WhatsApp to get Google Translate within chats for quick translation

WhatsApp is the most used app in India and it’s part of our lives now, as we communicate with family, friends, and even office colleagues on the platform. And WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, knows that. That’s exactly why it’s working on new features that help users communicate better and reach more people. A new feature spotted by WABetaInfo reveals that the instant messaging app will soon receive a feature that will translate messages for you, doing away with the need to translate text manually by existing WhatsApp.

WhatsApp tests new Live Translate feature within chats on Android

WhatsApp’s latest beta update on Android version 2.24.15.8 reveals that the company is testing a new feature that lets users translate messages easily. WhatsApp appears to be partnering with Google for this feature. The app, in the beta version, has a Google Translate integration that lets you translate messages with one click. The feature is currently available in the beta update and you can see it when you pull up the options section by tapping the three vertical dots in the upper right corner.

The option appears on top, just above the Copy, Pin, and Report options. However, to use it, you need to select the text that you want to translate, then tap on the three dots, and finally tap on Translate. Users using it for the first time will get a pop-up showing how the feature works. Interestingly, the feature will work on-device and not use the cloud to translate the text. The prerequisite for that will be to download the language pack. After you have the language packs downloaded, everything else will be done on-device.

Initially, the live transition feature may have a limited set of languages, such as Spanish, Hindi, and English, but more languages should be added later. Unfortunately, the exact availability of the feature for the stable version of the app is unknown as of yet. But we should learn more about it soon. Since the feature was spotted in the Android beta, we can also expect it to show up in the iOS beta version.

Other than this, WhatsApp is also testing the Voice message transcripts feature that turns voice messages into texts/transcripts. The supported languages for this include English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Hindi. We also expect to get this feature in the stable version of the app soon.