How to translate messages in Telegram

Telegram translates messages for free: go to Settings > Language, turn on Show Translate Button, then tap a message (Android), press and hold it (iPhone) or right-click it (Desktop) and choose Translate. Translating a whole chat as new messages arrive is a Telegram Premium feature, channel owners can switch on auto-translation for every reader, and your own reply can be translated before sending with the AI Editor. Voice messages have no text to translate until they are transcribed, and a bot can do both steps.

Which way of translating fits your situation?

Telegram added its translation tools one at a time, from the Translate button in December 2021 to the AI Editor in March 2026, and each one covers a different case. Bots fill in what the app still can't do. As of September 2026:

The sections below go through each row, and the last one covers what to do when a button is missing.

How do I translate a single message for free?

All users have been able to translate single messages since Telegram introduced the feature in December 2021, in private chats, groups and channels alike. First make sure the button is on:

1. Open Settings and tap Language.
2. Turn on Show Translate Button.
3. Open Do Not Translate and tick only the languages you read fluently. Telegram hides the button on messages in those languages, so leave out any language you actually need translated.

Then translate the message.

Android

1. Tap the message once. Telegram's own hint says the Translate button appears after a single tap on a text message.
2. Choose Translate. The translation opens in a window over the chat.
3. To read it in a different language, change the target language in that window, or tap Copy Translation to paste the text elsewhere.

iPhone and iPad

1. Press and hold the message to open its menu.
2. Tap Translate and read the result in the window that opens.

Telegram Desktop

1. Right-click the message and choose Translate.
2. For part of a long message, select that text first: the menu then offers Translate Selected Text.

Translating doesn't touch the chat itself. You see the translation, and the message stays in its original language for everyone else.

How do I translate a whole chat or channel automatically?

With Telegram Premium

Since February 2023, Premium subscribers can translate entire chats, groups and channels in real time. With Translate Entire Chats switched on in Settings > Language, a bar appears at the top of a chat whose messages are mostly in another language:

1. Open the chat, group or channel.
2. Tap Translate to [language] in the bar at the top. The messages in the chat switch to that language.
3. Open the bar's menu to choose another language with Translate To (Choose Another Language on iPhone), stop translating that language, or hide the bar for this chat.
4. Tap Show Original to go back.

The bar doesn't show up in every chat. According to Telegram's API documentation on translation, the app first checks the language of at least 8 messages and suggests translating only if at least 65% of the messages it recognizes are in a language that is neither your phone's system language, nor Telegram's interface language, nor on your Do Not Translate list. A new chat with two foreign messages won't offer it yet.

Without Premium this bar isn't available, but single messages still translate for free. The current price is shown in Settings > Telegram Premium; Telegram's Premium FAQ notes that subscribing through its official Premium bot costs less, because those payments carry no Apple or Google fees.

If you run the channel

Since May 2025, channel owners can turn on auto-translation for all readers, including readers without Premium. Each reader sees posts in their preferred language and can tap the translation bar to switch back to the original.

1. Open your channel and tap its name to open the profile.
2. Tap Edit on iPhone, or the pencil icon on Android.
3. Turn on Auto-Translate Messages.

The switch depends on boosts: in Telegram's default client configuration, a channel needs level 3. If the switch is locked, the channel hasn't reached that level yet, and the app asks you to invite Premium subscribers to boost it.

How do I write a reply in another language?

Reading is only half of a conversation. To answer in a language you don't speak, use the AI Editor, which Telegram added on 31 March 2026:

1. Type your message in your own language. The editor becomes available once the text runs longer than three lines.
2. Tap the AI icon above the Send arrow.
3. Open the Translate tab and choose the language to translate into.
4. If you like, add a style such as Formal or Short to change the tone while translating.
5. Tap Apply, read the result, then send.

The AI Editor isn't reserved for Premium, but free accounts get a daily number of AI edits. When they run out, the app shows Daily Limit Reached, and Premium raises the allowance fifty times.

For a short reply, an inline bot is quicker. Type @YTranslateBot and your text in any chat, including groups, and send the translation that comes back. Yandex Translate (@YTranslateBot) is free and detects the source language on its own, but it handles text only. If you haven't used inline bots before, here is how inline mode works.

How do I translate a voice message or a photo?

The Translate button works on text, so a voice message or a photo of a menu has to become text first.

Voice messages. Telegram Premium includes voice-to-text conversion for voice and round video messages. Without Premium, Telegram allows only a weekly trial quota of short transcriptions, and its size is set by Telegram's servers. In a group boosted to level 6, every member can transcribe voice messages without limits. Once the transcript is on screen, translate it like any other text.

Without Premium, a bot does the transcription:

• Voicy (@voicybot) is free and open source and replies to each voice message in a group with a transcript. Its card notes that audio goes to third-party speech services.
• Transcriber Bot (@transcriber_bot) keeps basic transcription free, as a stated policy, and also reads text from a photo.
• TAK! TEXT (@taktextbot) takes voice, audio, video and links in 90+ languages and can translate the transcript into thirteen languages. As of September 2026, its free allowance is 30 minutes in the first 30 days, then 15 minutes every 30 days.

The bots answer with ordinary text messages, so the free Translate button works on their transcripts. For more options, see the bots that transcribe voice messages and meetings or the full voice-to-text rating.

Photos with text. Telegram has no built-in way to translate text inside an image. Perebot (@perebot) is free, reads the text in a photo of a menu, a sign or a screenshot, and translates it.

What if the Translate button doesn't show up?

• The switch is off. Check Settings > Language > Show Translate Button in the app you are using.
• The language is on your Do Not Translate list. Telegram hides the button for those languages; remove the language from the list.
• There is no text. The button works on text messages. Stickers, voice messages and pictures have nothing for it to translate.
• The app is out of date. Channel auto-translation arrived in 2025 and the AI Editor in 2026; update Telegram from your app store or telegram.org.
• No bar at the top of a chat. Whole-chat translation needs Premium and enough messages in a foreign language. If you hid the bar in a chat once, it stays hidden there.
• No AI icon. Write more than three lines, and check that the daily limit hasn't run out.
• The channel switch is locked. The channel is below the required boost level.

Where to go next

If you translate a lot beyond Telegram's own tools, such as photos, long documents or rare language pairs, compare the options in our rating of translator bots. For the two most-used free translator bots in that rating side by side, read Yandex Translate vs Perebot.