How do you translate WhatsApp messages on iPhone?
There are several ways to translate a WhatsApp message on an iPhone. Here is what each one does well, and where it falls short.
Translating selected text
Depending on your iOS version and the languages you have downloaded, the menu that appears when you select text offers a Translate option. It is handy for a single message: select it, read the translation, go back to WhatsApp.
The limits are easy to spot. You have to repeat it for every message, the translation does not remember the conversation, and it does not help you write your reply in the other person’s language.
Copy and paste into a translator app
You copy the message, open a translation app, paste, read, then make the same trip in reverse to answer. It works, but as soon as a chat goes on for more than a few messages you lose the thread between the two apps.
It also makes it hard to judge tone. A friendly “hey” and a formal greeting can come out the same, and slang is often translated word for word.
An app that translates inside the conversation
oKiKo is an app you install from the website, with no App Store involved, and you link your WhatsApp to it as a linked device. Messages written in another language arrive translated into yours, and your replies go out in the other person’s language, with a preview before sending.
To get started:
- Open the website in Safari and tap “Install the app”: oKiKo shows the exact gesture for your version of iOS (Share, then Add to Home Screen).
- Link your WhatsApp: on the iPhone itself, enter your phone number and oKiKo shows an 8-character code to type into WhatsApp (Settings › Linked devices › Link a device).
- Open a chat: the original is one tap away and the translation sits in the bubble.
Good to know on iPhone
The installed app picks up your Safari session and can notify you of new messages if you allow notifications. Calls stay in WhatsApp on your phone. Free use translates every incoming message with no limit, with 20 translated replies a day; Premium adds AI on everything you receive, tone settings and more.
oKiKo is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta. Messages pass through its server and translation services in order to be translated, so read its privacy policy before linking your account. Machine translation is a help, not a guarantee: for anything legal, medical or financial, have a person check it.