Translate German, with no signal at all.
Typed German translation and the camera both run on your iPhone, so a menu or a sign in German can be read in flight mode. Below are two real ones, printed, photographed and translated by the app, and left unedited.
Typing works with no signal
Download the German pack once, over hotel wifi, and typed translation runs on the phone from then on — as it does in all 58 languages.
The camera reads it on the phone
Your iPhone reads German from a photograph itself. Nothing is sent anywhere, and it works with the phone in flight mode.
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 German 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 German is known rather than guessed. What came back is below it, unedited.
Printed on it
- Tagesmenü
- Gemüsesuppe mit Brot
- Gegrilltes Hähnchen mit Kartoffeln
- Frischer Fisch des Tages
- Schokoladenkuchen
- Kaffee und Tee inklusive
What the app gave back
- Day menu
- Vegetable soup with bread
- Grilled chicken with potatoes
- Fresh fish of the day
- Chocolate cake
- Coffee and tea 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.
Clean: every dish, and the coffee and tea, came through. "Tagesmenü" became "Day menu", which is the only line a person would phrase differently.
Printed on it
- Nehmen Sie zweimal täglich eine Tablette
- Schlucken Sie sie nach dem Essen mit Wasser
- Trinken Sie während der Behandlung keinen Alkohol
- Kühl und trocken lagern
- Fragen Sie Ihren Arzt, wenn die Schmerzen anhalten
What the app gave back
- Take a tablet twice a day
- Swallow them after eating
- Water
- Drink during treatment
- no alcohol
- Cool and dry Store your doctor if the pain
- stop
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.
And this is the bad one. The label's lines broke in the wrong places when it was read, and the translation followed the breaks: "Trinken Sie während der Behandlung keinen Alkohol" — do not drink alcohol during treatment — came back as "Drink during treatment" and "no alcohol" on two lines, and the last instruction turned into "Store your doctor if the pain". The dose line was right. It is on this page because a medicine label is exactly where you should not rely on any app, this one included.
Questions
Does German camera translation work offline?
Yes. Your iPhone reads German from a photograph itself, so a scan works in flight mode and nothing is sent anywhere.
Does typed German translation work offline?
Yes. Download the German 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 German 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 German?
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 German.
Take it with you
The first 15 translations are free, with ads and no card. Download the German pack before you go and the phone can do the rest on its own.
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