Google quietly added dual-screen interpreter mode for foldables to the Google Translate app

Foldable phones didn’t really become mainstream as some expected back a few years when they were first introduced. However, their popularity is growing despite their relatively high price tags. And now, Google Translate is quietly adding a nice feature specifically made for foldable phone users: a dual-screen interpreter mode. Google has its own foldable phone, the Google Pixel Fold. Its first generation was announced last year, and one of the features the Mountain View company highlighted back then was the said dual-screen interpreter mode.

Dual-screen interpreter mode takes advantage of the foldable form factor and makes it easier to converse face-to-face with someone who speaks a different language. It shows a translation of your words on the outer screen and a translation of the other person’s words on the inner screen. Very neat feature, I might add. You can access the mode by using Google Assistant and asking it to “turn on interpreter mode”.

This feature is of course, very handy and that’s why Samsung also created its own version of it on this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 foldable.

Pixel Fold‘s dual-screen interpreter feature, however, received some complaints for not being easily accessible. Basically, hiding it behind a Google Assistant command you might forget was something people complained about. The feature didn’t have an entry point in the Google Translate app itself.

Well, this is no longer the case. Google seems to have taken the feedback and included an entry point in the Google Translate app for this dual-screen interpreter mode. But it didn’t announce it, or update any of its support pages to mention it, which seems pretty strange. The feature works on devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 too, and it seems it isn’t exclusive to the Pixel Fold.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on many other foldable phones apart from Google and Samsung foldables running Android 14. So far, it sadly doesn’t work on the OnePlus Open, the Xiaomi Mix Flip, or the Moto Razr Plus from this year. The reason behind this is that those phones don’t support Android’s dual-display mode. And Google Translate uses this mode to show translations on both screens.

I personally think this feature is great, especially if you travel a lot and don’t speak many languages, and I’m kinda bummed it’s not available for all foldables.