What you need to know
- WhatsApp announced that it’s rolling out message translations for Android and iPhone users this week.
- Useable in private chats and more, users can long-press a text sent in another language and decide which language they’d like to see it translated to.
- Android users can enable automatic translation features, and will receive support for six languages.
WhatsApp announced an update that’s rolling out this week, aiming to bridge the gap between the many languages around the world.
WhatsApp started updating users in a blog post, stating that it’s starting to roll out message translations to devices. Beginning this week, once you’ve downloaded the patch, users receiving messages in another language can long-press that text and tap the new “Translate” button. WhatsApp states users will have to choose the language the message should be translated “from or to, and download it to be saved for future translations.”
The post stresses the privacy side of WhatsApp, informing users that whatever is translated is done on your device, adding that the service “cannot see them.”
Once this patch hits Android, WhatsApp says those users can enable automatic translations for an entire chat, so everything is converted without your manual input. More importantly, this update brings translation support to Android for six languages: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic. Those on iPhone will receive support for over 19 languages to start.
As this update makes its rounds, WhatsApp states you can activate message translation in one-on-one chats, groups, and Channel updates.
WhatsApp rolls on
There have been some notable WhatsApp updates so far, as during the summer, the platform rolled out message summaries. The feature took Meta AI into heavy consideration in private chats, giving users a noticeable banner when entering a chat after many texts were sent. This banner will quickly summarize what happened, neatly in a bulleted list, so you can catch up.
Once again, the platform stresses that the contents Meta AI has summarized for you in that private chat remain private to you.
Another update, erring on the side of caution, rolled out in August for WhatsApp users looking to avoid shady and sketchy users. Scams were the name of the game last month, as the app gifted new ways for users to block people who might be a little strange. WhatsApp said that if someone you don’t know randomly adds you to a group chat, you’ll see a preview of who made it and how many people are in it before making your decision.
In private chats, WhatsApp is testing alerts to give you all the info you need to know before engaging.
