How to set up a translator keyboard on iPhone and Android

Your phone already has a keyboard. A translator keyboard is a second one added next to it: you type the same way, but there's a target language and a translate button on top. Tap the button and what you wrote is translated into that language, inside the same text box.

It works in every app — messaging, email, social media, notes. The steps below are for Flow Translate; other translator keyboards work along the same lines.

After installing the app from the App Store:

iOS requires this permission before a keyboard can reach the internet. Flow Translate uses the connection only to download language packs; haptic key feedback also needs it.

The translation itself runs on the phone, with Google's on-device ML Kit. What you type is not sent to a server and is not stored.

After installing the app from Google Play and opening it:

The source language — the one you write in — is chosen in the app's settings. The target language is picked on the keyboard itself, so you can write to one person in English and another in German on the same day.

Each language pair's pack downloads once, the first time you use it (about 30 MB on Android). It's best to do that first translation on Wi-Fi. Once the pack is there, translation works without internet.

On iPhone, tap the 🌐 key under the keyboard to switch; hold it to see the list. On Android, depending on the phone, you switch from the small keyboard icon below the keyboard or from the notification shade.