How to translate a website in Safari on iPhone and iPad

Mate for iPhone and iPad includes a Safari extension that translates whole pages between 200+ languages, and translates just the text you select without touching the rest of the page. It needs to be switched on once.

1. Enable the extension

Open the Settings app, go to Apps › Safari › Extensions, and turn on Mate.

You can also do it from Safari: tap the page menu button at the left of the address bar, choose Manage Extensions, and turn on Mate.

2. Allow it on websites

The first time you use Mate on a page, Safari asks whether Mate may read the website. Choose Allow for One Day or, better, Always Allow, then Always Allow on Every Website. Mate can only translate pages it's allowed to see. It reads nothing else; see What data does Mate send and store?.

Translate the whole page

When you open a foreign-language page, Mate shows a bar offering to translate it. Tap Translate to English. To see the original again, tap Show original.

If the bar doesn't appear, tap the share button, choose Mate in the list of extensions, and tap Translate this page.

Mate translates into the target language chosen in the app. Change it there if the bar offers the wrong language.

Translate a word or a sentence

Select the text on the page. A Mate button appears next to the selection; tap it and the translation opens in a panel with pronunciation and synonyms. Tap outside to dismiss it.

Options

In the Mate extension's popover (share button › Mate) you can turn Show translation button on selection and Auto-suggest to translate websites on or off.

Any app, not just Safari

On iOS 18.4 and later you can make Mate the system translator. Then Translate in the text-selection menu of Safari, Mail, Messages and other apps opens Mate. See Set Mate as the default translator on iPhone.

Other browsers

Chrome, Firefox and Edge on iOS don't support extensions. Select the text there and use Share › Translate with Mate instead.