Lance Whitney

My wife and I took a trip to Japan about a year ago. Though many of the people we met spoke at least some English, conversations were sometimes challenging. At the time, I used my iPhone to translate between English and Japanese. But the next time we visit another country, I'll be able to use Apple's Translate app directly from my Apple Watch.

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Added to the watch with WatchOS 11, the Translate app prompts you to choose your two languages, speak, and then listen to the translation. You can modify the speed of the playback to make it faster or slower. Plus, you can download as many as 20 different languages, so the translations will work without an internet connection. 

How to use Apple Watch Translate in real time

1. Update your watch

First, make sure you're running iOS 18 or higher and WatchOS 11 or higher. On your iPhone and then on your Apple Watch, head to Settings, select General, and tap Software Update. 

You can also update your watch from the Watch app on your phone. To do so, make sure you're at the My Watch screen, go to General, and select Software Update. Allow the latest update to download and install.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

2. Launch and configure the Translate app

Open the Translate app from the Home Screen. The first time you launch the app, tap Continue. Right off the bat, you can tweak the settings in the app to control how it works. 

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Tap the ellipsis icon in the upper right. Select the turtle to slow down the playback and the rabbit to speed it up. You may want to keep it in the middle to start and change it if you find it too fast or slow. 

Turn on the switch for Auto-Play Translations to set a translation to be spoken automatically. Keep the preferred input set to voice.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

3. Download languages

Normally, the Translate app handles the translations online. But you may run into spots with weak or no internet access. In that case, you'll want to download a language ahead of time so you can use it offline.

Before running the downloads, ensure you're on a Wi-Fi network with a good connection. Then tap the option for Downloaded Languages. On the next screen, choose each language you wish to download. The app supports Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. 

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Back at the previous screen, you can turn on the switch for On-Device Mode if you want the translations to work offline with the downloaded languages. However, this prevents you from using any languages you haven't downloaded.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

4. Choose the languages

Back at the main screen, tap the first language displayed and change it if necessary. For example, if you want to use English, make sure the language is set to US English (or UK English if you speak with a British accent). The language that appears first is the one that the app will listen for and translate.

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Next, tap the second language and change it to the other language you need. My wife and I are thinking of taking a trip to Italy next year, so I set this to Italian to help us practice our language skills. You'll then be returned to the main screen.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

5. Start your conversation

To kick off a conversation with someone who speaks the other language, tap the microphone icon. Speak your words in English. When you're done, the translation appears on the watch screen and is read aloud for the other person to hear.

Next, swipe down the screen to display the two languages. Tap the squiggly line to make the other language the one that the app will translate. As the other person speaks, the translation appears and is read aloud in English.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

6. Continue the conversation

At this point, you can continue with the conversation. Ask another question or respond to the other person. Your words are then translated and spoken aloud. After the other person responds, their words are translated into your language and read aloud.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

7. Manage your translations

You can remove a conversation you no longer need as well as tag one you want to reuse. To remove a conversation, swipe it to the left and tap the trash can icon. 

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To tag a conversation as a favorite, swipe it to the right and tap the star icon. To view your favorite conversations, just tap the small star icon in the upper left.

Screenshot by Lance Whitney

How to get the most out of the Translate app

No app is perfect, and that includes the Translate app. But there are ways to make it more effective and reliable.

1. Always check the input language

Make sure that the language you want translated is the one that appears on top. Switching languages back and forth this way can be clumsy, especially if the conversation is moving quickly. I wish the app came with a detection feature that could automatically pick up and translate the language being spoken. That said, you can always instruct the other person to wait a few seconds before speaking, giving you enough time to switch the language.

2. Optimize the volume

The Apple Watch's speaker is small, so the sound is not exactly booming. Turn the digital crown to pump up the volume as loud as possible. 

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Also, make sure that you're near the other person so they can hear the sound coming from the watch.

3. Check translation rate

Remember that you can always return to the settings screen to slow down or speed up the rate of the translation if necessary and download additional languages to use offline.

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