How to translate a PDF on iPhone (free built-in options)
Updated 13 October 2026 · ChatPDF guides · 7 sources
AI can miss or misstate things. Summaries and answers from AI tools, ChatPDF included, can leave out important details or get them wrong. Check anything that matters against the document itself, especially legal, medical, financial and exam material.
- Select text in an app and tap Translate, or paste longer passages into the Translate app. 1,2
- For scanned pages or paper, use the camera or a photo in the Translate app, or Live Text in Camera or Preview. 3,4,5
- Download languages in Translate to translate on the iPhone without an internet connection. 2
- Machine translation is a draft. For legal, medical or official documents, use a qualified human translator.
iPhone does not have a single "translate this PDF" button, but its built-in tools can translate any part of a document for free. The approach depends on whether the PDF has selectable text or is a scan. Translation is only available for supported languages and may not be available in every region 1.
PDFs with selectable text: translate a selection
- Open the PDF, for example in the Preview app, and touch and hold the first word, then drag the grab points to select a passage 6.
- Tap Translate in the menu. If you do not see it, tap the arrow for more options. Apple describes this for apps such as Notes, Mail and supported third-party apps 1.
- Choose the languages to translate from and to. You can play the text aloud or download languages to translate locally.
If Translate does not appear for a selection, tap Copy instead and use the Translate app.
Longer passages: paste into the Translate app
- Copy a section of the PDF (a few paragraphs at a time works well).
- Open the Translate app, choose the two languages, tap "Enter text", paste and tap Next 2.
- Copy the translation and paste it into a note as you go, labeled with the page number, so you build a translated outline of the document.
In the Translate app you can download languages so translation happens entirely on your iPhone, even without an internet connection 2. That is worth doing for private documents and for travel.
Scanned PDFs and paper documents
A scan has no text to select, so translate the picture instead:
- Paper in front of you: in the Translate app, tap Camera and hold the page in view. Text is translated in real time; freeze the image to zoom in, copy or save a translation 3.
- Live Text in Camera: point the Camera app at the text, tap the Live Text button, select text and tap Translate 4.
- A scanned PDF: export the page as an image from Preview, then either open it in Preview, select the text and tap Translate 7,5, or in the Translate app tap Camera, choose the photo from your library and save or share the translated image 3.
If you will translate many pages, adding a text layer first saves time; see how to get selectable text from a scanned PDF.
Getting a better translation
- Translate whole sentences. Selections that start or stop mid-sentence lose meaning.
- Fix broken lines first. Text copied from PDFs can contain hyphenated line breaks or headers in the middle of a paragraph. Clean them up before translating.
- Watch numbers, dates and units. Date order, decimal commas and currency symbols differ between languages; check them against the original.
- Keep the original nearby. Defined terms, names and legal phrases may be translated inconsistently from one passage to the next.
Machine translation is a useful draft for understanding a document. For contracts, medical records, immigration paperwork or anything you will sign or submit, use a qualified human translator; many authorities require a certified translation anyway. If the document is a contract, also read how to summarize a contract.
Understanding a foreign-language PDF with AI
Sometimes you do not need a translation, just answers: what is this letter asking me to do, what is the deadline, what does section 4 say. ChatPDF answers in the language of your question, even when the document is in another language, so you can ask in English about a PDF written in German or Japanese. It does not produce a translated copy of the PDF, and its answers can leave out or misstate details, so look up the relevant passage and run it through Translate before acting on it. The PDF needs selectable text; scanned pages are refused. See how to ask questions to a PDF and how far to trust AI summaries.
Common questions
Can I translate a whole PDF at once on iPhone?
Apple’s built-in tools translate selected text, pasted text, camera views and photos, not whole PDF files. Work section by section, or use a dedicated document translation service. 1,2
Does translation work offline?
Yes, for languages you download in the Translate app; Apple says downloaded languages translate entirely on your iPhone without an internet connection. 2
Why is there no Translate option when I select text?
Translation depends on the app and on supported languages and regions. Tap the arrow for more options, or copy the text and paste it into the Translate app. 1
Sources and further reading
- Apple Support. Translate text in apps on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Translate words and phrases on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Use the camera in the Translate app on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Use Live Text with your iPhone camera (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Interact with text in an image in Preview on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Annotate a PDF or image in Preview on iPhone (iPhone User Guide). support.apple.com
- Apple Support. Export or compress PDFs and images in Preview on iPhone (iPhone User Guide, iOS 27). support.apple.com