Translate over 90 languages on your wrist with iTranslate

We’re not quite at Star Trek’s “Universal Translator” yet, but we’re getting closer. Now you don’t have to pull out your phone to do translations, you can do them right on your wrist with iTranslate. The app is pretty scaled back and simple on the Apple Watch; but highly functional.

This is one of the few Apple Watch apps that has a complication, and it works really well. If you don’t want to use the complication, you can use the glance instead. If you don’t want to put iTranslate in either of those prized berths, you’ll need to go to the dreaded app cloud to open iTranslate. I was not able to convince Siri to open the app for me; for some reason it heard my request as “I translate” rather than “iTranslate.” I don’t know if this is a flaw in the app or the Apple Watch itself.

Upon opening the app, force touch the screen to bring up a list of over 90 languages. As you can see, I selected French. Tap the flag symbol and the app starts listening. Say your word or phrase and tap “Done” upon completion. Your translated phrase will pop up, and you’ll have the option to play it aloud if you wish. I found the played aloud phrase difficult to hear and understand, but again, the Apple Watch’s speakers aren’t really known for their amazing sound. In some of my tests, the speak-aloud feature didn’t work at all.

There is a nice little bonus if you’re using iTranslate in the large complication of the Modular face. Every time you look at your watch, you’ll see a commonly used time-appropriate phrase in the language of your choice. Like right now, mine says, Good morning – Bonjour. You can use Time Travel by turning the digital crown and you will see different phrases you might need later in the day.

I wouldn’t call iTranslate flawless on the Apple Watch, but it’s pretty good. It did translate all of my spoken phrases from English to French accurately and it’s fun to use. It’s definitely worth picking up iTranslate for free on the App Store; you’ll find many more features to try out on the iPhone and iPad.