How to Translate LINE Messages on iPhone

Can you translate LINE messages on iPhone? LINE's built-in translation feature is not available on iOS. iPhone users need either a third-party translation bot or manual copy-paste to translate messages in LINE. Below are three methods that work, ranked from most manual to fully automatic.

Why LINE's translate feature isn't on iPhone

LINE has a built-in translation option on Android. You long-press a message, tap "Translate," and it shows you the meaning inline. Simple enough.

On iPhone, that option does not exist. There is no translate button in LINE's iOS app. This is not a settings issue or a hidden feature. As of early 2026, it is a platform gap that has persisted across multiple versions of LINE for iOS.

This creates a real problem for a specific set of people. English-speaking expats in Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan skew heavily toward iPhone. They are also the people most likely to be in LINE chats they cannot read. Thai, Japanese, or Chinese messages move fast and carry information that matters. A condo building notice about a water shutoff. A school schedule change. A work coordination thread.

If you have been searching your LINE settings for a translate button on your iPhone, you can stop looking. It is not there. For more detail on whether LINE has a built-in translator at all, we cover that separately. Here is what you can do instead.

Method 1: Copy and paste to a translation app

The most obvious workaround. Copy a message, switch to Google Translate or Apple Translate, paste it, read the result, switch back to LINE.

How to do it on iPhone:

1. Open your LINE chat.
2. Long-press the message you want to translate.
3. Tap "Copy."
4. Switch to Google Translate (or Apple Translate, or DeepL).
5. Paste the text.
6. Read the translation.
7. Switch back to LINE.

Seven steps. For one message.

In a quiet, slow-moving conversation, this is workable. In an active chat where five people are talking over each other in Thai, it falls apart. By the time you have translated one message, ten more have arrived. You are always behind.

There is also an accuracy problem. Translation apps learn from formal, written language. LINE chats are not formal. Thai speakers write "555" instead of "hahaha." Japanese speakers drop particles and mix casual forms with emoji shorthand. Taiwanese Mandarin uses slang and Traditional Chinese characters that trip up tools defaulting to Simplified Chinese.

Copy-paste works for the occasional message. It does not work as a daily strategy for keeping up with a live chat.

Method 2: Screenshot and translate with your camera

iPhone has two camera-based translation options: Google Lens and Apple's built-in Live Text feature.

Using Live Text (built into iOS):

1. Take a screenshot of the LINE chat.
2. Open the screenshot in Photos.
3. Tap and hold any text in the image.
4. Tap "Translate" when the option appears.

Using Google Lens:

1. Take a screenshot.
2. Open Google Lens (through the Google app or Google Photos).
3. Point it at the text in your screenshot.
4. Read the overlay translation.

This method has the advantage of translating multiple messages at once, since you capture the entire screen. For a single screenshot of a calm conversation, it works well.

Where it breaks down:

• Rapid conversations. By the time you screenshot, the chat has scrolled. You are translating a moment that already passed.
• Mixed scripts. A message that mixes Thai script with English words, numbers, and emoji confuses optical character recognition. Translations become fragmented or wrong.
• Stickers with text. LINE stickers are a core part of communication in Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan. Many stickers contain text. Camera translation cannot read text embedded in sticker images.
• Group chats. In an active chat with multiple speakers, you would need to take a new screenshot every few seconds. It is not realistic.

Camera translation is a reasonable fallback for the occasional message or a long one you need to read carefully. It is not a solution for following a live conversation.

Method 3: Use a translation bot in your LINE chat

This is the method that scales on iPhone. It does not depend on your phone's operating system at all.

A translation bot is a LINE account that you add to your chat, just like adding another person. Once it is in the chat, it reads every incoming message and posts a translation automatically. The bot runs on a server, not on your phone. That is why the iOS translation gap does not affect it.

How it works:

1. Add the translation bot as a friend on LINE.
2. Invite it to any chat you want translated.
3. Every message in that chat is automatically translated and posted as a reply.

No tapping. No copying. No switching apps. No screenshots.

Messages appear in the format Name💬Translation, so you can see who said what and what it means at a glance. In a chat with multiple speakers and languages, the bot translates each message individually and attributes it to the right person.

This works in one-on-one conversations and in chats with dozens of participants. It works for Thai, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), and other languages. It works whether you have an iPhone, an Android phone, or a desktop. The translation happens server-side, so your device does not matter.

The bot stays in the chat and keeps translating for as long as it is a member. You do not need to activate it for each message or configure it repeatedly. Add it once, and it runs.

Here is what a translated conversation looks like on iPhone. This is a Japanese dinner-plans chat with automatic translations:

The trade-off is volume. Every translated message becomes a second message in the chat. In a busy conversation, this doubles the message count. Some people find this cluttered. In practice, most users adapt within a day or two. For a fuller walkthrough, see how LINE translation bots work.

Set up a translation bot in your LINE chat

Comparison: what works on iPhone

Method	Automatic	Works in live chats	Effort per message
LINE built-in translate	Not available on iPhone	Not available on iPhone	Not available on iPhone
Copy and paste	No	Barely (too slow for active chats)	High (7 steps per message)
Screenshot and camera	No	No (requires constant screenshotting)	High (4 steps per batch)
Translation bot	Yes	Yes (translates in real time)	None (fully automatic)

For the occasional message in a quiet conversation, copy-paste or camera translation will get the job done. For anything more than that, especially active chats with multiple speakers, a translation bot is the only method that keeps up.

Which languages work?

Three languages matter most for LINE translation. They match the countries where LINE dominates daily communication:

• Thai. The most common need for expats in Thailand. Thai script is completely unreadable to English speakers, and Thai chat shorthand (555 for laughter, vowel shortening, particle omission) makes even good translation tools stumble. A translation bot tuned for conversational Thai tends to handle these patterns more reliably than a general-purpose tool. More on translating Thai LINE messages.

• Japanese. Three writing systems (hiragana, katakana, kanji) mixed together, plus a formal register (keigo) used in work chats that differs significantly from casual Japanese. Translation accuracy varies depending on the formality level. More on translating Japanese LINE messages.

• Chinese (Traditional). Taiwan uses Traditional Chinese characters, not the Simplified Chinese that most translation tools default to. This distinction matters. A translation targeting Simplified Chinese will sometimes produce incorrect or oddly phrased results for Taiwanese Mandarin. More on translating Chinese LINE messages.

Translation bots handle other language pairs too. Accuracy is highest for structured, complete sentences. Very short messages or heavy slang produce less reliable results in any language.

Getting started on iPhone

If you are on iPhone and trying to follow LINE chats in another language, add a translation bot.

Flewnt is a translation bot built specifically for LINE. You add it as a friend, invite it to your chats, and it translates automatically. Plans start at $4.50/mo (annual) or $9/mo monthly. The trade-off: like any translation bot, Flewnt adds a second message for every translated message, which increases chat volume in busy conversations.

To try it:

1. Visit flewnt.chat/get-started.
2. Add Flewnt on LINE (tap the link or scan the QR code).
3. Tell it which language you speak.
4. Invite it to any LINE chat.

You get 50 free translations to start, no card required. That is enough to see how it works in a real conversation.

It works in every LINE chat you are part of. A condo building chat in Bangkok. A work coordination thread in Tokyo. A landlord conversation in Taipei. One setup covers them all.

Get started free

---

Want to understand how LINE translation works across all platforms and methods? Read the full breakdown on How to Translate LINE Messages. Or jump straight to the language you need: Thai to English, Japanese to English, Chinese to English. Wondering whether LINE has any built-in translation at all? We cover that too.