Google Translate now works in any app on Android 4.2 or newer, iOS gets offline mode

Google last year introduced a new and very useful feature to Google Translate for Android, called the system-wide support for quick translations. Unfortunately, this new feature has so far only been compatible with devices running version 6.0 Marshmallow of Google's OS.

This has however changed as the simplified in-app translation functionality is now compatible with any device running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean or newer. Whenever a user selects a bit of text - in any app on your Android phone or tablet, a translation button will instantly pop up.

If a user tap on it it will open into an overlay that will present to the user, the translation of the selected text right then and there, with no need to copy text first, then hop into the Google Translate app to have it converted into your language. This saves time for users and makes translating languages you randomly come across in various apps much simpler.

Apple iOS version of Google Translate is now joining its Android iteration in supporting offline mode. Furthermore, the data packages it uses are around 25MB each, so small enough to always have on your phone if you want to. The total number of languages that support this feature is presently 52, after Filipino was added.

Lastly, Google Translate also added Word Lens in Chinese. So users can point the camera at something that's written in Chinese and it will be instantly translated for the user. It works from and to English for both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. This is the 29th language that now supports instant visual translation. And like all the others, this works offline too.

All of the new features described above are going to be rolled out to the Google Translate apps for Android and iOS in the next few days.