Translate Arabic, signal or no signal.
Typed Arabic translation runs on your iPhone with nothing connected. The camera needs a signal: an iPhone cannot read the Arabic script offline, so a scan taken without one is kept and translated when you are back online.
Typing works with no signal
Download the Arabic pack once, over hotel wifi, and typed translation runs on the phone from then on — as it does in all 58 languages.
The camera needs a connection
An iPhone cannot read the Arabic script offline at all. With a signal the photograph is read and translated; without one the scan is kept and translated the moment you are back online, so the sign is not lost.
Speech depends on your iPhone
Spoken translation uses Apple's own speech packs, which cover about half of these languages and differ from phone to phone — so the app tells you if it cannot hear Arabic rather than failing while someone waits. How speech works.
Two real ones, printed and photographed
Both went through the app on an iPhone from pages we had printed, so the Arabic is known rather than guessed. What came back is below it, unedited.
Printed on it
- قائمة اليوم
- شوربة خضار مع الخبز
- دجاج مشوي مع البطاطس
- سمك طازج لهذا اليوم
- كعكة الشوكولاتة
- القهوة والشاي مشمولان
What the app gave back
- List of today
- Vegetable soup with bread
- Grilled chicken with potatoes
- Fresh fish for today
- Chocolate cake
- Coffee and tea are included
Read and translated on an iPhone, 1 September 2026, from a page we had printed — so the original is known rather than guessed. Nothing here is tidied up.
Read correctly from right to left and translated line by line. "قائمة اليوم" came back as "List of today" rather than "Today's menu"; every dish is right.
Printed on it
- المحطة الرئيسية
- الرصيف 3
- قطارات إلى المطار
- اشترِ تذكرتك قبل الصعود
- المخرج على اليمين
What the app gave back
- The main station
- Platform 3
- Trains to the airport
- Buy your ticket before boarding
- Director on the right
Read and translated on an iPhone, 1 September 2026, from a page we had printed — so the original is known rather than guessed. Nothing here is tidied up.
The platform, the trains and the ticket line are right. The last one is not: "المخرج على اليمين" — the exit is on the right — came back as "Director on the right", because the same Arabic word can mean both. A sign is short and has no context to choose between them, which is where machine translation is weakest.
Questions
Does Arabic camera translation work offline?
No, and no iPhone app can make it. The phone’s own text recognition cannot read the Arabic script offline. SofiLingo keeps the photograph and translates it the moment you are back online, and typed Arabic works offline in the meantime.
Does typed Arabic translation work offline?
Yes. Download the Arabic pack once, over wifi, and typing runs entirely on the phone from then on. That is true of all 58 languages.
How good is the Arabic translation?
Good enough for menus, signs and tickets, and not for anything that matters legally or medically. The two examples on this page are unedited, mistakes included, so you can judge it yourself before you pay anything.
Can SofiLingo hear spoken Arabic?
It depends on your iPhone. Spoken translation uses Apple’s own speech packs, which cover about half of the 58 languages and differ from phone to phone, so the app tells you before you start if it cannot hear Arabic.
Take it with you
The first 15 translations are free, with ads and no card. Download the Arabic pack before you go and the phone can do the rest on its own.
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