A travel translator that fits the trip
Abroad, the translator you need is the one that works in the moment you need it: at a ticket machine, in front of a sign, at a pharmacy counter, on a data plan you would rather not use. SofiLingo is built for that fortnight — and priced for it.
Before you fly
Download the languages over wifi
About 30 MB each, at home or at the airport. That is the entire preparation: there is no account to create, no email to confirm, nothing to sign into at the other end.
While you are there
Scan it, type it, or say it
Point the camera at a sign, a menu, a timetable or a label. Type a phrase and turn the screen around. Or speak, in the languages your iPhone can hear — roughly half of them.
When you get home
Nothing to cancel
The Holiday pass is one payment for 14 days and does not renew. Your scans stay on the phone, so the trip is still readable months later.
The phrase you need is rarely in the phrasebook
Where the nearest cash machine is. Whether the last bus has gone. That you are allergic to shellfish. Type it, and hand the phone over — the answer comes back in your own language.
This is the part that works with no connection at all, once the language is on your phone. Roaming off, aeroplane mode, a hill village with one bar of signal: it makes no difference to a typed phrase. What else works offline.
A pass the length of a holiday
Most translation apps want a monthly subscription for a fortnight abroad, and rely on you forgetting to cancel it. This one has no subscription at all: it is free with a short video when you need more translations, and the pass is there if you would rather not see one.
Holiday pass
$4.99
One payment. 14 days, no ads. Nothing to cancel when you get home.
Free, with ads
Free
Watch a short video when you need more translations. No card, no account.
Free with ads and no card. The pass removes them for a fortnight and does not renew. The App Store charges in your own currency, so the US price is a guide. Full pricing.
What it will not do
- It is not on Android. iPhone only, iOS 15.5 or later. If you are reading this on a Pixel, this is not the app for your trip.
- The camera needs a connection in 17 languages — Greek, Thai and Arabic among them. Scan anyway and the photo translates itself when you are back online. See every language.
- Speech depends on your iPhone, not on us. It uses Apple's own speech recognition, which hears about half of the 58. The app says so when a language cannot be heard.
- It is machine translation. Good enough to order dinner and find the platform; not good enough to sign a contract or settle a medical question.
Questions
What is the best translator app for travelling without data?
SofiLingo is built for it: typed translation works with no signal in all 58 languages once the pack is downloaded, and the camera reads 25 of them on the phone alone. It also publishes which languages need a connection instead of claiming everything works offline.
What should I set up before I fly?
Download the languages for where you are going while you still have wifi — about 30 MB each. There is no account to create, so that is the whole of the preparation.
Do I have to subscribe to use it on one holiday?
No. There is no subscription at all. The app is free with a short video when you need more translations, and the Holiday pass is $4.99 for 14 days as a single payment that does not renew — so there is nothing to cancel when you get home.
Is there an Android version?
No. SofiLingo is an iPhone app and needs iOS 15.5 or later. There is no Android version and none to announce.
Pack it with the passport
Download it, add the languages you need over wifi, and forget about it until you are standing in front of something you cannot read. The first 15 translations are free.
Get SofiLingo on the App StoreLanguages with a page of their own: Spanish · Greek · Japanese · Chinese · Thai · Italian · Turkish · Vietnamese · Hindi · Marathi
Next: translating a restaurant menu · speaking a phrase out loud · translating with no internet · all 58 languages