Offline AI translator · iPhone & Android
Talk to anyone in Japan.
Even with no signal.
TransferFriends translates speech, text and photos in 86 languages — entirely on your phone. No Wi-Fi, no SIM, no roaming. It keeps working in the subway, at a mountain onsen, and in airplane mode.
Free. Text translation is unlimited. No account, no ads from third parties.
Why offline matters in Japan
🚇 Subways and tunnels
Tokyo and Osaka trains spend a lot of time underground. Cloud translators freeze exactly when you need to ask which exit to take.
🏔 Mountains, onsen, countryside
Ryokan in the hills, hiking trails, rural stations. Coverage drops to zero — and that is where the best conversations happen.
✈️ Airplane mode, no roaming
Use it on the flight over to practice, and on day one before you have a SIM. It never needs a connection to translate.
What it does
🎙 Voice conversation
Tap, speak, and your words appear in the other language and are read aloud. A face-to-face mode splits the screen so you can hold one phone between two people, with their side flipped to face them.
⌨️ Text translation — free and unlimited
Type or paste anything. 86 languages. No daily limit.
📷 Camera
Point at a menu, a sign or a ticket machine and read it on the spot. Recognition runs on the phone too.
📝 Summaries and reminders
After a long conversation, get a one-page summary. If someone said "the bus is at 3 pm", the app offers to set a reminder so you don't forget.
👥 Keep in touch after you meet
Scan each other's QR code and keep chatting later, each in your own language. Messages are end-to-end encrypted; the relay never sees the text.
🔒 Nothing leaves your phone
The AI model lives inside the app. Your voice and text are never uploaded — which is exactly why it works with no signal.
Translations are generated by AI. They are good for getting things done and having a real conversation; for contracts and medical decisions, confirm with a professional.
86 languages
English · Japanese · Chinese (Simplified & Traditional) · Korean · Spanish · French · German · Italian · Portuguese · Thai · Vietnamese · Indonesian · Tagalog · Hindi · Arabic · Russian · Turkish · Polish · Dutch · Ukrainian · and 66 more
Full list on the Japanese page.
Pricing
Free
¥0
- Text translation — unlimited
- Voice, face-to-face and camera modes
- Occasional short message from us (no third-party ads)
Premium
¥500 / month or ¥3,000 / year
- Everything, without the messages
- Price shown in your currency in the store
Questions
Does it really work with no internet?
Yes. The translation AI, speech recognition and text-to-speech are all downloaded into the app once, then run on your phone. Switch to airplane mode and it keeps working. That is also how you can tell nothing is being sent anywhere.
Which languages?
86 languages for text translation. Speech input and read-aloud cover the major ones, including Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Thai and Vietnamese.
How big is the download?
A few gigabytes for the translation model, downloaded once over Wi-Fi. After that, no data is needed. Do it at your hotel the night before you head into the mountains.
Is it private?
Your conversations never leave the phone. There is no cloud translation, no third-party ad SDK and no account required. Translations are generated by AI and labeled as such.
Which phones?
iPhone with iOS 18.6 or later, and Android 8.0 or later. Because the AI runs on the device, a recent phone gives the best speed.
What does it cost?
Text translation is free and unlimited. Voice conversation is free too, with an occasional short message from us. Premium removes those and costs about ¥500 a month or ¥3,000 a year, shown in your local currency in the store.
Download before you lose the signal.
Made in Osaka, Japan by Nakanishi Kobo. Not related to the money-transfer service of a similar name.