Translate Turkish, dotless ı included.
Turkish has letters an English keyboard has never heard of, and the phone's own text recogniser has a habit of rounding them off — ı becomes i, ş becomes s — which is enough to turn an exit into an outlay. With a connection it reads them properly, so the camera uses one when it can.
Typing works with no signal
Download the Turkish 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 better online
Your iPhone can read Turkish on its own, and reads it more accurately with a connection — so it uses the connection when there is one and the phone when there is not.
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 Turkish rather than failing while someone waits. How speech works.
The dot on the i, and what it costs
The same printed sign, read by the phone on its own and then with a connection. The Turkish is known because we printed it.
Printed on it
- Merkez İstasyonu
- 3. Peron
- Havalimanına giden trenler
- Binmeden önce biletinizi alın
- Çıkış sağda
The phone on its own
Read as
- Merkez Istasyonu
- 3. Peron
- Havalimanına giden trenler
- Binmeden önce biletinizi alın
- Çıkiş sağda
Gave back
- Central Station
- 3. Peron
- Trains to the airport
- Get your ticket before you ride
- the outlay is on the right
With a connection
Read as
- Merkez İstasyonu
- 3. Peron
- Havalimanına giden trenler
- Binmeden önce biletinizi alın
- Çıkış sağda
Gave back
- Central station
- 3. Platform
- Trains to the airport
- Get your ticket before you ride
- the exit is on the right
Both readings are real runs on an iPhone against a page we had printed; the connected one is from 1 September 2026, the phone's own from the run before this language was routed. Nothing here is tidied up.
"Çıkış" read as "Çıkiş", and the exit came back as "the outlay is on the right".Not a clumsy phrase — a different word, on the line you are looking for when you want to leave a station. "Merkez İstasyonu" also lost the dot off its capital İ.
Printed on it
- Günün menüsü
- Ekmekli sebze çorbası
- Patatesli ızgara tavuk
- Günün taze balığı
- Çikolatalı pasta
- Çay ve kahve dahildir
The phone on its own
Read as
- Günün menüsü
- Ekmekli sebze çorbası
- Patatesli izgara tavuk
- Günün taze balığı
- Çikolatalı pasta Çay ve kahve dahildir
Gave back
- The menu of the day is
- Breaded vegetable soup
- Grid chicken with potatoes
- The fresh fish of the day
- chocolate cake is included in tea and coffee
With a connection
Read as
- Günün menüsü
- Ekmekli sebze çorbası
- Patatesli ızgara tavuk
- Günün taze balığı
- Çikolatalı pasta
- Çay ve kahve dahildir
Gave back
- The menu of the day is
- Breaded vegetable soup
- Grilled chicken with potatoes
- The fresh fish of the day
- chocolate cake
- tea and coffee are included
Both readings are real runs on an iPhone against a page we had printed; the connected one is from 1 September 2026, the phone's own from the run before this language was routed. Nothing here is tidied up.
Same mechanism, softer consequence: "ızgara" read as "izgara", and grilled chicken became "grid chicken". You would work that out. It is the sort of thing that makes a translation app feel unreliable even when it has got the meal broadly right.
The warning sign is the one to note in the other direction: read on the phone alone, with "Çocuklari" for "Çocukları" and "dokunmayin" for "dokunmayın", it still came back as "keep kids away" — right in substance. Dropping a mark is not always fatal, it is simply not predictable, which is why the connection is preferred rather than required. What works with no internet.
With a connection, on a wall of text
Printed on it
- Günde iki kez bir tablet alın
- Yemekten sonra su ile yutun
- Tedavi sırasında alkol almayın
- Serin ve kuru bir yerde saklayın
- Ağrı devam ederse doktorunuza sorun
What the app gave back
- Take a tablet twice a day
- Swallow with water after dinner
- Do not take alcohol during treatment
- Store in a cool and dry place
- Trouble your doctor if pain continues
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.
Five lines, four of them exactly right. The last one arrived as "Trouble your doctor if the pain continues" — the instruction survives, the verb does not. Worth knowing before you trust it with a dose. How the camera reads.
Questions
Does Turkish translation work offline on iPhone?
Typing does, completely, once the Turkish pack is downloaded. The camera works offline as well, but the phone’s recogniser flattens Turkish letters like ı, ş and ğ into their plain forms — so when there is a connection the photograph is read with one instead, and the marks survive.
What does that actually change?
On a printed station sign the phone read "Çıkış" as "Çıkiş" and the exit came back as "the outlay is on the right". On a menu it read "ızgara" as "izgara" and grilled chicken became "grid chicken". Both comparisons are on this page in full.
Can I still scan Turkish with no signal?
Yes. Offline recognition is not switched off, it is simply not as good — you get the reading with the marks flattened, which is usually enough to know what a sign says. Scan it anyway and the app translates it properly again when you are back online.
Is it good enough for menus and signs?
That is what it is for. It is on-device machine translation, useful for menus, signs, tickets and leaflets and not to be relied on for anything medical, legal or contractual. The examples on this page are unedited so you can judge it yourself.
Take it with you
The first 15 translations are free, with ads and no card. Download the Turkish 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