Being understood
In short
Download both languages, not one. Apple's condition for translating offline is that the input and the output language are both on the device, and then On-Device Mode is the separate switch that keeps it offline — with Apple's own warning that offline translations may be less accurate. Google says to connect to Wi-Fi before downloading. To be understood in person, use Face to Face, which shows the other person the conversation from their side.
Open the app checklistApplies to
Anyone relying on a phone to read menus, signs and notices in mainland China, or to be understood by a driver, a counter clerk or an officer who reads no English.
Check before you rely on it
These are the manufacturers' own support pages plus two Beijing municipal guides. No page we opened states which translation services are reachable on a mainland data connection, which is exactly why the preparation here is downloading rather than trusting a connection.
Review date: 2026-07-25
The translation app almost never fails in the hotel. It fails in a car park, at a ticket window, in a lift, at the exact moment the sentence matters.
Before you fly, and in the moment
Printed by the city itself
These are not our translations. They are the strings Beijing prints on its own visitor pages.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — Get Connected & Essential Apps (page dated 2024-08-30; read 2026-07-25)
Decision table
Seven failures, each traced to a setting rather than to bad luck.
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| The app says it needs a connection, in a place with no connection. | Only one of the two languages is on the device. | Apple states that offline translation needs both the input and the output language downloaded. Download English as well as Chinese. |
| It worked on Wi-Fi at the hotel and stopped in the taxi. | The app is still preferring the online engine. | Turn on On-Device Mode under Settings, Apps, Translate. Apple describes it as always translating offline using downloaded languages. |
| The offline translation reads oddly and you do not trust it. | This is documented behaviour, not a fault. | Apple publishes the warning itself: offline translations may not be as accurate as online translations. Keep sentences short and check the reply. |
| You forgot to download anything before the flight. | Nothing is on the device. | Google describes the language files as small and allows downloading over mobile data, under Menu, Settings, Data usage, Downloaded languages. Airport Wi-Fi also works, and is free on a passport at both Beijing airports. |
| The camera translation will not hold still long enough to read. | Live camera view keeps re-translating as the phone moves. | Pause the camera view and zoom in on the overlaid translation, or photograph the text and translate the photo from the library instead. |
| The other person cannot read your screen upside down. | You are showing them your side of the conversation. | Use Face to Face under View at the top left, so each person sees the conversation from their own side. There is also a control on the translation card for showing a single translation to someone else. |
| You keep re-typing the same address or instruction. | Nothing is saved. | Save translations as favourites. Apple states favourites stay in sync in the Translate app across devices signed in to the same Apple Account. |
Source: Apple — Change your Translate settings on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Source: Apple — Translate text and voice for conversations across languages using iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Source: Apple — Translate text with the camera view in the Translate app on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Source: Google — Download languages to use offline (read 2026-07-25)
The published facts
Each line links the page it came from and the day we opened it. Sources read 2026-07-25.
To use translation when not connected to the internet, both the input and the output language have to be downloaded. The path is Settings, Apps, Translate, Languages, then tap the download control next to each one.
Source: Apple — Change your Translate settings on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Downloading a language does not by itself make the app work offline all the time. On-Device Mode, under Settings, Apps, Translate, makes it always translate offline using the downloaded languages.
Source: Apple — Change your Translate settings on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Apple states that offline translations may not be as accurate as online translations. That is the trade for a translation that still works in a lift, a tunnel or a village.
Source: Apple — Change your Translate settings on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Conversations work for downloaded languages when there is no internet connection, or when On-Device Mode is turned on. Auto Translate detects when each person starts and stops speaking, so nobody has to hold a button.
Source: Apple — Translate text and voice for conversations across languages using iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Under View at the top left, Face to Face shows each person the conversation from their own side. A translation card also carries a control for showing a single translation to someone else.
Source: Apple — Translate text and voice for conversations across languages using iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Translations saved as favourites stay up to date in the Translate app on every device signed in to the same Apple Account. Saving the hotel address and two or three sentences before departure beats typing them at a taxi window.
Source: Apple — Translate text and voice for conversations across languages using iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
The camera view translates text around you in real time as the rear camera moves — a restaurant menu, a street sign — and the view can be paused and zoomed. Tapping an overlaid translation offers Copy Translation, Add to Favorites and audio of both the original and the translation.
Source: Apple — Translate text with the camera view in the Translate app on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Text in photos already in the photo library can be translated the same way. A notice photographed at a station while the signal was gone can be read at the hotel that evening.
Source: Apple — Translate text with the camera view in the Translate app on iPhone (read 2026-07-25)
Google's instruction is to connect to Wi-Fi before downloading languages, but the files are described as small and can be pulled over mobile data through Menu, Settings, Data usage, Downloaded languages, with settings for asking first or using either network.
Source: Google — Download languages to use offline (read 2026-07-25)
If a language does not offer a Download control, Google states it cannot be downloaded. Downloaded ones are marked Downloaded in the app and can be updated, upgraded to a higher-quality pack, or removed from the same screen.
Source: Google — Download languages to use offline (read 2026-07-25)
Beijing's SIM card service guide recommends downloading a translation app in advance, or bringing a Chinese-speaking friend, if you have difficulty communicating in the local language. It also prints the Chinese sentence for asking staff where the Wi-Fi terminal is.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — A Guide for Purchasing SIM Cards in Beijing (read 2026-07-25)
Beijing's arrivals guide states that Alipay has a built-in multilanguage translator covering 15 languages, and that WeChat does not have an in-app translator. The same page notes most Chinese mobile map apps do not offer English interfaces.
Source: Beijing Municipal People's Government — Get Connected & Essential Apps (page dated 2024-08-30; read 2026-07-25)
In short
Short answers on downloading, the offline switch, showing text to a driver, and reading a menu with no signal.
Downloaded languages translate without an internet connection, and Google's instruction is to connect to Wi-Fi before downloading them. The files are small enough to pull over mobile data if you forgot, through Menu, Settings, Data usage, Downloaded languages. A language that offers no Download control cannot be downloaded at all.
Almost always the second language. Apple states that translating without a connection needs both the input and the output language downloaded, so a phone with Chinese but not English is still an online-only phone. Downloading is also not the same as staying offline: On-Device Mode, under Settings, Apps, Translate, is the switch that keeps it offline.
Save it as a favourite before you need it, then show it. Apple's Translate app keeps favourites in sync across devices on the same Apple Account, and a translation card carries a control for showing the translation to someone else. For a back-and-forth, the conversation view has a Face to Face option under View that shows each person the conversation from their own side.
No, and Apple says so on its own support page: offline translations may not be as accurate as online translations. Treat that as the price of a translation that works in a lift, a tunnel or a car park. Keep sentences short, avoid idioms, and confirm the answer you get back rather than acting on a long paragraph.
Yes, if the languages are already downloaded. The camera view translates text around you in real time and can be paused and zoomed, and it also translates text in photos already in your library. Photographing a station notice or a hotel sign at the moment you see it, then reading it later, is the habit that makes a dead connection harmless.
Beijing's arrivals guide states Alipay carries a built-in multilanguage translator covering 15 languages and that WeChat does not have one, and notes that most Chinese mobile map apps have no English interface. Beijing's SIM card guide separately advises downloading a translation app in advance, or bringing a Chinese-speaking friend, before going to an operator counter.
Not published
Where the manufacturers' documentation stops, this page stops with it.
The recovery sequence for a travel eSIM that will not install or will not carry data on arrival.
Open the sequenceThe city tells you to bring a translation app to this window. Here is what else it asks for.
Open pageWhere camera translation fits into ordering, and what to do when the mini-program will not proceed.
Open pageNext move
Read enough to make the decision smaller, then open the checklist, search a specific question, choose a setup tool, or share the page with the person planning with you.
Use the checklist when the question has shifted from research to preparation.
Search by the actual problem: Alipay, eSIM, transit visa, first transfer, vegetarian food, or a city name.
Open recommendations when the task is clear enough for a short list to be useful.