Translate Persian, signal or no signal.
Typed Persian translation runs on your iPhone with nothing connected. The camera needs a signal: an iPhone cannot read the Persian script offline, so a scan taken without one is kept and translated when you are back online.
Typing works with no signal
Download the Persian 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 Persian 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 Persian 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 Persian is known rather than guessed. What came back is below it, unedited.
Printed on it
- خطر
- به سیمها دست نزنید
- کودکان را دور نگه دارید
- در مواقع اضطراری با مدیر تماس بگیرید
What the app gave back
- Danger
- Don't touch the wires
- Keep children away
- Contact manager in an emergency
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.
All four lines right: "به سیمها دست نزنید" came back as "Don't touch the wires", and "Keep children away" is exact.
Printed on it
- ایستگاه مرکزی
- سکوی 3
- قطارها به فرودگاه
- قبل از سوار شدن بلیت خود را بخرید
- خروجی سمت راست
What the app gave back
- Central station
- Siki 3
- Trains to the airport
- Before you buy your ticket
- Side exit
- True
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. "سکوی 3" came back as "Siki 3", and the exit sign was read over two lines and came back as "Side exit" and "True", losing the direction. "Before you buy your ticket" also drops the boarding.
Questions
Does Persian camera translation work offline?
No, and no iPhone app can make it. The phone’s own text recognition cannot read the Persian script offline. SofiLingo keeps the photograph and translates it the moment you are back online, and typed Persian works offline in the meantime.
Does typed Persian translation work offline?
Yes. Download the Persian 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 Persian 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 Persian?
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 Persian.
Take it with you
The first 15 translations are free, with ads and no card. Download the Persian pack before you go and the phone can do the rest on its own.
Get SofiLingo on the App StoreAll 58 languages · translating with the camera · translating with no internet · a translator for going abroad
Languages with a page of their own: Spanish · Greek · Japanese · Chinese · Thai · Italian · Turkish · Vietnamese · Hindi · Marathi · French · German · Portuguese · Arabic · Korean