WhatsApp unveils privacy-first message translations for iOS users

WhatsApp has released a new iOS update (25.28.74) via the App Store, which rolls out a secure message translation feature to some users. With this, users can translate messages in 21 different languages. It is available in individual conversations, group chats, and channels, and is expected to roll out to more people in the next couple of weeks.

With this update, the iOS version of WhatsApp provides a more consistent experience than the Android version, which got this feature in the beta 2.25.12.25 update.

Translations are performed on-device via downloaded language packs, this is great for your privacy or if you lose internet connectivity. When you translate a message, it’s all processed locally instead of being shared with Apple, Meta, or other third-parties, so you don’t need to share your chats.

The implementation relies on Apple’s APIs, rather than Meta implementing its own engine. In terms of speed, you can expect translations to appear instantly in a new section right below the original message, keeping the conversation context intact.

Once you get the feature, you will be able to select a message and tap the Translate option in the context menu. The translation framework then automatically detects the message’s language and translates it to whatever target language you choose. The available languages will depend on the version of iOS installed on your device, but in general there’s support for Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, and 17 others, including Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), French, German, Japanese, and Korean.

A minimum requirement to use the feature is that you need to have at least iOS 17.4, as this is when Apple introduced the Translation API. The API allows WhatsApp to integrate the service directly while maintaining message encryption without sending data to external servers.

Source: WABetaInfo

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Posted Wednesday 8 October 2025 at 3:41 am AEST (my time).

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