Translate 2-way

Before you begin

• Hold or place the iPhone between you, where its microphone hears you both. Translate 2-way sets the microphone to Room for you.
• Headphones are optional. With them, their words, translated for you, play in your ears while your reply comes out of the iPhone’s speaker for them. Without them, everything plays out loud.
• When iPhone asks, allow access to the microphone and to speech recognition.
• Have an internet connection, and translation available: free questions left, a subscription or your own Gemini or OpenAI key chosen under AI in Two-way Language Translation settings.

Tip: To try it on your own first, open Help with the ? button and tap Walk me through Two-way Translation. It can play a Spanish sample for you, and it’s free.

Have a conversation

1. On the main screen, tap Translate 2-way under Listening mode.
2. Tap the big button. The line under it reads “Listening — just talk. Either of you.”
3. Let the other person say a sentence in their language. You hear it in yours.
4. Answer in your language. The phone says your reply in their language, out of its speaker.
5. Carry on talking. Reverbot translates both ways until you tap the big button again.

Reverbot learns their language from what they say first, so it can’t translate your reply until they’ve spoken. While a sentence is being translated, the line reads “Translating...”.

Things to say

Say these during Translate 2-way:

• “Repeat” — plays your last translated reply again for them, at no cost. “Again”, “say that again”, “come again” and “one more time” work too.
• “Sorry, can you say that again?” — the same: polite words around the request are fine.
• “I’d like to repeat my order.” — translated like any sentence. A request to repeat counts only when it’s all you say.
• “Skip” — when you’re saying your replies yourself, moves on to the next sentence.

Choose where your reply plays

With Phone speaks your reply on, your translated reply comes out of the iPhone’s speaker, even with headphones in, so the other person hears it.

• A Speaker pill appears under Input & answer while Translate 2-way is chosen. Tap it to switch to Earpiece when they’d rather hold the phone to their ear, and tap Earpiece to switch back. The change applies to the next sentence.
• The same switch is Out loud on speakerphone in Two-way Language Translation settings.
• It turns back on each time you start Translate 2-way.

Their words, translated for you, play wherever you’re listening: your headphones, or the iPhone’s speaker without them.

Say your reply yourself

1. Touch and hold Translate 2-way, then tap Settings.
2. Under How the conversation runs, turn off Phone speaks your reply.
3. Tap Done, then start Translate 2-way again.

Reverbot now says your reply into your ear in their language, then listens while you say it out loud; the line under the big button reads “Say it out loud, or say ‘repeat’...”. It confirms when you’re close, and after a few tries it moves on anyway. Say “repeat” to hear the phrase again, or “skip” to move on.

Note: Phone speaks your reply and Guide me through it apply the next time you start Translate 2-way. A conversation already running keeps what it started with.

Choose automatic or guided turns

Detect who’s speaking is on at first. Either of you can speak at any time, and Reverbot works out from the sound which way to translate. It doesn’t identify anyone, and in a noisy room it can get it wrong.

Turn it off in Two-way Language Translation settings to take turns instead: they speak, you hear the translation, then you reply. Speech out of turn is skipped.

The line under the big button reads “Listening for them...” during their turn and “Your turn — say what you want translated...” during yours. With Guide me through it on, Reverbot also says it, for example “After the beep, say what you’d like to translate.”

This switch takes effect straight away, even mid-conversation. On a phone call, Reverbot always detects who’s speaking.

Answer questions while translating

Tap Questions while Translate 2-way is lit, so both pills light up. Reverbot then also answers questions asked in the conversation: theirs after their translation has been read to you, and yours directly. The line under the big button reads “Listening — just talk. Their questions are answered after they’re translated.”

Answers wait for a gap and never talk over a translation.

Tap Questions again to stop them; the conversation carries on. The same switch is Answer questions too in Two-way Language Translation settings, and each answer is charged like any Questions answer.

Practice a conversation

Each Standard turn costs a question. A live partner is billed by the minute, and your voice streams to that company while it runs.

1. Touch and hold Translate 2-way, then tap Settings.
2. Under Practice, turn on Rehearse first.
3. Under Partner speaks, choose the language to practice.
4. Under Partner’s voice, choose Standard, Live — Reverbot or Live — OpenAI (your key).
5. Tap Done, then tap the big button.

Reverbot plays a native speaker who greets you and asks simple everyday questions, and doesn’t translate. Standard takes turns; a live partner talks back and forth and lets you cut in.

Turn Rehearse first off to translate for real. The Practice topic explains every setting.

Translate a phone call

Translate 2-way also works on a phone call you place from Reverbot: choose Both of you, then Two-way translation. The Call a phone number topic explains placing the call.

Important: The person you call hears an automated announcement that AI is being used, and must press 1 before Reverbot listens to them. It plays on every Both of you call, and you confirm twice before each one.

On a call, their words reach you in your language and your reply goes down the line in theirs. Reverbot always detects who’s speaking, and always uses its own translation, never your key.

Change Two-way settings

Touch and hold Translate 2-way, then tap Settings. Or, in Settings, under Listening Mode, tap the sliders button beside Two-way. The Two-way Language Translation screen shows, from top to bottom:

• How Two-way Language Translation works opens this Help topic.
• Under Button style, Different button style for Two-way translation and Style give Two-way its own look in the big button.
• Under Language, Translate to is your language, shared with Translate Vicinity.
• Under How the conversation runs: Phone speaks your reply, Out loud on speakerphone, Guide me through it and Detect who’s speaking. Guide me through it says what to do at each step.
• How long it waits, under Silence duration before answering, is the pause that ends a sentence, for either of you. TRANSLATE in the top bar uses it too.
• AI chooses who translates, shared with Translate Vicinity.
• Different voice for Two-way translation and Different speed for Two-way translation give translations their own voice and speed.
• Practice holds Rehearse first, and Answer questions too matches the Questions pill.
• Restore Two-way Language Translation defaults turns the four switches back on and resets the rest, including Translate to, after you confirm.

If it doesn’t work

• If their words aren’t translated for you, check that Translate to is your language, not theirs.
• If your reply isn’t translated, let them speak first: Reverbot learns their language from them.
• If your own words are played back to you, or theirs go out of the speaker, turn off Detect who’s speaking to take turns instead, and keep the iPhone a little closer to you.
• If they can’t hear your reply, check the iPhone’s volume and the pill under Input & answer. If it reads Earpiece, tap it to switch back to Speaker.
• If sentences are cut into pieces, drag How long it waits toward Longest.
• If you say your replies yourself and Reverbot never confirms them, your iPhone may not recognize their language; it then moves on after each phrase.
• If translating stops and the line under the big button reads “Subscribe to keep translating”, your free translations are used. Subscribe, or choose your own key under AI.

Still not working? In Settings, under Feedback, tap Report a Bug and describe what you did, what you expected and what happened.