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Image: WhatsApp
WhatsApp is rolling out a built-in message translation feature that could reshape how South Africans communicate across linguistic divides.
According to the official announcement, users can now long-press any incoming message written in a language they don’t understand, tap Translate, and see the text in their preferred language, all without leaving the chat.
In parallel, Android users will have the option to enable automatic translation for entire chat threads, meaning future incoming messages in that conversation will be translated as they arrive.
For iPhone users, the feature works differently: you can long-press individual messages and choose Translate, but you don’t get the “always-translate” toggle that Android users are receiving.
That means every message on iOS has to be translated one at a time, rather than automatically.
According to WhatsApp’s press release, the iOS rollout still covers more than 19 languages, so iPhone users arguably get a wider language set, but with less convenience compared to Android.
For people who don’t use Android or iPhone (e.g., WhatsApp Web or Desktop), WhatsApp hasn’t announced support for translation yet. At this stage, translations are mobile-only features.
Critically, WhatsApp underscores that translations are processed on-device, not via cloud servers. This design keeps messages end-to-end encrypted and ensures privacy: WhatsApp itself cannot see the content being translated.
The feature is rolling out gradually, with support initially in six languages on Android, English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Arabic and more than 19 languages for iPhone users.
South Africa is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, officially recognising 11 national languages: Afrikaans, English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, siSwati, Sesotho, Setswana, Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi), Tshivenda, Xitsonga, and isiNdebele.
While WhatsApp’s current set of translation languages does not yet include any indigenous South African languages, the shift is significant: it marks WhatsApp’s serious intent to embed translation as a core feature of messaging, rather than relying on external tools.
The technical underpinnings of translation systems for African and underrepresented languages is an active area of research.
One relevant model, MMTAfrica, is a many-to-many multilingual translation system developed for African contexts, covering languages like Xhosa and Swahili among others, and demonstrates how modern systems can bridge less-resourced languages with global ones, according to a research paper by Connell University.
However, getting from research prototypes to commercially deployed translation in isiZulu or Sesotho involves solving challenges around data scarcity, dialect variation, domain adaptation, and user experience. In that light,
WhatsApp’s rollout is a stepping stone, but one that could amplify demand for local language support.
WhatsApp is not alone in embedding translation. Here’s how it stacks up in terms of technology and innovation:
| Platform / App | Translation Mode | Offline / On-Device Capable |
| In-chat translation via long-press; auto-thread translation on Android | Yes, on-device translation packs | |
| Google Translate | Tap-to-translate across apps: conversation, camera, text translation | Yes, for many language packs offline |
| Microsoft Translator | Text, speech, image, and group conversation translation | Yes, for many languages |
| iTranslate | Text, voice, website translation, share extension | Depends on the plan |
| DeepL | High-quality neural translation for select languages | Limited offline support |
What sets WhatsApp’s approach apart is its deep integration into a messaging context, minimised friction for users (long press inside chat), and local, privacy-preserving translation execution.
In contrast, many apps still rely on cloud servers or require users to leave conversations to translate text externally.