
Complaints: The keyboard runs noticeably slower than the default. Translation quality drops for languages beyond Spanish. Security concern: the keyboard requires 'full access,' which means it can potentially read anything you type.
Best for: Someone who regularly writes in two languages in messengers and is willing to pay for speed. At $10 a week that is a very narrow audience.
Rank 17. Review score: 38 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 14,726 ratings
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Works as a conversation translator for English-to-Spanish in simple situations: users have genuinely communicated through it with housekeepers and Spanish-speaking coworkers. Camera translation is inaccurate, switching the source language away from English breaks voice input, and ads are aggressive and non-dismissible.
Praised: Voice dialogue mode works for EN-ES without extra steps.
Complaints: When the base language is changed away from English, voice input stops recognizing speech.
Best for: Tourists who need a quick EN-ES conversation mode without high accuracy requirements.
Rank 18. Review score: 35 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.3★ · 19,997 ratings
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Once a strong OCR translator with a unique feature: translated text was overlaid directly onto the image, preserving visual context. After updates that feature was removed, and the app became a generic scan-and-translate tool with worse stability.
Praised: OCR handles handwritten and mixed text well (users cite a church document in Russian as an example). Works with uncommon languages.
Complaints: The signature feature of overlaying translation onto the photo was removed in a recent version. The server goes offline periodically, support does not respond, and the contact email is outdated.
Best for: Anyone who needs to read text from old documents or handwritten materials, and is willing to deal with instability.
Rank 19. Review score: 35 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 10,133 ratings
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A wrapper around Google Translate with three input modes (text, voice, camera) in one app. The engine is identical to the free Google Translate, but this version adds ads and a subscription. Voice input frequently fails on the first try and requires repeating the phrase. Useful only if you specifically want all three modes in a single interface.
Praised: Text, voice, and camera switch without changing screens.
Complaints: Voice input does not fire on the first attempt and often requires two or three repetitions before it recognizes the phrase.
Best for: Users who are comfortable with Google Translate but want camera and voice on a single screen.
Rank 20. Review score: 34 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 93,398 ratings
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A voice translator focused on conversation mode. Serious gaps in voice language coverage: Norwegian, Arabic, and others are text-only even though the marketing promises otherwise.
Praised: A keyboard button overlay over any app lets you translate directly inside a messenger without copying text. Some users note good accuracy for Korean.
Complaints: Voice translation is unreliable: the app frequently fails to detect the language or produces an incorrect translation. The actual list of languages with voice support is much shorter than advertised.
Best for: A user who wants a quick translate-button overlay on top of any app and who works within a pair of popular languages.
Rank 21. Review score: 33 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 53,940 ratings
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A keyboard translator with voice input. The main value is the keyboard extension for messengers. Stability suffers: the translate button occasionally gets replaced by a paywall button, and the backspace key glitches.
Praised: The keyboard extension lets you translate right in the input field of any messenger without opening a separate app. Works in WhatsApp and iMessage.
Complaints: The keyboard interface is unstable: backspace sometimes deletes the whole text instead of one character, and the translate button disappears and gets replaced by a paywall. Voice recognition cannot handle accents.
Best for: Users who frequently message in a foreign language in messengers and want to translate without copying text.
Rank 22. Review score: 33 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 8,269 ratings
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Voice recording cuts off mid-sentence. The microphone has poor capture even on new devices (iPhone 16). Persian is missing (over 200 million speakers). The Turkish-to-Spanish pair does not work. After subscribing, voice translation does not function at all for some users.
Praised: In ideal conditions (clear speech, supported language pair) transcription is accurate and fast enough.
Complaints: The voice engine cuts off sentences and struggles to capture audio, and that is the core feature of the app.
Best for: Hard to recommend: the primary feature is unreliable.
Rank 23. Review score: 32 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 23,030 ratings
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A general-purpose translator with a wide language selection in text mode. Camera and conversation are subscription-only. Ads between every translation in the free version make it practically unusable.
Praised: Wide language coverage with above-average text translation accuracy. Users mention it as a better option than Google Translate for Japanese.
Complaints: Voice and photo modes are fully behind a paywall with no warning before download. Language settings reset after every translation in the free version.
Best for: A subscriber who needs wide language coverage and solid text translation without ads.
Rank 24. Review score: 32 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 13,648 ratings
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An outdated translator built on Google Translate with a nice selection of Spanish regional dialects. Has not been updated in years and occasionally stops working after an iOS update. Paid voice is unstable. Useful only as a free text translator for short phrases.
Praised: Regional Spanish dialect selection (Mexican, Latin American) with no extra configuration required.
Complaints: Long text translations get cut off at an undisclosed word limit in the free version.
Best for: Anyone who needs a free EN-ES text translator without extra features.
Rank 25. Review score: 31 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 352,770 ratings
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A translator with text, voice, camera, and AI features. Technically well-equipped, but monetization is aggressive: $10 a week for most features. The store reputation does not match the real user experience.
Praised: ChatGPT integration delivers more contextual translations of phrases and idioms where classic engines give a literal result. The keyboard extension works for free.
Complaints: Most features (camera, live translation, voice) are locked without a subscription, and this is not explained before install. Connection errors on live translation reproduce even on a solid internet connection.
Best for: A user who needs fast text translation and is willing to pay for full AI feature access with full price transparency up front.
Rank 26. Review score: 31 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 10,927 ratings
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A camera translator with a strict limit on free scans (10 per day, resets every 24 hours). OCR fails on handwriting, small fonts, and small objects. The server occasionally returns an error instead of a translation. The concept is right, the execution is unstable.
Praised: Recognizes text from photos in real-world conditions: signs, menus, printed documents.
Complaints: The scan limit runs out in a single session, after which you must wait 24 hours or pay.
Best for: Tourists who need to translate a sign or menu once in a while, not anyone working with documents regularly.
Rank 27. Review score: 29 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 12,517 ratings
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The advertised core feature, real-time speech translation, does not work: the microphone fails to pick up speech or returns an error. Text translation is also unstable. Users report malware after reinstalling, which makes this app potentially unsafe.
Praised: Conversation mode works for short phrases on a good connection.
Complaints: Real-time voice input does not recognize speech and produces no translation.
Rank 28. Review score: 28 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 26,796 ratings
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A translator that claims a live mode but in practice works phrase-by-phrase like any other. The interface is cluttered with ads, voice stream cuts off too quickly, and certain language pairs are unavailable in conversation mode.
Praised: Supports many languages for basic text translation and launches quickly.
Complaints: Voice mode does not show the translation long enough before the next line comes in and the result disappears. Conversation mode is unavailable for several language pairs including Ukrainian.
Best for: A tourist who needs to look up a word once in a while and only if they can tolerate an ad after every single request.
Rank 29. Review score: 26 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 15,531 ratings
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An app with one real feature, text translation between English and Persian, and an advertised but non-functional voice mode. 'Offline' in the name does not match reality. An ad plays before the audio button, which is silent anyway. Useful only as an offline dictionary for those who read Persian.
Praised: Single-word translation with examples and the dictionary database work without a network connection.
Complaints: TTS for Persian phrases produces no audio in either the paid or free version.
Best for: Persian readers who need an offline dictionary and do not need voice output.
Rank 30. Review score: 25 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 9,462 ratings
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Bulgarian voice output runs through a Russian voice pack, and native speakers hear a foreign accent with wrong intonation. Persian is not supported for voice input. Urdu is missing despite Hindi being present. Does not exceed Google Translate in any capability but costs money.
Praised: Text translation on popular language pairs works adequately.
Complaints: Text-to-speech uses non-native voice packs for several languages, making voice mode useless for native speakers of those languages.
Rank 31. Review score: 22 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 26,792 ratings
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A photo translator with working OCR for simple text, but the free version is deliberately capped at three translations per day. Accuracy drops on complex fonts and long paragraphs. Ads are aggressive.
Praised: Recognizes text from photos quickly and handles short printed text in popular languages.
Complaints: The 3-photo-per-day limit cuts off functionality before the user can even evaluate quality. Camera focus is unstable, and Japanese and Chinese characters in long paragraphs translate poorly.
Best for: Someone who wants to read one label or sign a day and does not mind ads. Not suitable for regular use.
Rank 32. Review score: 22 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 10,275 ratings
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A voice translator with incomplete language coverage: Chinese as a source language is unavailable entirely, and switching language pairs causes the app to crash. The interface is confusing with no clear way to start a text translation. Charges are applied without confirmation.
Praised: Voice input works for Arabic and common European languages.
Complaints: Switching language pair causes the app to crash, so you cannot test different combinations before buying.
Best for: Arabic-speaking users who need one-way voice translation.
Rank 33. Review score: 22 out of 100. App Store rating: 2.3★ · 9,628 ratings
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Basic translations of simple words get it wrong (piña is rendered as 'Rose' instead of 'pineapple'). Japanese breaks at the sentence level. Language coverage is narrow with no Hungarian, Tamil, or Cantonese. Little practical value for real communication.
Praised: The conversation mode occasionally produces unexpected output from unrecognized input, which users describe as amusing.
Complaints: The translation engine makes systematic errors even on common language pairs. The language set does not cover common user requests.
Rank 34. Review score: 20 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 22,803 ratings
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A camera OCR translator where the free mode functions only as a demo for selling a subscription. Users report that paid functionality does not always activate, the camera angle is awkward, and ads appear after every scan.
Praised: Fast recognition in good lighting. Works with non-standard languages like Venezuelan Spanish.
Complaints: The camera does not focus at a normal distance and requires holding the object too far away. Payment does not always activate the subscription, and support does not respond.
Best for: Practically no one. Competitors (including the native iOS camera translator) do the same thing without these issues.
Rank 35. Review score: 18 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 10,021 ratings
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Voice translation produces poor results: speech rate is unnatural and stress patterns are wrong. A Hindi translation produced a dangerously distorted result (a phrase about routes came out as aggressive text). No translation history. Almost no practical value.
Praised: The app launches and delivers text translation. That is the full list of positives based on reviews.
Complaints: The voice engine speaks the translation at a speed and accent that native speakers cannot understand. Hindi recognition quality introduces semantic errors that are dangerous in real conversation.
Rank 36. Review score: 15 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.4★ · 19,903 ratings
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Claims live and offline translation, but offline does not work after payment, camera output is unreadable, and the voice engine sounds like the 1980s. A concrete failure: one user paid for a year and got a frozen screen.
Praised: In theory supports a large language set. One French user reports a successful conversation mode experience, which appears to be an isolated case.
Complaints: Offline mode does not activate after payment. The voice engine is outdated, conversation mode only works EN to Hindi with no reverse direction. The camera shows a white block over the translation.
Best for: No one. Google Translate does everything this app claims, for free and far more reliably.
Rank 37. Review score: 15 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.5★ · 9,032 ratings
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Marketed as a photo translator, but the camera is locked behind a paywall from the very first tap. Korean is shown on the app icon but is absent inside. Russian translation performs worse than other languages according to reviews. Scan limits apply. Translation history does not clear.
Praised: Fast text translation for language pairs available without a subscription.
Complaints: The advertised core feature (photo and camera translation) requires payment to access. The language set does not match what is shown in marketing.
Best for: Not recommended. The gap between what is promised and what is delivered is too wide.
Rank 38. Review score: 14 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.6★ · 15,452 ratings
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An app advertising voice and camera translation where neither works reliably. Live translation freezes mid-phrase, camera translation does not translate at all. Automatic charges with no price disclosure, and canceling the subscription from within the app is impossible.
Praised: The conversational interface for a live phone translation is conceptually well designed.
Complaints: Voice recognition cuts off mid-word, and there is no way to switch the language pair without restarting the app.
Best for: Not recommended in its current state.
About scores
Two scores — two sources
They help compare apps, but they don’t replace checking your own job.
Review score · up to 100
The stored score from inApp research on review texts. It rates the app overall in the archive, not the reliability of any one feature.
Store rating · up to 5
The rating from the app’s page when the data was collected. The current rating and version may differ.
In the archived sample for this topic: 38 apps and 12,771 reviews read. That is the total size of the research, not the number of reviews per app.
A gap between the scores doesn’t prove manipulation. The calculation date and the full scoring method aren’t in the mobile archive. Compare the job descriptions and the source quotes, and check the terms in the current version.
