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Compare translation apps

Pick up to four apps and compare scores, features, pros, and cons.

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App
Instant Translate On Screen
Google Translate
Overall score
64
94
TaglineTranslate anything on your screenThe dependable all-rounder
Best for
Shopping & haggling
TravelShopping & hagglingMultilingual family
Use-case fit
4
7
VerdictFor manga, games, and foreign-language video on Android, this genre of app is the only tool for the job — just walk past the fake countdown and know what the permissions mean.If you want one free app that handles almost every language and situation, Google Translate is still the safest default.
Pros
  • Translates what nothing else here can: games, comics, video subtitles
  • One-time $29.99 purchase instead of a subscription
  • Google's engine underneath, so language coverage is huge
  • Supports nearly 250 languages — the widest coverage of any free app
  • Camera translation, handwriting, and voice conversation modes
  • Free offline packs for dozens of languages
Cons
  • Needs screen-capture and overlay permissions — it watches your display
  • Paywall uses a fake countdown timer
  • No voice, no conversation mode — this is OCR-on-screen only
  • Quality drops on low-resource and long-tail languages
  • Privacy-sensitive text is processed on Google servers
  • Business document formatting is not its strength
Full reviewRead review →Read review →
Quick takeaway

Instant Translate On Screen leads this comparison with an overall score of 64. It is strongest for Shopping & haggling. Google Translate is the closest alternative at 94. Choose Instant Translate On Screen if translates what nothing else here can: games, comics, video subtitles; pick Google Translate if supports nearly 250 languages — the widest coverage of any free app.