How to Use Screen Translate

Translate any text on your screen in real time — games, chats, comics, apps.

🚀 Quick Start

Grant two permissions. On first launch the app asks for Display over other apps (for the floating bubble) and Screen capture (to read text on screen). On Android 14+, choose “Entire screen” when prompted.

Watch one short ad. A single rewarded ad unlocks the app ad-free until you close it. If you skip the ad, the gate simply reopens on your next translation.

Drag the pointer onto text. A floating bubble appears on your screen. Drag it — a pointer follows your finger. Point at any text and release: the translation pops up right there.

🎯 Five Translation Modes

Open the floating menu bar (tap the bubble) to switch modes.

Word

Point at a single word to translate just that word. Great for language learning — includes tap-to-hear pronunciation (TTS).

Sentence

Point anywhere in a sentence to translate the whole sentence. The most popular mode for chats and social media.

Paragraph

Point at a block of text to translate the entire paragraph at once — ideal for articles and documents.

Select Area

Drag to draw a box around exactly what you want translated. Perfect when the layout is busy.

Fixed Area for games & subtitles

Pin a region of the screen — the app re-translates it automatically whenever its content changes. Made for game dialogue and video subtitles.

🌐 Languages

110+ languages. The source language is detected automatically; pick the target language from the menu bar. Swap them any time.

🤖 AI Translation (optional)

The built-in Google engine is free and needs no setup. Prefer AI translation? Connect your own API key:

DeepL — free tier available at deepl.com
OpenAI (GPT) — key from the OpenAI dashboard
Gemini — free tier via Google AI Studio
Claude — key from the Anthropic Console

Menu bar → translation engine → choose an engine → paste your key. Usage is billed to your account with that provider; the app adds no markup.

❓ FAQ & Troubleshooting

The floating bubble disappeared

Open the app again to restart the service. If it keeps happening, check that Display over other apps is still allowed, and exclude the app from battery optimization (Settings → Battery → Unrestricted).

First translation is slow or says “preparing”

On first use the OCR model is downloaded once through Google Play services. After that, recognition is instant and works offline for OCR.

Nothing happens on some screens

Apps that block screenshots (banking apps, DRM video players) can’t be captured — Android hides their content from every capture app.

Why do I see an ad?

One short ad per session keeps every core feature free. After the ad, the app stays completely ad-free until you close it.

Translation quality seems off

Try the Sentence or Paragraph mode (more context = better translation), or connect an AI engine (DeepL/GPT/Gemini/Claude) for the best quality.

📮 Still stuck?

Email us at handwritingdictionary@gmail.com — we read everything.

Get it on Google Play