WhatsApp video call translator: can you translate a WhatsApp call?

What can WhatsApp translate?

Text messages. Since September 2025, WhatsApp can translate a message in a one-to-one chat, a group or a Channel: press and hold the message, then tap Translate. On Android you can also turn on automatic translation for a whole chat.

WhatsApp says the translation happens on your phone, where WhatsApp cannot see it. It has been rolling out gradually, and Android started with fewer languages than iPhone, so what you see depends on your phone and your version of the app.

That is the whole feature. Nothing in WhatsApp translates what people say out loud on a call.

Can WhatsApp translate a voice or video call?

No. As of October 2026, WhatsApp has not announced translation for voice or video calls, and nothing in the app translates speech during one.

Apps that promise to translate WhatsApp calls do it from outside WhatsApp. Some use your phone's own call translation, some listen through the speaker, and some move you onto a different call. The next two sections cover each.

Does my phone translate WhatsApp calls?

Samsung Galaxy: yes, on supported models. Galaxy AI's Live Translate works during calls in some other apps, and Samsung names WhatsApp among them. It speaks the translation aloud and shows it on screen, and you can mute the original voices so only the translation is heard. It runs on the Galaxy phone, so only one of you needs one. Turn it on in Settings › Galaxy AI › Call assist › Live translate in other apps, then start it from the quick settings panel during the call. It needs a supported Galaxy phone or tablet on One UI 6.1 or later, and covers about twenty languages.

iPhone: not in WhatsApp. Apple's Live Translation works only in Apple's own apps, on an iPhone 15 Pro or later with Apple Intelligence turned on. In the Phone app it speaks the translation aloud for both of you. In FaceTime it shows translated captions only, and FaceTime is for calls between Apple devices, so both of you need one. Apple lets other calling apps build Live Translation in, but there is no sign that WhatsApp has.

Google Pixel: not in WhatsApp. Pixel 10 and later phones translate calls in the Phone app and speak the translation aloud, on the phone itself. Google's documentation does not mention WhatsApp.

If one of you has a supported Galaxy phone and your languages are on Samsung's list, try that first: it stays inside the WhatsApp call.

What about “WhatsApp call translator” apps?

They work around WhatsApp, not inside it. Android and iPhone do not let another app hear a call's audio, so these apps take one of three routes:

• A link. You send a link in the WhatsApp chat and the other person joins the app's own call. The translated call is no longer a WhatsApp call.
• The speaker. You put the WhatsApp call on speaker, and the app listens through the microphone and shows captions on top of WhatsApp. It needs permission to draw over other apps, and it hears the room as well as the call.
• A second number. A few give you another phone number and translate calls made through it.

Read the privacy label in the app store before installing one. Some developers say in their own labels that voice recordings are shared with third parties, and some apps bill weekly.

How to have a translated video call with someone on WhatsApp

The link route works on any phone and needs no special permissions. With VideoCallTranslator it looks like this:

1. Create a room. You need an account on the site; new accounts start with 30 free minutes.
2. Choose your language. You can set theirs too, or let them choose it when they join.
3. Send the room link in your WhatsApp chat. Add one line telling them they don't need to install anything.
4. They tap the link. It opens in their phone's browser. They type their name, allow the microphone and camera, and pick a male or female voice for their translated speech.
5. Talk. Each of you speaks your own language and hears the other one translated a moment later, with subtitles if you want them.

The link keeps working until you close the room, so you can pin it in the chat and use the same one for every call.

How is it different from a WhatsApp call?

It is a separate call, in the browser. WhatsApp is only where you send the link.

Only the host pays. Translation comes out of prepaid minutes belonging to the person who created the room, counted only while both of you are connected. The minutes never expire. The person you invite joins free and never needs an account.

It is not end-to-end encrypted. A WhatsApp call is. A translated call cannot be, because the translator has to hear what you say. We never record calls, and every connection is encrypted in transit. What happens to your audio explains the details.

There is a short pause. The translation arrives after each sentence, a bit like talking through an interpreter. Finish your thought, then pause.

It is for two people. Each room holds one call between two people, in any pair of 41 languages.

When should you stay on WhatsApp?

When you share a language. When you only need to text, because WhatsApp's own message translation is free and stays on your phone. When the conversation has to be end-to-end encrypted. And for anything legal or medical, use a professional interpreter rather than any machine translation.