DeepL Translator is now available for Android
When DeepL Translator launched in 2017, it promised to deliver translations that would be more human-like than those of competing services such as Google Translate or Microsoft Translate. The service has been available for Windows, Mac, iOS and as a web version for a while, and it is now also available for Android.
DeepL Translate is available on Google Play for Android devices running Android 8.0 or newer. The app is free and supports light and dark modes, which it applies automatically based on the system preset. The translation service has come a long way since its humble beginnings. It is now capable of translating 23 languages:
Bulgarian, Chinese (simplified), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (American), English (British), Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish
The Android version is powered by the same translation engine as the other company products. The interface is divided into two fields when you launch the application. The top part accepts user input, either manually or through pasting, and the lower part displays the translation. The input language is detected automatically, but you may change the output language to any of the supported languages.
Other than that, there is an option to listen to the original text or the translated text using text-to-speech, and options to copy the translation to the clipboard or to share it. Translations require an active Internet connection. The translation speed is fast and the quality of output is good.
Closing Words
The developers are working on new features and improvements already. The app is quite basic, and while it will do for many purposes, it lacks options that other translation applications offer.
Google Translate supports microphone and camera input, keeps track of a history of translations, and supports the downloading of languages to the local device.
Still, while the initial version of the Deepl Translate application is basic, it does deliver when it comes to the speed and quality of translations. If you require translations only for the languages that it supports, it is an excellent option when it comes to translating content on Android devices and on the go.
Now You: which translation service do you use?
On web I use Lingva, DeepL.
On Android I use F-Droid app named SimplyTranslate Mobile and DeepL(unofficial app – basically web app) on F-Droid.
“…which translation service do you use?”
I just use Deepl in a web browser.
When I had a phone, I used the Microsoft Translator app – as you can also download languages to the device, which allows it to work offline.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.translator
I see no value in an app that doesn’t work offline – just use the website – which is platform agnostic and means you don’t have a thousand apps all needlessly taking up space and constantly having to update.
When you select a text on your browser and click to DeepL, it switches to DeepL app. I’d rather to see a pop-up window so I’ll keep using unofficial DeepL app on F-Droid.