MotionShineShort answer: To get the picture back with the translated words drawn in place, drop it into a free image translator, set the language the text is written in, and download the new picture. On a Mac, if you only need to read the words, open the picture in Preview or Photos, select the text, Control-click it and choose Translate. On an iPhone, tap the Live Text button on a photo, then Translate. Google Translate on a computer has an Images tab that can download a translated image, and it works on Google's site.
Facts about Apple and Google come from their own help pages, checked on 7 November 2026. The image translator is made by the maker of MotionShine, and what I say about it comes from its own page.
Which way fits your picture
| You have | You want | Use |
|---|---|---|
| A screenshot, sign or menu on your Mac | The picture with the new words in place, no upload | Image translator |
| A photo on your Mac | To read the meaning of a few lines | Preview or Photos, Translate |
| A photo on your iPhone | To read it on the spot | Live Text, Translate |
| A sign in front of you | A view through the camera | Google Translate app |
| A picture, and using Google's site is fine | A translated image to download | Google Translate, Images tab |
| A scanned page of paragraphs | Headings and paragraphs kept | PDF translator, or image to text and a plain translation |
Method 1: A free image translator in your browser
The free image translator reads the words, translates them, covers the old ones and draws the new ones where they were. Its page says the picture is read, translated and redrawn in your browser tab and never uploaded, with no account and no daily limit set by the page.
- Drop the picture on the box, click to choose it, or press Cmd+V to paste a screenshot. Control-Shift-Command-4 copies a screenshot of a part of the screen to the clipboard, ready to paste (see Mac screenshot shortcuts).
- Set Text in the picture to the language the words are written in. The page says the reader cannot guess it, so this matters most.
- Leave Translate to on English, or pick another language.
- Wait for the status line to say Done, then compare Original and Translated. Each block has a number that matches a row in the Text list.
- Fix anything wrong in the list. Type in the left box to correct the reading, or in the right box to change the translation. The picture redraws at once.
- Press Download the picture (PNG), or Copy the translation if you only need the words.
What runs, and what it downloads
The page says the translation is done on your computer by one of two engines:
| Your browser | Engine | First use |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome on a computer | Chrome's built-in translator | Chrome may fetch a small language pack once |
| Other browsers | Open translation models, for a shorter list of language pairs | About 115 MB per language pair, once |
The reader's language data is about 1 to 3 MB per language, served from the site. It reads Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (Simplified), Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. With the downloaded models, a pair without English, such as Spanish to German, goes through English in two steps, and the page warns that each step can shift the meaning.
Settings that fix most problems
- Menus and lists: set Line breaks to Keep every line, so each dish is translated on its own.
- Paragraphs: set it to Join all lines, so a sentence is translated whole.
- A sign on a busy photo: set Reading layout to Sparse text.
- A word was missed: drag a box around it on the original. The page reads that part and adds a block.
- Photos where a flat patch shows: tick Rebuild the background with AI. The page says it downloads a 208 MB model once and is slower. The default colour fill is instant and suits screenshots and plain signs.
Method 2: Preview or Photos on a Mac
macOS can read text in a picture with Live Text. Apple's Preview guide:
- Open the picture in Preview and hold the pointer over the text.
- Drag to select the text.
- Control-click the selection, choose Translate, then choose a language.
Apple's Photos guide gives the same Control-click, Translate steps for a photo in the Photos app. Both guides say translation is not available in all languages and may not be available in some countries or regions. They describe translating the text you selected; they do not describe getting back a new picture with the words replaced.
Method 3: Live Text on an iPhone
Apple's support page says Live Text needs an iPhone XS, iPhone XR or later with iOS 15 or later. Turn it on in Settings > General > Language & Region > Live Text. Then:
- Open the photo. If the text is in a video, pause it first.
- Tap the Live Text button.
- Tap Translate. You may need to choose a language.
Method 4: Google Translate
On a computer, Google's help page says to open Google Translate in your browser, select the Images tab, set the languages (the source can be detected), and click Browse your computer. You can then copy the translated text or download the translated image, and a Show original switch puts the original beside it. This happens on Google's site, and the help page does not say the picture stays on your computer.
On an Android phone, Google's page says to open the Translate app, tap the Camera icon and point it at the text, or tap All Images to use a photo you already took. It also says camera translation works offline for languages you have downloaded.
Google's own page notes that small, unclear or stylized text may be translated with lower accuracy, and recommends clear images with common fonts.
What picture translation cannot do
Every method shares the same weak spots, because they all start by reading the letters.
- Handwriting, curved and decorated lettering. The image translator's page says it reads horizontal printed text only. It does not read vertical writing, handwriting, text on a curve, or very small, blurred or heavily decorated lettering.
- Vertical Japanese or Chinese. Not read by the image translator. Type the words into the Text list by hand instead.
- The original font. The new words are drawn in a font from your computer, sized to fit, so they will not match the original lettering. Logos are not translated.
- The wrong source language. A Spanish sign read as English comes out as nonsense. Check the language first.
- Prices and numbers. A wrong digit changes the meaning, so check each price on a translated menu.
- Important documents. A machine translation helps you understand a picture. For legal, medical or safety information, ask a person who knows the language.
Tips for a cleaner reading
- Shoot straight on. Photograph a menu or sign flat and square, fill the frame and avoid glare.
- Use full-size screenshots. Small interface text reads better from a full-size screenshot than from a shrunk copy.
- Get close to small print. On packaging, take a closer photo of just the label and translate it on its own.
- Cover private details before you share the translated picture. How to blur text in a screenshot shows the ways that actually hide it.
FAQ
How do I translate text in a picture for free?
Drop the picture into a free image translator, set the language of the text, and download the translated picture. On a Mac, Preview and Photos can translate selected text with Control-click, Translate. On an iPhone, use Live Text, then Translate.
How do I translate a picture to English?
In the image translator, set Text in the picture to the language of the words and leave Translate to on English. In Google Translate's Images tab, pick English as the target language.
Can I translate a screenshot on a Mac?
Yes. Copy it to the clipboard with Control-Shift-Command-4 and paste it into the image translator with Cmd+V, or open the screenshot in Preview, select the text, Control-click and choose Translate.
Does translating a picture keep the original font?
No. The image translator draws the new words in a font from your computer, in a colour taken from the original or black or white, whichever is easier to read.
Can it translate handwriting?
Not the image translator: its page says it reads printed horizontal text only. The Google and Apple help pages checked for this post do not mention handwriting in photos, so try a clear printed version when you can.
Is my picture uploaded?
With the image translator, its page says no: the picture is read, translated and redrawn in your browser tab. Google Translate's Images tab runs on Google's site, and its help page does not say the picture stays on your computer.
