Live translation
Any video
Any livestream

Not speech in another language. Live Captions writes down what is said without translating it. Live Translation works in Phone, FaceTime and Messages, not over a video. Generated subtitles in iOS 27 are English only, and their translated version needs a video that already has English subtitles. Hono Translate covers the case none of them do: translating what is being said, in any app, as it is said.

Yes, and one iPhone is enough. Through screen sharing — the iOS sheet you confirm when you start — iOS hands the sound that is playing to the app you pick. Hono Translate takes that audio from iOS, not from the microphone, so headphones are fine, and its subtitles float in a Picture-in-Picture window over TikTok, YouTube or any other app.

An iPhone on iOS 26 or later. The first time you use a language, the app downloads that language's recognition and translation models. After that it works fully offline.

Any iPhone running iOS 26 or later. To check yours, open Settings › General › Software Update: it shows which iOS version you have and, if you are not on iOS 26 yet, whether your iPhone can update to it.

Because iOS has no API that simply hands one app another app's audio. The screen-sharing mechanism is the only route that exists, so the system sheet appears and you tap Start Sharing. Hono Translate uses the audio stream only, and nothing leaves your iPhone. The only time anything is saved is when you record a clip yourself, and it goes straight to your Photos.

Yes, once a language pair has been downloaded. Recognition and translation both run on the device, so no connection is needed while you watch.

The list is read from iOS at runtime rather than hardcoded, so it tracks what your particular iPhone can do. On the listening side it is the overlap between Apple's on-device speech models and its translation models — English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese in both scripts, Cantonese, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi, Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese — some of them through Apple's on-device dictation model, so each sentence takes a few seconds longer to appear. On the reading side, any language Apple's translator handles. Models download the first time you pick a language, so a fresh phone shows fewer until it has fetched them.

No. iOS allows only one Picture in Picture window at a time, so if another app opens its own, yours is taken over. The audio share keeps running and the app's button becomes Open Subtitle Window. One tap brings it back.

Look at the status line above the big button on the main screen — it names whichever stage is pending, whether that is a model downloading, a language pack not yet installed, or audio not being shared. No line there means there is nothing for you to do. Also make sure the video is not muted, and check for the red recording indicator in the status bar, which means audio really is being shared. Recognition works from sound, so heavy background music or several people talking at once will noticeably reduce accuracy.

No. Free to download and free to try — you get enough goes to make up your mind before paying anything, on your own video and in your own language. There is no card to enter and no account to create. Paying is what removes the limit for good: unlimited subtitles from then on, bought through the App Store.

Free to download and free to try. You get enough goes to make up your mind before paying anything. Paying removes the limit for good — unlimited subtitles from then on — as a monthly subscription, a yearly one, or a one-time lifetime unlock; current prices are shown in the App Store in your own currency.