Translate Vicinity

Before you begin

• Connect headphones. Translations play in them; without headphones, they appear on screen instead, unless Speakerphone is on in Settings.
• When iPhone asks, allow access to the microphone and to speech recognition.
• Have an internet connection. Each sentence is sent to be translated.
• Have translation available: free questions left, a subscription or your own Gemini or OpenAI key chosen under AI in Vicinity Language Translation settings. A key that only answers questions doesn’t translate.

Tip: To try it on the real screen first, open Help with the ? button and tap Walk me through Vicinity Translation. The walkthrough is free and uses an example translation.

Choose the language you hear

1. Touch and hold Translate Vicinity, then tap Settings. The Vicinity Language Translation screen opens.
2. Under Language, tap Translate to and choose your language.
3. Tap Done.

Translate to lists the 31 languages Reverbot can both hear and speak. The other person’s language isn’t a setting: as “Detects the spoken language automatically” says, Reverbot recognizes it from their speech, which can take a few words.

Note: Translate to is shared with Translate 2-way and Translate too, and with TRANSLATE in the top bar, where it’s called I speak.

Translate what you hear

1. On the main screen, tap Translate Vicinity under Listening mode.
2. Tap the big button. The line under it reads, for example, “Listening — foreign speech is translated to English...”.
3. Hold or place the iPhone where its microphone can hear the speaker clearly.
4. Let the speaker finish a sentence and pause.

The sentence is translated and plays in your language. Reverbot keeps translating, one sentence at a time, until you tap the big button again. The status under the Reverbot logo reads “Processing” while a sentence is translated and “Speaking” while it plays.

What you hear and when

In Translate Vicinity:

• Each sentence is translated after the speaker pauses, not word by word.
• Speech already in your language is skipped on purpose, with nothing said.
• If Reverbot can’t make a sentence out, “Didn’t catch that — say it again” appears for a moment instead.
• With headphones, Reverbot keeps listening while a translation plays, and what’s said meanwhile is translated next. Without headphones, listening pauses while it speaks.
• While a translation plays, tap Tap to skip to stop it. Afterward, tap Repeat that to hear it again.

The microphone is set to Room

Translate Vicinity needs to hear the people around you, so it sets the microphone to Room while it’s chosen. Solo isn’t offered while this mode is chosen: the microphone pill under Input & answer shows Room and doesn’t change, and Microphone Input in Settings can’t be changed either. Your own setting comes back when you choose another mode.

Keep the microphone uncovered and near the person speaking. Room can’t promise to hear someone far away.

Answer questions while translating

To also answer questions asked around you, tap Questions while Translate Vicinity is lit, so both pills light up. A question in another language is translated first, then answered once the translation has been read; English questions are answered directly.

The line under the big button then ends “…then questions are answered...”. Tap Questions again to stop the answers; the translation carries on.

The same switch is Answer questions too in Vicinity Language Translation settings. Each answer is charged like any Questions answer.

Choose who translates

Important: On a free Gemini key, Google’s unpaid terms apply: Google may use the recordings, including other people’s voices, to improve its products, and people may review them, except in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK.

1. Touch and hold Translate Vicinity, then tap Settings.
2. Under AI, tap AI. The AI for Translation screen opens.
3. Choose Reverbot (included), Gemini or ChatGPT.

Reverbot (included) uses your free questions, or your subscription’s translations. Gemini and ChatGPT translate on your own key, and that company bills you; with no key saved for the one you choose, Reverbot translates.

Only these two are offered, because they take the sound itself. The choice applies to Translate 2-way, TRANSLATE and Translate too as well, but phone calls with Both of you always use Reverbot’s translation. It’s also in Settings › AI & API Keys, under AI for each feature, as Translation.

Practice following a language

1. Touch and hold Translate Vicinity, then tap Settings.
2. Under Practice, turn on Rehearse first.
3. Under Partner speaks, choose the language to practice.
4. Tap Done, then tap the big button.

Reverbot plays someone talking nearby in short, everyday sentences, and doesn’t translate them. A banner reads “REHEARSAL — Reverbot is playing the other person, not translating.”

Vicinity rehearsals always use the Standard partner, and each turn costs a question, as an answer does. Turn Rehearse first off to translate for real. The Practice topic explains every rehearsal setting.

Change Vicinity settings

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

• How Vicinity Language Translation works opens this Help topic.
• Under Button style, Different button style for Vicinity translation and Style give translations their own look in the big button.
• Under Language, Translate to is the language you hear.
• How long it waits, under Silence duration before answering, is how long a speaker must pause before the sentence is translated. Shorter is quicker but can cut a sentence into pieces.
• AI chooses who translates.
• Different voice for Vicinity translation and Different speed for Vicinity translation give translations their own voice and speed.
• Under Practice, Rehearse first turns on a rehearsal.
• Answer questions too is the same as lighting Questions beside Translate Vicinity.
• Restore Vicinity Language Translation defaults puts these back after you confirm, including Translate to and the translation AI, which Translate 2-way shares.

If it doesn’t work

• If nothing is translated, check that Translate to isn’t the language being spoken. Speech already in your language is skipped on purpose.
• If “Didn’t catch that — say it again” appears, move the iPhone closer to the speaker and ask people to speak one at a time.
• If sentences arrive in pieces, drag How long it waits toward Longest. If translations come too long after people stop, drag it toward Shortest.
• If translations appear on screen but don’t play, connect headphones or turn on Speakerphone in Settings.
• 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 Gemini or OpenAI key under AI.
• If a subscriber sees “That’s today’s limit on Reverbot’s connection — it comes back tomorrow.”, translation is back the next day; your own key under AI works meanwhile.

Note: Translations can be wrong. Check names, numbers and anything important with the speaker.

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